Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s24.4

v2.c27.s24.4

The last trace of resistance ceased at a quarter to three in the afternoon. Most of the officers of the defeated army had fallen, and the field was covered with scattered knots of bewildered leaderless men making their way between piles of the dead and wounded, “every one fleeing as he found a path, without trying to unite with others.” Then the whole Durrānī line advanced in one exultant rush. The Maratha camp, stocked with immense riches, lay only two miles before them, and from it streams of fugitives encumbered with heavily loaded transport animals were seen to be issuing. Two hours of daylight still remained, and as the moon did not set before a quarter past nine that night, the pursuit was kept up for twenty miles in a fan-shaped semi-circle by the Durrānī horsemen, who slew every one they could overtake. But the Maratha entrenchments were not sacked that evening, because Ahmad Shah, like a wise general, kept his troops together till he could be sure that the enemy forces were destroyed beyond any chance of rally or counter-attack.*