Paṇipat : town in Karnal district of Punjab (now in Haryana state), 56 miles north of Delhi. It had been the scene of three momentous battles, each one of which replaced one foreign scourge with a deadlier foreign scourge upon India’s vitally exhausted natives. (1) Pāṇīpat I (21Apr.1526) was between Ibrahim Lodi, 3rd & last sultan of Delhi & Babur the Afghan invader, while Lodi’s own subās looked on hoping for a share in the spoils; Babur killed Ibrahim, kicked out the jackals, occupied Delhi & Agra & originated the Mogul scourge. (2) Pāṇīpat II (5Nov.1556) was between an Afghan army led by a Hindu slave general-minister of the Afghan king Adīl Shah Sur & Mogul prince Akbar. A chance arrow struck the slave & Akbar captured & killed him, inflicting three centuries of Mogul tyranny. (3) In Pāṇīpat III (14Jan.1761) Mogul emperor Shah Alam II was attacked by the Afghan invader Ahmad Shah Abdali reinforced by the Afghan-spawned Najib-ud-daulah of Rohilkhand, while Shah Alam’s Wazir Shuja-ud-daulah, Nawab of Oudh (with tacit support of the Brit) looked on hoping for a share in the spoils. Caught in between were the armies of the Maratha confederacy led by 3rd Peshwa, Bālāji Bājirao, son of the great Bājirao, being treaty-bound to fight for Shah Alam II “as protectors & auxiliaries”. Sadāshiv Rao Bhāo the general in charge & other veteran warriors died or disappeared, one of them Pratāp Rao Gaekwad, the ancestor of Sayājirao III. Heart-broken, the Peshwa died six months later. [Based on Bhattacharya & Karandikar; s/a Mahratta/ Maratha]
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