The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c13.20

c13.20

Formidable as the Maratha army was, it was faced with one supreme difficulty. It was for all practical purposes in an enemy country. In Northern India the Marathas were known by the common name of *ganim* or enemy. They had once prided themselves on this distinction, but the general ill feeling that the policy of rapacity lately initiated by Balaji Rao had roused now proved their ruin. Sadashiv Rao had before him the difficult task of winning the alliance or, failing that, of securing the neutrality of the northern powers. His negotiations with Shuja-ud-daula proved unsuccessful, but the Jats were won over to the Maratha side. Mr. Keene has described the campaign of Panipat as a contest between the united Hindus of India and a confederacy of Muhammadans. It was nothing of the sort. The Muhammadans, indeed, had rallied to the banner of their Afghan co-religionist, all on account of the clever propaganda of Najib Khan, but the Rajputs held sternly aloof. Sadashiv Rao had no rallying cry to win them over. It was not *Hindupad Padshahi* that he was fighting for; he was, according to his own confession, fighting for the Timuride empire.