By the end of the monsoon in 1742, the Marathas had spread out across the province west of the Bhagirathi. Bhaskarram remained at Dainhat where he had built a temple, and he decided to not only have a grand festival of Durga-Puja but also perform a grand Puja on the Maha-Ashtami day himself.
In a short while, Bhaskarpant rendered the Bengal’s Nawab into a dilapidated state, and established the Maratha control everywhere. Even though this achievement by Pant was creditable, he went behind superficial success, and dispatched all his limited forces in faraway areas. Due to this, very soon the tables turned for him. Aliwardi Khan had by then returned to Murshidabad and had the time to muster an army and gather his captains to attack Bhaskarram. His army was fatigued. He paid them their salaries and began to prepare for the war after the monsoon. His nephew Zainuddin reached Murshidabad at this time and persuaded the Nawab to attack the Marathas even though the rains had not abated, and the rivers were in flood.
While the Pant was busy establishing control all over, here at Murshidabad, Aliwardi Khan made huge preparations to extract his vengeance upon the Marathas. The Maratha army to the west of Bhagirathi was well-entrenched. Mir Habib had placed a cannon on a barge to fire at Aliwardi’s troops on the eastern bank. Aliwardi then decided on an alternative route. He planned to cross a tributary of the Bhagirathi north of Khatwa named Ajay, that joined it from the west. The Maratha army, facing east, had not reinforced the river Ajay. An attack after crossing the Ajay would mean Aliwardi’s army needed to cross two rivers instead of one.
The Durga-Puja festival is usually celebrated in a huge manner in Bengal in the month of Ashwin. Pant also decided to celebrate it and felicitate many important people in that province. He made excellent preparations for the same and dispatched most respectful invitations to various intellectuals, Sethis and moneylenders, Zamindars and different officials from various places. The festival began on the first day of the waxing moon fortnight of the month of Ashwin, 18 September 1742 and the most important day of the Durga-Ashtami (eighth day) fell on the 26 September 1742. Before attacking Dainhat and Khatwa, while everyone was busy in the festival preparations, the Nawab’s guns chased away the Maratha troops on the east bank of the Bhagirathi, near Plassey. Carefully, over a bridge of boats further north at Uddharanpur, Aliwardi’s army crossed the Bhagirathi, and then the Ajay a mile upstream of the Maratha camp. He then headed for the camp of Bhaskarram, who was busy with his devotions. They were led by the Nawab’s Afghan Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Khan and Mir Jafar. During the night after Durga-Ashtami, on the 27 September 1742 these people suddenly attacked Pant’s camp. Mir Habib had been alert and began firing with the large cannon on a boat he had towed away from Hooghly. However, the boat sank with the cannon and once again the Nawab’s men advanced. The Marathas rose in a state of confusion and began running helter-skelter. In the same commotion, Mir Habib too ran away. He showed an escape route to the Marathas and tried saving some of them. The surprise was near complete, and the Marathas rode away on their horses leaving their baggage behind. Here, the Maratha camp was destroyed completely. Bhaskarram joined them in flight and did not stop till they reached the thick jungles of Panchet and Ramgadh.
The author of Riyaz-us-Salatin describes the Nawab’s attack, “(They) swiftly crossed the bridge, rallied around Mahabat Jung and his generals, and quickly unsheathing their swords, in a solid and clamorous phalanx, like some heavenly disaster, swooped down on the enemy. Shouts rose up on every side,
‘True, the night was dark, but the sword flashed,
So, as amidst the dusky clouds, lightning flashes.
From profuse shedding of blood on that battlefield,
Earth’s face turned crimson.
Heaps of corpses crashed on heaps of corpses,
Aye, formed veritable mounds on every side.’”
To be continued…
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