Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c29.s1.24

v2.c29.s1.24

In December 1759, Malhar Rao Holkar had wrested the fort of Barwādā from the usurper Ratan Singh Kachhwa (the son of Fath Mal Kusalath) and restored it to its original owner Jagat Singh Rathor, and then left Rajputana to encounter Abdali near Delhi, [Ch. 18 § 10.] On the way his men looted Chatsu and some other places in the Jaipur kingdom [Vam. Bh. 3667.] Thereafter a full year had passed without any Maratha general being free to visit Rajputana. Panipat saw the annihilation of the Maratha armies of the North in January 1761, and the repercussion of it* was a revolt against Deccani domination everywhere in Hindustan,—in the Gangetic Doab, Bundelkhand, Rajputana and Malwa alike. Everywhere the dispossessed or humbled original chieftains, and even petty landlords, raised their heads and talked of shutting the southern invaders out of their country in future. But it all ended in talk; union was impossible among the countless separate caste and tribal chiefs of these regions, and no great leader arose to unite the ancient Hindu baronage of the North and win their freedom.