A History of the Mahrattas v2.c57.13

v2.c57.13

(Oct. 19.)—The festival of the Dussera took place on the 19th October, and was the most splendid military spectacle ever witnessed since the accession of Bajee Rao. Two circumstances were particularly observable on this occasion; a marked degree of slight towards the Resident, and, at the moment of the Peishwa’s quitting the ground, a large compact mass of horse, under an officer named Naroo Punt Aptey, galloped down, as if they had intended to charge the flank of the British troops, but wheeled off as they came close up. The intention of this manœuvre was to show the Sepoys their insignificance, when compared to this host of Mahratta spears, and might be supposed to have its effect in aiding the Peishwa’s intrigues. It would have been difficult to convince the Mahrattas, in that vaunting moment, that of the three weak battalions, then peaceably and unsuspectingly standing before them, one should, in less than three months, repulse their whole army.