Editing Third Battle of Panipat (section)

== Background ==
In 1757, Ahmad Shah Durrani appointed his son, [[Timur Shah]], as the governor of Punjab. Since Timur Shah was a minor, the Durrani commander-in-chief, [[Jahan Khan (Afghan general)|Jahan Khan]], assumed control of the administration. Jahan Khan's rule was harsh—he forced [[Adina Beg Khan]], the governor of Jalandhar Doab, to retreat to the hills and persecuted Sodhi Wadbhag Singh of Kartarpur. Determined to retaliate, Adina Beg Khan allied with [[Jassa Singh Ahluwalia]] by paying a large tribute and permitting the Sikhs to plunder the Jalandhar Doab and defeated the Afghans at [[Battle of Mahilpur (1757)]].{{sfn|Mehta|2005}} By March 1758, [[Adina Beg Khan]] became uneasy with the growing influence of the Sikhs. He sought help from the Marathas, who had gained control of Delhi after defeating the Mughals in the [[Battle of Delhi (1757)]]. Adina Beg offered the Marathas a large daily payment to assist him in capturing Lahore. Additionally, he persuaded the Sikhs to join forces with the Marathas against the Afghans. Adina Beg also gained the support of [[Raghunathrao]] and together they drove the Afghans out of Lahore. The Maratha and Sikh forces then pursued the retreating Afghans on horseback, eventually capturing [[Attock]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mikaberidze |first1=Alexander |title=Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia |id=[2 volumes] |date=22 July 2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-337-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jBBYD2J2oE4C |language=en |page=43 |quote=The Marathas, assisted by Sikhs, defeated the Afghans and captured Attock, Peshwar and Multan in the spring of 1758.|quote-page=43}}</ref>{{sfn|Mehta|2005|pp=236, 260}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pletcher|first=Kenneth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VsujRFvaHI8C&pg=PA198|title=The History of India|publisher=Britannica Educational|date=2010|isbn=9781615301225|page=198}}</ref><ref name="barua">{{Cite book|last=Barua|first=Pradeep|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FIIQhuAOGaIC&pg=PA55|title=The state at war in South Asia|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|date=2005|isbn=9780803213449|page=55|quote=The Marathas attacked soon after and, with some help from the Sikhs, managed to capture Attock, Peshawar, and Multan between April and May 1758.}}</ref> The Punjab now came under Maratha rule, with Adina appointed [[subahdar]] of the Punjab in 1758 in return for a yearly tribute of seventy five lakh of rupees. Raghunathrao and [[Malhar Rao Holkar]], the two commanders-in-chief of the Maratha forces, remained in Lahore for three months after which they retired to the [[Deccan]] leaving Adina in sole control.<ref name="K.RoyIHB">{{cite book|title=India's Historic Battles: From Alexander the Great to Kargil|last=Roy|first=Kaushik|publisher=Permanent Black, India|isbn=978-8178241098|pages=80–81|year=2004}}</ref>

This brought the Marathas into direct confrontation with the [[Durrani Empire]] of [[Ahmad Shah Durrani|Ahmad Shāh Abdali]]. In 1759, he raised an army the core of which was from the [[Qizilbash]], and recruited other troops such as the Pashtun tribes, Kurds, and Uzbeks.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HkpnDwAAQBAJ&dq=qizilbashes+india+cavalry&pg=PT133 |title= The Indian Frontier: Horse and Warband in the Making of Empires |author= Jos Gommans |author-link=Jos Gommans|date= 2017 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 978-1-351-36356-3 |access-date= 11 July 2023 |archive-date= 30 July 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230730030531/https://books.google.com/books?id=HkpnDwAAQBAJ&dq=qizilbashes+india+cavalry&pg=PT133 |url-status= live }}</ref><ref name="Jadunath Sarkar 67">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GxMhAAAAMAAJ&q=abdali+qizilbash+panipat |title=Fall of the Mughal Empire, Vol. 2 |author=Jadunath Sarkar |date=27 April 1966 |page=67 |access-date=24 March 2023 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404094849/https://books.google.com/books?id=GxMhAAAAMAAJ&q=abdali+qizilbash+panipat |url-status=live }}</ref> and made several gains against the smaller Maratha garrisons in Punjab. He then joined his Indian allies—the [[Rohillas]] of the Gangetic Doab, the Muslims of Northern India, and [[Shuja-ud-Daula]]—forming a broad coalition against the Marathas.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofsikhs1401khus/page/150/mode/2up?q=Rohillas |title=A History Of The Sikhs, Vol. 1, 1469-1839 |author=Khushwant Singh |page=150 }}</ref>

