How the Battle of Patparganj shaped capital’s history

New Delhi: The Battle of Delhi, also known as the Battle of Patparganj, was fought 214 years ago on September 11, 1803 in Patparganj (now in East Delhi). The battle was fought between British troops under General Gerard Lake, and the Marathas of Daulat Rao Scindia’s Army under French General Louis Bourquin and Wable Sardar.

Scindia’s Marathas were pretending to fight on behalf of Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. It was a decisive battle between the two mighty armies, with the British becoming the custodian of the Mughal Empire.

“General Lake had left Aligarh on September 7, 1803 and marched towards Delhi. There were two alternate objectives, Agra and Gwailor, but Delhi was chosen first because Emperor Shah Alam wanted to free himself form the Marathas and had sent a secret message to General Lake seeking his help. After a long march, Lake crossed the river Hindon and the troops set about establishing a camp.

Shah Alam II

The pickets sent out reported that the Marathas had crossed the Yamuna and had taken up a strong position on its left bank. But, General Gerard Lake, feigning a retreat, drew them from their lines and then turning upon them, drove them with the bayonet into the river, inflicting more loss,” wrote M.S. Naravene in his book Battles of the Honourable East India Company: Making of the Raj. 

The well-equipped British cavalry smashed the Maratha Army. Due to poor planning and execution of war strategy to counter the British Army, the Maratha Army fled from the battlefield. Several Maratha soldiers were shot many drowned while crossing the Yamana.

Around 3,000 Marathas were killed while the British company lost 464 men in the battlefield.  After the battle, the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II was given nominal sovereignty over a small piece of territory in the immediate vicinity of Delhi with the British company announcing a pension of ` 90,000 per month for the Emperor.