Kharara

  The Anvil of Empires: A History of the Three Battles of Panipat – By Dr. Rahul S. Kharat Introduction Few patches of earth in world history have been called upon so repeatedly to decide the fate of a subcontinent as the plain of Panipat, some ninety kilometres north of Delhi in the modern Indian state of Haryana. Flat, open, and strategically poised on the corridor through which every invader from Central Asia and Afghanistan historically entered the Gangetic heartland, Panipat possessed the two qualities that pre-modern military commanders prized above all others: it offered room for the deployment of large cavalry formations, and it lay astride the road that connected the northwest frontier to the imperial capital. Between 1526 and 1761, this modest town became the setting for three battles of extraordinary consequence — encounters that did not merely change the occupant of the Delhi throne but altered the trajectory of Indian civilization itself. The First Battle of Panipa...