Third Battle of Panipat

Before dawn, 14 January 1761

Before dawn on 14 January 1761, Sadashivrao Bhau led the starving Maratha army south out of its encircled camp at Panipat, about 60 miles north of Delhi, to break Ahmad Shah Durrani's blockade. The armies met at about 8 a.m.

Durrani's October crossing of the Yamuna had cut the Marathas off from Delhi. After roughly two months of blockade their food was exhausted and soldiers were dying of starvation.

The hours when the Marathas looked like winning

Maratha cavalry broke through three lines of the Afghan centre, while Ibrahim Khan Gardi's French-trained infantry and artillery fought the Durrani right. Najib-ud-Daula's Rohilla contingent resisted a Maratha charge at a critical stage.

Ahmad Shah committed fresh troops as the attack lost momentum. At about 2:15 p.m. the Peshwa's son Vishwasrao was shot dead; Bhau then entered the close fighting and was killed, and Maratha resistance abruptly collapsed.

Through the night and into the 15th

Durrani's forces pursued the routed Marathas into their camp. Killing and plunder continued through the night and into 15 January; prisoners were executed and women and children were enslaved. Ibrahim Khan Gardi was captured after the battle and killed.

The expedition had numbered an estimated 45,000 to 60,000 soldiers, accompanied on the march by roughly 200,000 noncombatants. Deaths in the fighting are put at a disputed 60,000 to 70,000, and the historian T. S. Shejwalkar estimated that no fewer than 100,000 Maratha soldiers and noncombatants perished during and after the battle.

The often-repeated figure of about 40,000 prisoners killed comes through the account attributed to the eyewitness Kashi Raj. It remains an estimate.