But, income by such means was irregular and insufficient. The Maratha empire, therefore, never achieved economic stability. The Marathas by neglecting the economy of the territories under their direct rule and plundering the territories of other native rulers brought misfortunes not only to their empire but also to the people of India in general.
The Marathas were certainly weaker than the English militarily. Different scholars have assigned different reasons for it. Therefore, their army no more remained a national army and lost that strength which a national army usually possesses. That constituted their primary weakness. It has also been very emphatically observed by some other historians that the Marathas lost their battles against the English because the Marathas left their traditional method of guerilla warfare and adopted the European methods.
The view, however, contains only partial truth. The guerilla method of warfare could be certainly effective in the plateau of the Deccan but it is doubtful if it could be very effective in the plains of north India.
The majority of the historians, therefore, say that the primary cause of the military weakness of the Marathas was that they adopted European means of warfare but failed to perfect them.
The factories established by the Peshwa and the Sindhia for manufacturing guns and arsenals did not produce sufficient material of a good quality. The same way, the Maratha soldiers trained by the French in European methods did not achieve perfection in their training. The dependence of the Marathas on the French for training and command of their armies also proved to be their weakness because the French mostly left them in their hour of crisis.
The English were more diplomatic than the Marathas. The quarrels among the Marathas always provided them useful opportunities. Besides, the English had their eyes on the politics of entire India. That is why they could isolate each of the Maratha chiefs and defeat them one by one. The Marathas, on the other hand, could not even realise that their strongest enemy were the English. The English had organised a superior system of espionage. Apart from the regular system, every Englishman was interested in probing the strength, organisation and the movements of the Maratha army and the mutual relations between the Maratha chiefs.
This certainly placed the English always in an advantageous position. The Marathas were not inspired by any ideal in fighting the English while the latter were inspired by the spirit of nationalism and imperialist aims.
Besides, by the time the English power grew in strength in India the Marathas had already lost their vitality and therefore, they could not face the onslaught of the English and were defeated and disgraced. The attempt of Peshwa Baji Rao to eliminate this system remained successful only during his life-time. The system developed after his death.
It resulted in the formation of Maratha confederacy and thus, broke their unity. Both sides tried to get the Nawad of Awadh, Shuja-ud-Daulah, into their camp. This was strategically a major loss for the Marathas, since Shuja provided much needed finances for the long Afghan stay in North India. The slow-moving Maratha camp finally reached Delhi on the 1st of August, , and took the city the next day. There followed a series of skirmishes along the banks of the river Yamuna, and a battle at Kunjpura, which the Marathas won against an Afghan garrison of about 15, at this time, Abdali and the other Afghan forces were on the eastern side of the Yamuna river.
However, Abdali daringly crossed the river Yamuna on the 25th of October at Baghpat, cutting off the Maratha camp from their base in Delhi. This eventually turned into a two-month-long siege led by Abdali against the Marathas in the town of Panipat.
At this the Afghans were considerably more effective, so that by the end of November they had cut off almost all food supplies into the besieged Maratha camp which had about , to ,, most of whom were non-combatants.
But the most capable and far-sighted ruler of the line was Mahadji Scindia. He was by far the most important among the leaders of the Marathas during the last part of the eighteenth century. Mahadji Scindia took part in the third battle of Panipath and got one of his legs badly damaged in the war which made him lame.
In the fast recovery of power and prestige of the Marathas after their defeat at the battle of Panipath, the contribution of Mahadji Scindia was the greatest. In Mahadji Scindia escorted Emperior Shah Alam from Kara and Allahabad to Delhi and set him on the imperial throne there and made him a puppet in his own hands.
The increase of Maratha power and prestige in this way naturally led to a fear psychosis among the English. Mahadji Scindia also harboured ambition to become the leader of the Maratha Confederacy. He also, therefore, felt that a friendly relationship with the English would help him to fulfil that ambition.
He agreed to work as a go-between in getting the hostilities between the Maratha Confederacy and the English setded. It was through his efforts that the Treaty of Salbai between the Marathas and the English was signed.
Mahadji Scindia was loyal to the Peshwa and became his deputy. He also got himself appointed the Vakil-ul-Mulk, i. Mahadji Scindia also recognised the need for training up his own army after the European fashion and to this end he appointed De Boigne, a military expert from Savoy to train up his army.
He was for a time dislodged from his position. He opened negotiations fit this regard with the Peshwa, Tipu, etc. These two houses had to accept the Subsidiary Alliance with the British. In the Gaikawad of Baroda accepted the Subsidiary Alliance with the English and he did never thought of making him independent of the British by throwing off this alliance. He merely exploited the divisions within and walked off with the spoils.
There is a tale about this battle. When the Marathas were besieged at Panipat, short of supplies and provisions, Abdali would ride around the camp every night. A member of an upper caste will not eat with a lower caste or have food cooked by him. Then we have won. Panipat was lost by the divide within India and Indians. The politicos of the Maratha court conspired to send Sadashiv Bhau to his defeat. In the Maratha army there were dissensions, with chieftains often coming to blows.
Many of the Maratha allies backed out at the last moment in part due to the arrogance and obstinacy of Sadashiv Bhau and so many Indian rulers conspired to defeat them. The same divisions exist in Indian society and polity even today and the chasm only seems to be widening. Ajay Singh is a renowned author and military historian who has authored four books and over articles.
Views expressed are personal. Home News India. Remembering Panipat: Blackest day in Indian history and what we can learn from it Divisions of caste, and creed and religion all conspired to bring about this defeat Ajay Singh Updated: January 14, IST.
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