Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c41.s4.17

v3.c41.s4.17

Ismail Beg’s defeat was complete and irretrievable. His army ceased to exist as an instrument of war. Excluding the four battalions of Rāmru which went over to the Marathas during the battle, Ismail Beg had about sixteen battalions of sepoys (including many who had deserted Mahadji at Lālsot) and five thousand Mughalia horse under him; and these were soundly beaten. The slaughter that ensued among his broken troops was terrible, while many who escaped the sword were drowned in fording the swollen Jamunā. "For one kos from the field to the river bank, the ground was strewn with the corpses of men and horses." A Maratha despatch inflates his losses to 8,000 battalion sepoys slain and 2,000 Mughalia cavalry and foot musketeers drowned in the river [HP. 525.] On the Maratha side about 250 men were reported as slain and six hundred as wounded besides 2,000 horses killed. But among their officers the casualty was heavy, five being slain.