Page:History of India Vol 4.djvu/305

 CHIEF LEADERS SLAIN 255 eventually put to death somewhere in the Deccan by order of the chiefs in that quarter, and the other, hav- ing excited an insurrection at Benares, was confined for some time in the fort of Chunar. After his re- lease, despairing of the success of his project, he died in the suburbs of Gorakhpur in the year 1193 A. H. (1779 A.D.). Nawab Shuja-ad-dauiah Bahadur, having obtained permission of the Shah to burn the bodies of the Bhao and other chiefs, deputed Raja Himmat Bahadur and Rao Kashi Nath, his principal attendants, to perform the task of cremation. Out of all those hapless and unfortunate beings who survived the battle, a number maintained a precarious existence against the violent assaults of death for some days, but notwithstanding that they used the most strenuous exertions to effect their escape in divers directions from Panipat, not a single one was saved from being slain and plundered by the landlords of that quarter. Out of the whole of the celebrated chiefs too, with the exception of Malhar Rao Holkar, Appaji Gaikowar and Bithal Sudeo, not another was ever able to reach the Deccan. Bhao's wife, in company with Shamsher Bahadur, half-brother to Balaji Rao, and a party of confidential attendants, traversed a long distance with the utmost celerity, and betook herself to the fortress of Dig. There that broken-hearted lady remained for two or three days mourning the loss of her husband, and hav- ing then made up her mind to prepare for an expedition to the Deccan, Raja Suraj Mai Jat gave her one morn-