Battle of Patan

The Battle of Patan was fought on 20 June 1790 between the Kingdom of Gwalior and the Kingdom of Jaipur which resulted in a decisive Gwalior victory.

Stakeholders

The forces of Rajputs had 12000 Rathore cavalry, 6000 from Jaipur, 5000 Mughals under Ismail Beg, 2000 under Allyghar Beg Khan, 12000 men on foot with 100 Pieces of Artillery, 5000 foot soldiers with Ismail Khan with 21 pieces of artillery, 4000 Rohillas, 5000 Fakirs (religious fighting mendicants) called Attyles and Brakys and Rajput Sybundess (irregular infantry) with 8 cannon and 4000 Meena (hill tribals) soldiers.^[1] At the battle field, De Boignes' Maratha army was 10,000 strong with additional Maratha soldiers on the outer flanks.

Ambush by the Maratha's

At dusk, Rajputs and their Muslim allies, retired to their respective camps. The Maratha army however held its positions at the mouth of the pass. The real battle however precipitated in the evening by an unforeseen skirmish. Some Maratha Pindaris from the left wing of Maratha lines, managed to seize animals that were a part of Ismail Beg's contingent. This inevitably led to a small skirmish with Ismail Beg's men. General de Boigne then directed his guns on Ismail Beg's contingent.^[2] Caught on unawares, the murderous fire of Maratha guns proved to be deadly. Gopal Bhau and de Boigne, sensing victory, went for the kill. Marathas descended upon enemy camps. Taken aback by the suddenness and the ferocity of the Maratha attack, Rajput resistance capitulated. The Jaipur Nagas held on to their positions before finally being overwhelmed at around 9 pm in the night.

The aftermath

Pitted against European armed and French trained Marathas, Rajput states capitulated one after the other. Marathas managed to conquer Ajmer and Malwa from Rajputs. Although Jaipur and Jodhpur remained unconquered. Battle of Patan, effectively ended Rajput hopes for independence from external interference. Sir Jadunath Sarkar notes:

From the day of Patan (20th June 1790) to the 2nd of April 1818 when Jaipur entered into protective subsidiary alliance with the British government, lay the gloomiest period in the history of Jaipur kingdom.

His victory increased Scindia's influence with the Peshwas (Maratha Prime Ministers) in Pune, the seat of Maratha government and firmly established Maratha influence in Rajputana.

References

Sources

• Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1994). A History of Jaipur 1503-1938. Orient Longman. ISBN 8-1250-0333-9.
• H.G Kenne. The Fall of Mughal Empire of Hindustan. Champaign, Ill. : Project Gutenberg ; Boulder, Colo. : NetLibrary, [199-?]. ISBN 0-5850-1593-7.