Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c58.s5: § 7. The Maratha armies at Assaye
Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c58.s5
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§ 7. The Maratha armies at Assaye
v4.c58.s5.1
Leaving his infantry and baggage behind General Wellesley rode out from Nālni with his cavalry only to reconnoitre. Reaching the crest of a hillock about four miles ahead at noon, he beheld the armies of the two Rajas spread out before him beyond the Khelna river, flowing a mile north of him. They filled the entire parallelogram, eight miles in length west to east, between Bhokardan and Assaye, and two miles north to south between the Juah *nālā* and the Khelna river. Sindhia with his cavalry lay at their extreme right, close to the town of Bhokardan; Bhonslé with his horse and foot in the centre; and last of all, the telescope revealed Sindhia’s regular infantry and their artillery at the extreme left of their line, which ended before the village of Assaye on the south side of the Juah. A mile and a half downstream from this village the two rivulets met together in a triangle.
v4.c58.s5.2
At the first view the camping ground of the Marathas seemed to be covered by a moving mass of men and horses in disorder. That morning the soldiers had staged a *dharnā* or coercive demonstration against their employers for their due pay and rations, and Daulat Rao had ridden from his tent over to Raghuji Bhonslé’s camp some four miles east of himself, for consultation, that is to talk and talk helplessly. No battle was expected, nor had they any news of the close approach of the English army. Here, in their camp, everyone was unready and off his guard; the gun bullocks had been sent out in the morning to graze; the soldiers were dispersed, each caste cooking its own food in a separate place. Only a small force of advanced guards (or picquets as they would be called in the English army) was on duty at Assaye, with the campoo guns. Thus it happened, that when the battle opened, the supreme head of Sindhia’s army was six miles in the rear of the point of attack, with a moving mass of men and materials between them. [Kharé, xiv. 6734, 6749. Gulgulé D. 15 Oct.]