Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s24.1

v2.c27.s24.1

We have said nothing about one main division of the Maratha army because there is nothing to be said about it. Their right wing did not influence the issue of the battle in any way. Here Shah Pasand Khan and Malhar Holkar had merely immobilized each other without any exchange of fire or blows till after the contest in the centre had been decided. During the five hours of the general battle Najib Khan had advanced one *kos* and a half and arrived very close in front of Jankoji Sindhia’s contingent. Dismounting his six thousand cavalry and merging them with his nine thousand infantry, and himself moving with them on foot, he had steadily gained ground bit by bit. While his infantry watched with loaded firelocks, his pioneers advanced a musket-shot in front of them and quickly threw up a breastwork of sand eighteen inches high, to which the infantry next rushed up and where they crouched down, while the pioneers went the same distance forward and prepared a similar trench for them. Arrived at last within firing range of Sindhia’s troops, Najib attacked them, discharging two thousand rockets at a time, and “although the forces opposite to him wanted to attack him, they were convulsed and overpowered by the shock of this fire.” On the left hand of Najib was Shah Pasand Khan, forming the extreme flank of Abdali’s line. The bold front he presented “prevented the Maratha corps facing him from drawing breath.” This corps was Malhar Holkar’s, and numbered only 3,000 against the 5,000 men led by Shah Pasand.