The Maratha army was destroyed; Bhau and Vishwasrao were killed, and Abdali soon went back to Afghanistan.
01The camp at Panipat
Sadashivrao Bhau brought the Maratha army to Delhi in 1760 and took it in August. Abdali had the Rohilla Najib-ud-Daula and, after long persuasion, Shuja-ud-Daula of Awadh on his side; the Jat raja Suraj Mal left the Maratha camp. From November both armies dug in at Panipat. Abdali cut the Maratha supply lines from the south and east. By January men and horses in the Maratha camp were starving, and Bhau resolved to break out.
02Makar Sankranti, 1761
They attacked at dawn on 14 January, Makar Sankranti. Ibrahim Khan Gardi’s trained infantry and guns broke the Rohilla wing, and by midday the Marathas seemed to be winning. Then Vishwasrao, the Peshwa’s young son, was shot. Abdali threw in his fresh reserves, and in the afternoon the exhausted Maratha centre collapsed. Bhau rode into the fight and was killed. Tens of thousands died on the field and in the flight, and many camp followers were taken captive.
03After
Peshwa Balaji Bajirao died a few months later, broken by the news. Yet Abdali never came back to rule Delhi, and within ten years Mahadji Scindia had brought the Marathas back to the Mughal capital. The Kala Amb memorial marks the field.
Panipat checked Maratha expansion for a decade and opened room for the East India Company, but it also ended Afghan designs on Hindustan.
