Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s23: § 20. Death of Vishwas Rao, last efforts of the Bhau, Maratha rout
Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s23
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§ 20. Death of Vishwas Rao, last efforts of the Bhau, Maratha rout
v2.c27.s23.1
At a quarter past two Vishwās Rāo was shot dead with a bullet, after receiving a sword cut in the neck and an arrow wound on his left eye-brow. The fatal news was brought to the Bhāu. He ordered his nephew's body to be laid on the back of his own riding elephant in the rear seat of which Bapuji M. Hingané was posted, and then came to view it. There, with his legs dangling by the elephant's head, lay the darling of a nation, a youth of seventeen only, whose placid beauty in death was to extort the admiring cry even of the fierce Durrāni soldiery when his body was taken to their camp after the battle. "Though he was an Indian, yet no man of such light complexion and beautiful shape had ever come in their sight. His colour was that of the *champa* flower, his limbs well-formed, his arms reaching down to the knees. His eyes were half open ; he seemed to be gently asleep"—as if death could achieve no victory over him.
v2.c27.s23.2
After a last look at his nephew, the Bhāu turned to the fight once more. He could not show his face at Puna after having lost the precious charge entrusted to his hands at Patdur by a weeping mother. Death had lost all its bitterness, because life had no longer any meaning for him. Victory was beyond his power, but not a soldier's death. Sadāshiv Rāo Bhāu forgot his duty as a general and remembered only his honour as a knight. He harangued his men, gathered together a small band of his personal followers and friends, mostly high officers and specially-paid cavalry, and led a last desperate charge. But now, in addition to the three squadrons of slave musketeers circling round, 1500 camel-swivels were turned directly upon him, doing fearful havoc at such short range. After less than half an hour's renewed fighting, even this last attack was smothered in blood, about a quarter to three in the afternoon, and then "in a twinkle of the eye, the Maratha army vanished from the field like camphor." A few small broken groups here and there moved aimlessly and without concert to the rear.
v2.c27.s23.3
§ 21. How Sadashiv Rao Bhau met with his death.
v2.c27.s23.4
Half a mile from the front a fair-coloured sharp-nosed deep-eyed youth, with a tall robust frame, every muscle of which was developed by regular daily exercise,—was seen limping with the help of a short spear. He wore very costly pearls in his ears and round his neck, together with a highly ornamented vest. Throughout that afternoon he had been seeking death, but death seemed to avoid him. Three horses had fallen under him during the battle; the first two were powerful chargers, but the third time only a sorry country mare was left for him which could not carry him far. He had received a spear wound and a musket-shot in his thigh, the latter of which had thrown him down. As he was walking over the field like a man in a dream, utterly worn out by the last two months' anxiety and the wreck of all his hopes, a knot of five Durrāni horsemen, lured by his splendid dress and rich jewels, surrounded him and cried out to him to surrender and save his life. But it was not his life that he was seeking to save, and he gave them no reply. The Afghan plunderers then attacked him. The wounded lion turned at bay and struck three or four of his assailants with his spear before he was killed and his head cut off and carried away by his slayers. Thus perished Sadāshiv Rāo Bhāu on the grave of his reputation and of the imperialistic dreams of his race. The historian's memory goes forward to the day 38 years later, when under a dark gateway of Seringapatam another heroic Indian prince, after the wreck of his army and cause, came to his end in resisting an alien spoiler's hand on his person.