| Battle of Narela | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Afghan–Maratha conflicts | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Maratha Confederacy |  Durrani Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Antaji Mankeshwar | Rahim Khan | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown, inferior in number. [2] | Unknown, superior in number. [2] | ||||||
The Battle of Narela took place on 16 January 1757, at Narela, on the outskirts of Delhi, between the Maratha Army led by Antaji Mankeshwar and an army of Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Ahmad Shah Durrani, the emperor of Afghanistan was heading towards Delhi, for yet another invasion. The Marathas had signed a treaty with the Mughal Emperor in 1752 to give him protection from the foreign invader. The Maratha Peshwa had appointed Antaji Mankeshwar along with 50,000 strong Maratha force to guard the emperor. However, the Maratha troops were called back by the Peshwa for the Deccan operations. As a result, most of the Maratha force left Delhi leaving behind some 3,400 troops under Antaji Mankeshwar. [3] [4]
The small garrison of Marathas along with the forces of Imad-ul-Mulk and Najib-ud-daula had the responsibility to guard the Mughal capital from Durrani. Antaji was asked to move along with his contingent along the road towards Karnal to check the progress of the Afghan invader. The Marathas and Afghans collided in a fierce battle in Narela, on the outskirts of Delhi. [5] [4]
Later at night, Antaji was returning from Narela when his troops were intercepted by a huge army on the outskirts of Delhi in the night of 16–17 January. The Marathas were completely taken by surprise, but they fought desperately and hurriedly retreated towards Faridabad, 30 km from Delhi with heavy losses. The next day, it became known that the unidentified foe who had treacherously lead a surprise attack on the Marathas, the night before was Najib-ud-daula, a courtier of the Mughal emperor. Najib betrayed the emperor and his wazir at the most critical time and moved out of Delhi with his 20,000 well equipped troops to join the invader's camp. As a result, Abdali entered Delhi with Najib-ud-Daula on 28 January 1757, and taken to the Red Fort unopposed by the Mughal Emperor in humility. The Mughal Emperor was arrested and Najib was put in charge of the administration of Delhi. [4] [6]
The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 14 January 1761 between the Maratha Confederacy and the invading army of the Durrani Empire. The battle took place in and around the city of Panipat, approximately 97 kilometres (60 mi) north of Delhi. The Afghans were supported by three key allies in India: Najib ad-Dawlah who persuaded the support of the Rohilla chiefs, elements of the declining Mughal Empire, and most prized the Oudh State under Shuja-ud-Daula. The Maratha army was led by Sadashivrao Bhau, who was third-highest authority of the Maratha Confederacy after the Chhatrapati and the Peshwa. The bulk of the Maratha army was stationed in the Deccan Plateau with the Peshwa.
The Maratha Confederacy, also referred to as the Maratha Empire or the Maratha Kingdom, was an early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent comprising the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent Maratha states who were often subordinate to the former. It was formed in 1674 with the coronation of Shivaji of the House of Bhonsle as the Chhatrapati of the Marathas. The Maratha realm was recognised by Bahadur Shah I, the Shahenshah of Hindustan as a tributary state in 1707 after a prolonged rebellion. The Marathas continued to recognise the Shahenshah as their nominal suzerain similar to other contemporary Indian entities.
Balaji Baji Rao, often referred to as Nana Saheb I, was the 8th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. He was appointed as Peshwa in 1740 upon the death of his father, the Peshwa Bajirao I.
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Ahmad Shah Bahadur, also known as Mirza Ahmad Shah or Mujahid-ud-Din Ahmad Shah Ghazi, was the fourteenth Mughal emperor, born to Emperor Muhammad Shah. He succeeded his father to the throne in 1748, at the age of 22. When Ahmed Shah Bahadur came to power, the Mughal Empire started to decline. Furthermore, his administrative weakness eventually led to the rise of the usurping Imad-ul-Mulk.
Shah Alam II, also known by his birth name Ali Gohar, or Ali Gauhar, was the seventeenth Mughal emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal Empire. His power was so depleted during his reign that it led to a saying in the Persian language, Sultanat-e-Shah Alam, Az Dilli ta Palam, meaning, 'The empire of Shah Alam is from Delhi to Palam', Palam being a suburb of Delhi.
