A History of the Mahrattas v1.c28.55.2

v1.c28.55.2

a taunt to which the Bhow showed himself superior by acceding to the proposal.⁶ This attack was made on the 29th November on the left of the Abdallee camp, where Shah Wulee Khan, the Vizier of Ahmed Shah, was posted. The Mahrattas, in number about fifteen thousand, broke in, charged at all they met, and although the Afghans stood, they were broken, and upwards of two thousand of them killed; at last the Vizier having been supported from all parts of the camp, the Mahrattas retired with the loss of one thousand men.¹ Holkar led on that occasion; and although there was constant and daily skirmishing, in which the Mahratta horsemen individually killed their antagonists,² there was no action of importance until the 23rd December, when Sewdasheo Bhow, Wiswas Rao, Holkar, Bulwunt Rao Gunput Mendlee, and several other commanders came out to attack Shah Wulee Khan, who, attended by a body of horse, was proceeding to a mosque in the neighbourhood,³ and was surrounded by this host of Mahrattas. Nujeeb-ud-dowlah and many other officers came out to support him, and a very desperate conflict ensued. Nujeeb-ud-dowlah having advanced beyond the others towards the entrenchment, Bulwunt Rao, then acting as the Dewan of Sewdasheo Rao, an officer of courage and experience, instantly seized the advantage and charged him furiously;