Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s19.7

v2.c27.s19.7

The Bhāu's absolute lack of worthy and dependable lieutenants was his greatest handicap compared with his opponent. The Maratha army of the North had no officer comparable to the brilliant galaxy of martial stars on the Durrāni side,—Jahān Khan, Shāh Pasand Khan, Atāi Khan, Karim Dād Khan, Najib and the wazir, each a match for the Bhāu himself. The Maratha right wing was composed of the contingents of Malhar Holkar and Jankoji Sindhia, a total of about 10,000 men. These troops had been beaten in every encounter with the Durrānīs and terrorized by the Afghan atrocities committed on their wounded and prisoners. They could not be brought to look the enemy closely in the face. Nor had they a single dashing leader capable of infusing a new spirit among the rank and file. Jankoji was an inexperienced youth just out of his teens. Antājī Mānakeshwar and other captains told off to support this wing, were too small men to take charge of an entire division or to call forth the devotion and obedience of the soldiery. Malhar Holkar was now a very old man and too weak to sit on horseback or to go through a fight. [Raj. iii. 516.] Even if he had retained the fulness of bodily vigour, would he, on this field, have gone back on his life’s experience and conviction in favour of guerilla tactics and against standing the shock of a pitched battle? Thus, it happened that the entire right wing of the Maratha army remained inert during the critical stage of the battle while the issue was still trembling in the balance. As these Maratha troops did not make any charge, Najib and Shāh Pasand Khan on their part merely remained on the alert, without attacking, till they could see which way the tide of battle finally turned in the rest of the field.