Rajaram Bhonsle II, also known as Ramaraja, was the sixth monarch of Maratha Empire. He was an adopted son of Chhattrapati Shahu. Tarabai had presented him to Shahu as her own grandson and used him to grab power after Shahu's death. However, after being sidelined, she stated that Rajaram II was only an impostor. Nevertheless, Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao retained him as the titular Chhatrapati. In reality, Peshwa and other chiefs had all the executive power, while Rajaram II was only a figurehead.
Raghunathrao Bhat, also known as Ragho Ballal or Raghoba Dada, was the younger son of Peshwa Bajirao I who served as the 11th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire for a brief period from 1773 to 1774.
Malhar Rao Holkar was a noble subedar of the Maratha Empire, in present-day India. He was one of the early officers along with Ranoji Scindia to help spread the Maratha rule to northern states and was given the estate of Indore to rule by the Peshwas, during the reign of the Maratha emperor Shahu I. He was founder of the Holkar dynasty that ruled Malwa.
The Durrani dynasty was founded in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durrani at Kandahar, Afghanistan. He united the different Pashtun tribes and created the Durrani Empire. which at its peak included the modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, as well as some parts of northeastern Iran, eastern Turkmenistan, and northwestern India including the Kashmir Valley.
Najib ad-Dawlah, also known as Najib Khan Yousafzai, was a Rohilla Yousafzai Afghan who earlier served as a Mughal serviceman but later deserted the cause of the Mughals and joined Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1757 in his attack on Delhi. He was also a House chief of Rohilkhand, and in the 1740s founded the city of Najibabad in Bijnor district, India. He was instrumental in winning the Third Battle of Panipat.
Hafiz Rahmat Khan was the Regent of Rohilkhand in North India, from 1749 to 1774. He was a Pashtun by background, ruling over Rohillas. Hafiz Rahmat Khan had served honorably throughout the reign of three Mughal Emperors: Ahmad Shah Bahadur, Alamgir II and Shah Alam II. He was also a mentor of Prince Mirza Jawan Bakht.
Feroze Jung III or Nizam Shahabuddin Muhammad Feroz Khan Siddiqi Bayafandi also known by his sobriquet Imad-ul-Mulk, was the grand vizier of the Mughal Empire when it was under Maratha suzerainty, making them the de facto rulers.
The Afghan-Maratha War was fought between the Afghan Empire under Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Maratha Empire and the Sikh Confederacy between 1758 and 1761. It took place in north-west India, primarily the region around Delhi and Punjab.
Shahzada Mirza Jawan Bakht Bahadur was a Mughal prince and the eldest son of Emperor Shah Alam II and the grandson of Emperor Alamgir II. He was born in 1749 at the Red Fort, Delhi. Jawan Bakht was a very influential Timurid Prince of the Mughal Empire and he also briefly served as the Heir-apparent of the Mughal Empire. He traced his family line back over five hundred years to Chagatai Khan, the second son of Genghis Khan.
The Battle of Delhi in 1757 also referred to as the Second Battle of Delhi, was fought on 11 August 1757 between the Maratha Confederacy under the command of Raghunath Rao and the Rohillas under the command of Najib-ud-Daula, who was under the Afghan suzerainty and simultaneously the "Pay Master" of what remained of the Mughal Army. By 1757, Delhi was ruled indirectly by the Marathas. The battle was waged by the Marathas for the control of Delhi, the Mughal capital which was invaded by Rohilla chief Najib-ud-Daula, as a consequence of the fourth invasion of India by Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Panipat is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language epic war drama film directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar. Starring Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt and Kriti Sanon, it depicts the events that took place during the Third Battle of Panipat. The film was theatrically released in India on 6 December 2019. The film was a box office failure.
Marathas under Raghunath Rao and Malhar Rao Holkar laid siege to the fort of Barwara. The fort was successfully defended by the garrison. After which the Marathas agreed to a smaller sum than what was initially demanded.
