The Tide Turns: Abdali's Counterattack & The Afternoon Crisis

Marathi History Book Reading Session Summary

The Morning Dominance (9 AM - 1 PM / 12 Noon)

The Maratha Winning Position:

• Right flank: devastated Afghan lines
• Center: Marathas reached outskirts of Abdali's tent (his command post!)
• Left flank: Shah Pasand Khan making steady advancement
• Overall: Marathas on the ascendancy

The Scale of Success: From 9 AM to 1 PM (about 4 hours):

• Afghan right flank: almost completely destroyed
• Afghan center: heavily damaged
• Only Shah Pasand Khan's left flank remaining relatively intact
• Marathas pressing toward Abdali's personal position

The Witness Account (Kashiraj):

"From 8 AM to exactly 12 noon, the war was ongoing. Even though the dead and injured in Suja Uddhawla's area were negligible, overall Marathas were on the ascendancy."

Translation: Even Suja's contingent (which wasn't heavily fighting) noted Marathas winning overall.

Historian Scott Waring (50 years after battle, 1810):

"Bhau and Vishwas Rao had killed about 18,000 of Shah Wali Khan's troops. They had broken the 'Kambarda' (spine) of the army—made them non-functional. Actually killed 3,000."

18,000 "broken/ineffective" but only 3,000 actually dead (rest wounded/routed).

The Afghan Collapse

What Was Happening:

• Afghan troops fleeing battlefield in panic
• Looting their own camps in mad rush
• Trying to escape back to Afghanistan
• Officers couldn't stop the rout

Why They Were Breaking:

• Maratha artillery devastation (earlier in morning)
• Maratha cavalry breakthroughs
• Afghan center collapsing under Bhau's assault
• Momentum completely toward Marathon

The Psychological Shift: From confident army to panicked retreat. Soldiers wanted OUT.

Abdali's Critical Decision: Emergency Reserves Deployed

The Moment of Truth: An inexperienced commander would have:

• Surrendered
• Fled
• Lost hope
• Admitted defeat

But Abdali was veteran general. Kept "cold head."

His Response: Called up his SPECIAL REGIMENT: the Nasakachi regiment (1,500 elite soldiers)

• Personal, most-trusted troops
• Divided into two battalions
• Job: Stop the rout

What They Did:

"The 1,500 soldiers started threatening people or the troops, the Afghan troops that were fleeing the battlefield. They basically threatened them, making sure they understand the consequence of running away, which is being killed."

Translation: Use force/threats to stop fleeing soldiers.

• "You stop running or I kill you"
• "Afghanistan is thousands of miles away—you can't run there"
• "Only option: fight"

The Results:

• Fleeing soldiers brought back to line
• Sent to reinforce right flank (destroyed by Marathas)
• Sent to reinforce center (Shah Wali Khan's position)
• Turned rout into organized defense

Abdali's Command Structure Under Crisis

The Key Orders: Abdali ordered two critical commanders:

• Shah Pasand Khan (his Prime Minister/Chief of Staff)
• Najib Khan (the Rohila who can't afford to lose)

Command: "March forward. Make progress toward Marathas. Keep advancing."

Why These Two:

• Shah Pasand Khan: most trusted, represents Afghan core
• Najib Khan: has existential stake (will die if loses)
• Both reliable under pressure
• Both positioned to exploit opportunities

The Strategic Shift: From defensive (trying to hold) to aggressive (counter-attacking).

Abdali's Personal Contingency Plan

The Pragmatic Preparation: From Shamlu Bakharka's (historian in Shah Pasand Khan's contingent) account:

"Abdali took note of the rapid advancement of the Marathas. He gave order to load up his wives and children on Ajay horses and camels."

What This Means: Abdali preparing family for evacuation:

• If tide can't be turned: can at least save his dependents
• Non-combatants don't decide battles
• Women/children removed to safety
• Then Abdali commits himself to fight or die

The Message:

• "I'm not confident of victory"
• "But I'm not surrendering either"
• "My family is safe, now I can fight freely"
• Maximum commitment possible

The Reality Check

Maratha Advantages:

• Intense attack
• Breakthrough in multiple sectors
• Reaching Abdali's personal tent
• Enemy in panic/rout

But:

• Still not decisive victory
• Afghan center still holding (barely)
• No complete encirclement of Afghan army
• Abdali still alive and commanding

Afghan Resilience:

• Abdali keeping cool head
• Emergency reserves activated
• Fleeing troops being organized
• Counter-attack being organized

The Afternoon Turning Point (Post-Noon)

The Previous Advantage: Morning (9 AM-12 PM): Marathas dominated. Afghan army collapsing.

The New Reality: Afternoon (12 PM onward): Abdali counter-organizing. Reserves activated. Officers holding line.

The Maratha Problem:

• Still separated (cavalry ahead of artillery)
• Exhausted from morning assault
• No new reserves (used all forces)
• Afghan fresh troops arriving (1,500 Nasakachi)

The Turning Point Signal: The chapter title changes: from "Bharti" (HIGH TIDE) to "Ohoti" (LOW TIDE/TIDE GOING OUT)

"Bharti is the high tide. Ohoti is when the tide is pulling out. So now the Marathas will be on the receiving end. The tide is turning."

Key Insights

Abdali's Genius: Not that he prevented rout (emergency reserves did that). Genius was: kept cold head when everything seemed lost, made decisions quickly, deployed reserves at critical moment.

The Timing of Reserves: Didn't deploy 1,500 Nasakachi early (would waste them). Deployed them exactly when Afghan collapse happened and needed stopping. Perfect timing.

The Contingency Plan: Evacuating family showed Abdali understood: "I might lose here." But also showed: "I'm committed to trying." Removed his family so he could fight without worrying about them.

The Morning vs. Afternoon Shift: Morning: Maratha momentum unstoppable. Afternoon: Abdali reorganizing. This is the battle's true turning point—not a single moment but a shift from 9AM-12PM momentum to 12PM+ counter-momentum.

Scott Waring's Observation: Even historian 50 years later noted: Afghan army had never seen this intensity of attack. Shows Maratha morning assault was genuinely exceptional—just couldn't be sustained.

Timeline (Critical Afternoon Transition)

Where We Left Off: Noon. Abdali's counterattack beginning. Maratha momentum about to be checked. Afghan reserves activated. Family evacuated. Fresh troops organizing. The morning's Maratha triumph about to meet afternoon's Afghan resistance. The battle's real turning point just happening.

By noon, everything had inverted. Morning: Maratha dominance, Afghan collapse. Abdali understood: he had maybe two hours before his army completely broke. So he did something counterintuitive—evacuated his family (accepting possible defeat) while deploying his best troops (fighting for victory). He couldn't stop the panic with words. So he used his 1,500 most loyal soldiers as a cork to plug the bleeding. It worked. By noon, Afghan army had stopped fleeing. By early afternoon, it started fighting back. The morning's Maratha victory was about to become the afternoon's grinding stalemate. And that's when Abdali would have the advantage.