The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c13.2

c13.2

The third battle of Panipat marks a turning point in the history of India. About its ultimate result there is no difference of opinion, but its immediate effects have been variously estimated. The victor, it may be safely asserted, hardly derived any permanent gain; he had to leave Delhi shortly afterwards and he failed to consolidate his authority in the Punjab where the Sikhs were founding a new power. The powerful confederacy of the Muhammadan potentates of Hindustan dissolved even before the departure of the Afghan leader, and they had to settle their accounts with the Marathas as best they could. The vanquished were temporarily stunned but were not annihilated. Their supremacy survived for another forty years, and twenty-five years after the disaster of Panipat, Delhi again found a Maratha military dictator using its impotent Emperor as an instrument and symbol of his power. Panipat did not deal the death blow to the Maratha empire, as it is commonly suggested, it only arrested its expansion and granted the future rulers of India the respite they needed for consolidating their power in Bengal. But the campaign of Panipat might have proved a blessing in disguise to the Marathas, had they been able to profit by its lessons. It revealed the glaring defects of their military and imperial organisation that ultimately led to their overthrow.