The Flight & Massacre: Afghan Pursuit & Systematic Killing

Marathi History Book Reading Session Summary

The Collapse & Direction of Flight

Late Afternoon (After Commander-in-Chief Dead/Gone):

• Marathas still fighting until afternoon
• Once leader gone: immediate loss of cohesion
• Army split into different directions fleeing
• No unified retreat route
• Soldiers fleeing in all four directions in panic

Two Escape Options:

1. Toward Delhi (southeast) - dangerous, far
2. Toward Panipat Town (north) - closer but unsafe
3. Those without discipline = scattered chaos

Those Who Crossed Yamuna (Via Commanders Like Holkar):

• Made organized retreat toward Delhi
• Had leadership structure
• Escaped relatively intact
• Small percentage of total force

Those Without Commanders:

• Fled in all directions
• Many toward Panipat Town (closer refuge)
• Fell into ditch while crossing
• Suffocated from pile-up
• Killed by own fortifications

The Ditch Deaths (Detailed)

The Setup:

• Marathas had dug defensive ditch around camp
• 12 feet deep, 60 feet wide

The Tragedy:

• During panic retreat, soldiers rushed to cross
• Many fell into ditch
• Got crushed/suffocated from bodies piling up
• Died from suffocation, not combat
• Hundreds died in this manner

The Pursuit: 15-20 km Chase

Afghan Decision to Pursue:

• Saw Marathas fleeing in all directions
• Understood no organized battle remaining
• Started chasing with tremendous zeal
• Pursued up to 20 kilometers north toward Panipat town

Why Afghans Pursued So Aggressively:

1. Revenge Motivation: Afghan camp had sustained heavy losses for 3-4 months
2. Artillery Casualties: Maratha artillery killed many during siege
3. Historical Grievance: Remember Marathas killed many Afghans at northern fort
4. Momentum: Fleeing army looks weak, easy prey

The Hunt:

• Marathas fleeing in panic, not organized
• No defensive formation
• Being hunted like prey
• Afghan soldiers felt empowered by victory

The Camp Looting

What Afghans Found:

• Maratha camp itself was kangal (impoverished)
• Very little food remaining (eaten during siege)
• No valuable supplies (traded away for grain)
• Whatever existed: looted anyway

Who Was In Camp:

• Dependents (unable to flee with army)
• Maintenance staff, cooks, porters
• Women, children, elderly
• Religious pilgrims (came as "holy site tourism")
• They had stayed in rear of camp during battle
• Couldn't flee fast enough once Marathas retreated

The Killing: "Nirghrun" (Merciless/Unforgiving)

• Women, children, elderly couldn't flee
• Afghans killed them in very unmerciless way
• No mercy shown
• Nirghrun = acted without any humanity

The Second Day: Systematic Classification & Massacre

The Organization:

• First day: Couldn't kill everyone (too many)
• Second day: Afghans organized systematic killing
• Classified prisoners into groups:
  • Men (potential fighters)
  • Women (could be enslaved)
  • Children (could be enslaved)
  • Elderly (killed)

The Categorization:

• Men: Beheaded (entertainment/recreation)

  • Reason: Dangerous if armed, no use as slaves
  • Afghans "entertained themselves" by beheading
  • Called it "karmanukh" (entertainment)

• Women & Children: Kept as slaves

  • Could be transported/used
  • Had economic/reproductive value

The Victory Towers (Minars):

• Heaps of severed heads built in front of tents
• Used as victory towers/signs
• Thousands of heads stacked
• Psychological terror/dominance display
• Similar to Mughal practice from centuries past

The Religious Justification

Suja Uddhavla's Objection:

• Didn't want the battle to begin with
• Not extremist like other Afghan leaders
• Relatively friendly to Marathas
• Objected to indiscriminate massacre
• Thousands fled to him seeking refuge

Afghan Religious Argument:

• Islamic concept: Killing Kafir (non-believers) = virtuous act
• Viewed favorably by Allah
• Promised good points on judgment day
• "Cheat code" to religious merit
• Made massacre morally justified (in their theology)

The Counter to Mercy:

• Afghans told Suja: "We've committed to our people to kill them"
• Seen as win-win: revenge + religious merit
• Not question of morality = question of faith
• Made systematic killing into religious duty

Historical Analysis: Grant Duff (British Historian)

Grant Duff's Observation:

• British studied Panipat battle ~50-60 years later
• Noted: Afghan cruelty was exceptionally brutal
• Even normally cruel people show some mercy
• Afghans showed no mercy whatsoever
• "Manu-tela kalanka" (put stigma on humanitarianism)

Reasons for Afghan Cruelty:

1. Military grievance: Maratha artillery + siege
2. Religious sanction: Clergy recommended jihad
3. Revenge motivation: Personal losses
4. Combined = zero restraint

The Broader Consequence:

• British noted: Panipat destroyed last organized opposition
• Marathas weakened/depleted
• Created power vacuum in India
• Mughals gone (no fighting spirit)
• Rajputs, Jats: small forces only
• British found "fertile ground" to take over
• Took advantage immediately after 1761

Timeline (The Massacre Period)

Key Insights

The Escape Quality Mattered:

• Those with commanders = organized retreat
• Those without = chaotic panic = many deaths in ditch

The Defenseless Were Targets:

• Army could disperse and hide
• Dependents (women, children, elderly) couldn't
• They became the massacre victims
• Not soldiers, but civilians

Religion as Permission:

• Afghans reframed massacre as religious duty
• Made morality irrelevant
• Turned cruelty into virtue (in their theology)
• Suja's objections overruled by religious consensus

The Vacancy Consequence:

• Panipat didn't just kill soldiers
• Killed Maratha organizational capacity
• Created power vacuum in India
• British stepped into that void within years
• Panipat = inadvertent gift to British imperial expansion

Cruelty as Precedent:

• Contemporary observation: "Won't happen again"
• But it did (historically inaccurate prediction)
• Set template for Afghan/Muslim conquests
• Normalized systematic killing

Where We Left Off: Two-day massacre detailed. Head towers constructed. Thousands killed or enslaved. Power vacuum created in India. British noted this as opportunity. Battle's aftermath extended far beyond the battlefield into systemic destruction of Maratha capacity.

The ditch killed some. The pursuit killed more. But the systematic killing of the helpless—women, children, elderly—that's what destroyed something deeper than an army. It destroyed trust, safety, the assumption that war has limits. The Afghans built towers of skulls to celebrate. They called it virtue. Fifty years later, the British looked at the ruins and thought: "Perfect opportunity." And they were right.