The Marathas Part 14 Peshwa Balaji Rao Section IV: The Battle of Panipat

4. MAJOR REASONS FOR THE MARATHA DEBACLE Canberra, 10th May 2022 The Maratha high command had not fully thought through the expedition to North India, before despatching Sadashiv Rao Bhau with an army and instructions that were ambiguous to achieve some vague and ill-defined objectives. The aim of the expedition can, at best, be described […]

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Indian History Part 84 Aurangzeb Section II Alienation of the Hindus 1. The Jat Rebellion

Canberra, 20 January 2021 BACKGROUND Aurangzeb had won the Mughal throne as the champion of Sunni Muslim orthodoxy against the liberal-minded Dara, who had claimed the mantle of religious tolerance of his predecessors. On being defeated, Dara had been tried and convicted of being a heretic and subsequently executed, or more correctly, murdered. In the […]

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Part 42 THE RAJPUT CLANS Section I: The Origins

Canberra, 7 July 2015 The death of Emperor Harsha Vardhana, and a little later the early Islamic invasions, stirred the affairs of North India. Internecine wars with kings and clan leaders of limited merit and vision scrambling for power, created a sense of disquiet and instability. In fact instability dominated North India across the great […]

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