Battle of Rattihalli

01Haidar on the Tungabhadra

After Panipat, Haidar Ali pushed north out of Mysore and seized Maratha country between the Tungabhadra and the Krishna, Dharwar and Savanur among it. Madhavrao, barely nineteen and only lately free of his uncle Raghunathrao’s control, led the army south himself in early 1764 with Gopalrao Patwardhan and other sardars. He retook the forts one by one and forced Haidar to stand.

02The field of Rattihalli

Haidar tried the trick that had served him before, a feigned retreat to draw the Maratha horse into ambush. Madhavrao did not take the bait. At Rattihalli in May 1764 the Marathas caught the Mysore army on open ground, beat it, and chased Haidar to the edge of the Bednur forests at Anavatti. The war dragged on into the next year, but in 1765 Haidar paid tribute and handed back what he had taken.

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 →