Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s28.1

v2.c27.s28.1

In a defence of his own conduct supposed to have been dictated by Malhar Holkar, which is current in Maharashtra, he says that he was ordered by the Bhāu to escort the wives of the Bhāu and other chiefs out of the Pānipat camp to the Deccan as soon as he saw signs of defeat in the field on that day (or received a hint to that effect from the Bhāu), and that he had left the field accordingly. This apologia bears every mark of being apocryphal, and indeed Rājwādé suspected its authenticity long ago. The only division of the Maratha army that returned from Pānipat in a tolerably large and compact form was Holkar's (about 1,500 men.) If he was the officer selected by the Bhāu to lead the retreat, he would certainly have kept touch, throughout the fight, with the ladies whom he had been ordered to save and he should have gone up to them immediately after leaving the field. But in fact he met Pārvati Bāi on the way, some 20 hours after the end of the battle, which shows that their junction was purely accidental.