To counter this, [[Raghunathrao]] was supposed to go north to handle the situation. Raghunathrao asked for large number of soldiers, which was denied by [[Sadashivrao Bhau]], his cousin and Diwan of Peshwa. Therefore, he declined to go. Sadashivrao Bhau was instead made commander in chief of the Maratha Army, under whom the Battle of Panipat was fought.<ref name="Raghunathrao">[[Raghunathrao]]</ref>

The Marathas, under the command of Sadashivrao Bhau, responded by gathering an army of between 45,000 and 60,000, which was accompanied by roughly 200,000 non-combatants, a number of whom were pilgrims desirous of making pilgrimages to Hindu holy sites in northern India. The Marathas started their northward journey from Patdur on 14 March 1760. Both sides tried to get the [[Nawab of Awadh]], [[Shuja-ud-Daula]]h, into their camp. By late July Shuja-ud-Daulah made the decision to join the Afghan-Rohilla coalition, preferring to join what was perceived as the "army of [[Islam]]". This was strategically a major loss for the Marathas, since Shuja provided much-needed finances for the long Afghan stay in [[North India]]. It is doubtful whether the Afghan-Rohilla coalition would have the means to continue their conflict with the Marathas without Shuja's support.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

=== Rise of the Marathas ===
Grant Duff, describing the Maratha army:<ref name="Keene">{{cite book |first=H. G. |last=Keene |title=The Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan |volume= VI |pages=80–81}}</ref>

{{cquote|The lofty and spacious tents, lined with silks and broadcloths, were surmounted by large gilded ornaments, conspicuous at a distance... Vast numbers of elephants, flags of all descriptions, the finest horses, magnificently caparisoned ... seemed to be collected from every quarter ... it was an imitation of the more becoming and tasteful array of the Mughuls in the zenith of their glory.}}

The Marathas had gained control of a considerable part of [[Indian subcontinent|India]] in the intervening period (1712–1757). In 1758 they nominally occupied [[Delhi]], captured [[Lahore]] and drove out [[Timur Shah Durrani]],<ref name="KaushikRoy" /> the son and viceroy of the Afghan ruler, [[Ahmad Shah Durrani|Ahmad Shah Abdali]]. This was the high-water mark of Maratha expansion, where the boundaries of their empire extended north of the [[Sindhu]] river all the way down south to northern [[Kerala]]. This territory was ruled through the [[Peshwa]], who talked of placing his son [[Vishwasrao]] on the Mughal throne. However, [[Delhi]] still remained under the control of [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]], key Muslim intellectuals including [[Shah Waliullah Dehlawi|Shah Waliullah]] and other Muslim clergies in India were frightened at these developments. In desperation they appealed to [[Ahmad Shah Durrani|Ahmad Shah Abdali]], the ruler of [[Durrani Empire|Afghanistan]], to halt the threat.<ref>{{cite book |title=Studies in Mughal History |last=Agrawal |first=Ashvini |year=1983 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |chapter=Events leading to the Battle of Panipat |isbn=978-8120823266 |page=26}}</ref> The Marathas attempted to turn over the support of the Gujarati Muslim Babis, the Indian Rohillas, Nizam brothers of the Deccan, and Shuja-ud-Dawlah.<ref>{{cite book |title=textsPanipat:1761 |author=Shejwalkar, Tryambak Shankar |date=1946 |page=XV }}</ref>

[[File:Sadashivrao bhau.jpg|150px|thumbnail|[[Sadashivrao Bhau]]]]