1 A. D. 1769. OPPOSED BY THE MUHRATTAS. 19
2 retainers of the state were called out, and an immense
3 army advanced towards Dehlee, under the command of
4 SUDASHEEO Rao Bhao, commonly called the Bh^o,
5 with whom went Wiswas Rao, the Peshwa's eldest
6 son, and the heads of all the principal Muhratta families.
7 On the march the chiefs in advance fell in and
8 swelled the train, and the whole reached Dehlee, pillag-
9 ing without remorse as they went, and eucountering no
10 where any opposition.
11 The Jnrana which divided the two armies was still
12 nnfordable, and the Bhao, after a short halt at Dehlee'
13 moved northward to Kurnal, where his army was occupi-
14 ed for a few days in the siege of Koonjpoora, the
15 possession of a Puthan family, on the west bank of the
16 Jumna. The place was taken by storm after an obsti-
17 nate resistance by the head of the family, Xuabl'T
18 Khan, who was slain in the last assault. The Mahratta
19 army then moved back on Paneeput, and allowed the
20 Shah to ford the Jumna with all his cavalry, on the 23d
21 of October. The Bhao judged himself to be unequal
22 to cope with the Shah in the open field ; he accordingly
23 threw up intrenchments and took up a position about the
24 town of Paneeput, and there waited the attack of the
25 enemy. The Abdalee strengthened by the junction of
26 the confederate forces of Oudh, Rohilkhund, and of all
27 the Mohummedan Chiefs of upper Hindoostan, surround-
28 ed the Mabrattas, and aimed to cut off the Bhao's sup-
29 plies. For three months, the two armies lay close to
30 each other, occupied in skirmishes and partial actions,
31 and the Shah maintained his blockade. At the end of
32 this time, want began to be felt in the Bhao's lines, and
33 the distress from this cause increased to such a degree
34 c 2