Death of Govind Pant Bundele near Meerut

01The supply line

Govind Pant Bundele had managed the Maratha lands in Bundelkhand and the Doab for years. In the autumn of 1760 the Bhau ordered him to raid Rohilla country and keep grain and money moving to the Maratha camp at Panipat, which the Afghans were slowly closing in. Govind Pant gathered a large but loosely organised body of horse, many of them irregulars, and moved up towards Meerut, collecting supplies and threatening Abdali’s own communications.

02Atai Khan’s raid

Abdali chose Atai Khan, a nephew of his wazir, and sent him with fast Afghan horsemen on a night march round to the east. On 17 December 1760 they caught Govind Pant’s men scattered on a foraging run near Meerut. The Marathas broke. Govind Pant, an old man, was thrown from his horse and killed, and his head was sent to Abdali’s camp. Soon after, another Maratha party carrying money from Delhi to Panipat was also cut off.

Dynasty · 1713–1818 CEThe Peshwas of PuneThe Peshwas were the hereditary chief ministers of the Chhatrapatis, and from 1713 to 1818 they ran the Maratha state from Pune. Under Bajirao I and his son Nanasaheb the Marathas became the strongest power in India, until Panipat in 1761 and the British wars that ended the line in 1818.Read →