January 14, 1761, the day when the historic and fateful 3rd Battle of Panipat took place. Panipat had seen a great war earlier in the form of the 2nd Battle of Panipat. Hindus lost because Raja Hemchandra Vikramaditya Bhargava's eye was hit by a stray arrow. Little did anyone know that this battle would have the same fate.
The battle was essentially a civil battle, with the Hindus led by Peshwas and the the other side by Ahmed Shah Abdali.
Leaders of the Peshwa army were Sadashivrao Bhau, the best leader the Hindus had at that time, Shrimant Vishwasrao Peshwa, the Peshwa Prince and heir to the Peshwa throne, he was the future of the nation. With them were experienced and brave generals like Krishna Rao (Shamsher Bahadur), Vitthal Shivdev Vinchurkar, Antaji Mankeshwar (Kulkarni), Jankoji Shinde, Mahadji Shinde, Yashwantrao Pawar and others. Balwantrao Mehendale and Govind Pant Bundele were also present but both of them died in one of the skirmishes so they could not fight the battle.
Coming to the battle itself, the Maratha army was starved for more than a week as their supplies were exhausted because Abdali’s army had cut off their supply lines. There was a shortage of funds as they had very little money before them for the campaign because of the loans that Peshwai had. In one case, the army had to melt down the paraphernalia and mint their coins with that metal. The freezing temperatures, lack of food, 0 funds and the enemy encircling the fort, the death of 2 commanders, even these adversities did not bring down the morale of the Peshwa army. They decided to face all odds to fight for their dharma and not to belittle their lineage. From 17-year-old Jankoji Shinde to 19-year-old Prince Vishwasrao to 66-year-old Vitthal Shivdev Vinchurkar. They decided to fight the enemy and make one last attempt to break the encirclement after months of small skirmishes. And they came to the battlefield of Panipat, face to face with Abdali.
The center of the army was led by Sadashivrao Bhau and Vishwasrao, both of whom formed the vanguard. The left and right flanks were led by Shamsher Bahadur, Jankoji Shinde, Ibrahim Gardi with his Gardi battalion, Malharrao Holkar and others. Although Sadashivrao Bhau was somewhat pessimistic about the situation in which he and his army found themselves, he did not let this feeling show and drove his forces from the front. From this you can guess how great a commander he was in this campaign.
Vishwasrao and Bhau faced Shah Wali Khan each other. They fought with such tenacity and bravery that, though starved, they broke through the strong front of the Afghan army and began to massacre the mlecchas. Shah wali had to sit on the ground and say "कहा भाग रहे हो कमबख्तो, काबुल तो बोहोत दूर है". That's how fierce the attack was. Vishwasrao on his horse Dilpak, fought in the front lines, he had injuries from the sword on his neck and forehead and an arrow injury on his shoulder. Nevertheless, he continued to fight. And during the height of the fighting at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when he mounted the elephant to take a look at the battlefield, a stray bullet struck him and mortally wounded him. His presence at the front had been very good for boosting the morale of the troops, but now the prince lay mortally wounded in his howda. History was repeating itself, just as Hemu had been hit in the eye by a stray arrow, which was the main cause of the defeat of his army, it had happened here too. When Sadashivrao Bhau came to see his wounded nephew, the heroic Brahman Prince said "why bother about me uncle, we may lose the battle with their leader gone". Even death could not deter him and dissuade him from his goal of winning the battle. After some confusion, the Maratha army fled, but the bravest fought on. Sadashivrao Bhau continued to fight in the lead, with 3 horses shot down below him. He continued to fight even though he was given a chance to escape. Sadashivrao Bhau was injured and limping due to wounds received during the battle. He had a spear with him. He was surrounded by Afghan soldiers. Even as the army fled from all sides, he seemed to have his presence of mind still intact. He still looked as determined as before. He was very well dressed, the Afghans asked him if he was Bhau himself. And when no answer came, a soldier injured Bhau, but Bhau killed him. And then they surrounded all Sadashivrao Bhau and killed him for the sake of his jewels, not before Bhau had killed half of them. The material loss at Panipat was made up for by the spiritual and superhuman bravery of Sadashivrao Bhau, Vishwasrao and their commanders like Santaji Wagh (whose body had 40 cuts from swords).
After the battle, Abdali wrote a letter to Raja Madho Singh of Jaipur in which he mentions how "the Marathas fought with such bravery, beyond the prowess of other races. These fearless bloodshedders did not fall back a bit in battle. But then the breath of victory blew to my side, and the wretched Deccanis suffered defeat."
He wrote a letter to Shrimant Peshwa Nanasaheb informing him that he did not desire a battle and that Punjab should remain with him till Sutlej. Abdali never came back to India after that. He accepted the superiority of Peshwa Madhavrao and did not fight the Marathas in the north.
After the battle, the Afghans saw the body of Prince Vishwasrao and exclaimed, "This is the body of the king of the infidels; we will have it stuffed dry and brought back to Kabul." It is described, "Though he was an Indian, his skin was lighter than a champa flower, his princely blue eyes were half closed, as if even death could not defeat him. He had a most handsome face and a body whose limbs reached to the knees." Afghans found the body of Sadashivrao Bhau. He is described as "a tall, fair-skinned, deep-eyed youth, about 30 years old, a body in which every muscle was well developed by careful training." His servants confirmed that Sadashivrao Bhau made 1200 prostrations to the sun every day.
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