Nana Sahib (19 May 1824 – 24 September 1859), born as Dhondu Pant, was an Indian Peshwa of the Maratha empire. An aristocrat and fighter, he led the rebellion in Cawnpore (Kanpur) during the 1857 uprising.

Maratha kingdom

Dhondu Pant,

Baji Rao II

Septe

Nana Saheb, the adopted son of the late Peshwa Baji Rao who lived near Kanpur, gathered armed forces and expelled the British Garrison from the city. He proclaimed himself Peshwa. He delcared that he was a Governor under emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Jan

Ahmad Shah Abdali had a tumour on his nose which resulted in cancer. After struggling with cancer for a few years, he died in Murghah, Herat Province, Afghanistan in June 1773.

Panipat was lost by the divide within India and Indians. The politicos of the Maratha court conspired to send Sadashiv Bhau to his defeat. 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.

His headless body was found in the heap of dead bodies three days after the battle. It was identified by the Maratha Vakil who were with the camp of left Marathas with Kashiraj Pandit, the wazir of Shuja Ud Daula. Bhau’s body was cremated with all rituals.

She was from Kolhatkar family of Pen and was married to Sadashivrao Bhau after the death of his first wife Umabai and hence became a member of the Peshwa family….Parvatibai.

In the first three hours of war, Maratha artillery alone killed over 25000 Afghan soldiers but after that some Martha geenerals violated Sadashiv Bhau’s orders and broke their line and started attacking and chasing Afghan army.

With Abdali crossing the Yamuna at Baghpat on October 25, 1760, the Marathas found the enemy right at their back, blocking their access to Delhi and the rest of Hindustan. On 17 October, 1760, the Marathas attacked and the fort fell to a devastating artillery barrage by Ibrahim Khan Gardi.

Ahmad Shah Durrani

Had Marathas won battle of Panipat then they would have created a pan Indian empire stretching from Punjab to Bengal and Kashmir to Kerala rivaling that of Mauriya empire or at least a paramount power in India which would have protected the India from foreign invasions and domination.

Babur

The Mughal–Maratha Wars, also called The Deccan War or The Maratha War of Independence, were fought between the Maratha Empire and the Mughal Empire from 1680 to 1707. After the death of Aurangzeb, Marathas defeated the Mughals in Delhi and Bhopal, and extended their empire up to Peshawar by 1758.

In October 1770 he vanquished Najib Khan Rohilla, the main opponent of the Battle of Panipat (1761). He took severe revenge of the defeat of Panipat by breaking the tomb of Najib Khan, by looting the artillery and wealth of the Rohillas and by recovering from them an additional tribute of Rs. 40 lakhs.

The Third Battle of Panipat fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the Durrani Empire on January 14, 1761, resulted in a catastrophic defeat for the Marathas. Yet all accounts of the battle say that from the morning till afternoon, the Marathas were winning and the Afghan right wing had been smashed.

He installed a puppet Emperor, Alamgir II, on the Mughal throne, and arranged marriages for himself and his son Timur into the Imperial family that same year. Leaving his second son Timur Shah (who was wed to the daughter of Alamgir II) to safeguard his interests, Ahmad finally left India to return to Afghanistan.

Nader Shah’s rule abruptly ended in June 1747 when he was assassinated by his own guards. The guards involved in the assassination did so secretly so as to prevent the Abdalis from coming to their King’s rescue. However, Durrani was told that the Shah had been killed by one of his wives.

Ahmad Shah Abdali himself paid a flowing tribute to his rivals when in a letter to then Jaipur ruler, Madhav Singh, he wrote : “The Marathas fought with the greatest valour which was beyond the capacity of other races. These dauntless blood-shedders didn’t fall short in fighting and doing glorious deeds.

Baji Rao’s son Balaji Baji Rao further increased the territory under Maratha control by invading Punjab in 1758. Raghunathrao’s letter to the Peshwa, 4 May 1758. This brought the Marathas into direct confrontation with the Durrani empire of Ahmad Shah Abdali (also known as Ahmad Shah Durrani).

Who was Ahmad Shah Abdali? Answer: Ahmad Shah Abdali was ruler of Afghan. Question 6.

Peshwa Bajirao is considered to be the most important figure after Shivaji in making the Maratha Empire a dominant force in 18th century India.

The Marathas were a Marathi-speaking warrior group from the western Deccan Plateau (present-day Maharashtra) who rose to prominence by establishing a Hindavi Swarajya (meaning “self-rule of Native Hindu/Indian people”).

In independent India, these Marathas became the dominant political force in the newly-formed state of Maharashtra. The Maratha are ranked lower under this classification than the above castes but are considered higher than the Kunbi, backward castes and castes that were considered ritually impure.