Siege of Shukartal

01Najib at the ford

After the Punjab campaign of 1758 the Peshwa ordered Dattaji Shinde to settle with Najib ud-Daula, Abdali’s ally in the Doab. Najib, too weak to fight in the open, threw up earthworks at Shukratal on the west bank of the Ganga, where he could draw supplies and men across the river from Rohilkhand. He sent letters to Abdali and to the Nawab of Awadh, and opened talks with Dattaji to buy time. Dattaji, an honest soldier, let himself be drawn into negotiations.

02Across the Ganga

Dattaji tightened the blockade, and Govind Pant Bundele crossed the Ganga to raid Rohilkhand and cut Najib’s supplies. Shuja ud-Daula of Awadh marched up to support the Rohillas and pushed the Maratha raiders back across the river. News then came that Abdali had crossed the Indus and was moving on Lahore. In the last weeks of 1759 Dattaji broke off the siege and marched west to meet the invader, leaving Najib free to join him.

Battle · 14 January 1761 CEThird Battle of PanipatThe largest battle fought in eighteenth-century India. The Marathas came north to keep Abdali out of Hindustan and, after two months of starvation in their entrenched camp, attacked and lost.Read →