It's a long time since a great movie like Gladiator has been released. I love to watch the battle of Germania scene from Gladiator. It watched it a few times today. Then I watched this interesting re-creation of the battle of Stirling Bridge. The battle of Stirling Bridge is one of the most memorable battles in first war of Scottish independence. On September 11, 1297, Scottish forces led by William Wallace trounced the English, although the Scots were outnumbered 1:4!
The history of battle of Stirling Bridge, reminded me of a slide show on the battle of Pratapgad prepared by a retired school teacher in Mahabaleshwar. The slide show was one of the most interesting experiences on my pilgrimage to Pratapgad in 2001. Like the Scots, Shivaji's forces were heavily outnumbered by Afzal Khan's strong army. The slide show narrated the incredible rout of Afzal Khan's army at the hands of Shivaji's Mavalas. Here's a brief excerpt of the story of Pratapgad from wikipedia:
Battle
After starting from Bijapur, Afzal Khan began by destroying the temple of Bhavani at Tuljapur. He moved on to the Vittal temple at Pandharpur. He was trying to entice Shivaji out of the mountainous areas he occupied and onto the plains.
Hand to hand combat of the forces
Maratha troops commanded by Shivaji's captain Kanhoji Jedhe, swept down on Afzal Khan's 1,500 musketeers; resulting in a complete rout of the musketeers at the foothills of the fort. Then in a rapid march, a section of Adilshahi forces commanded by Musekhan was attacked. Musekhan, Afzal Khan's lieutenant, was wounded and subsequently fled the field.
Meanwhile, Moropant led the Maratha infantry toward the left flank of Adilshahi troops. The suddenness of this attack on Afzal Khan's artillery at close quarters made them ineffective in providing artillery cover for the main portion of their troops. And as a result of this the rest of their troops rapidly succumbed to an all out Maratha attack. Simultaneously Shivaji's Sardar (captain), Ragho Atre's cavalry units swooped down and attacked the large but unprepared Adilshahi cavalry before they were able to be fully geared up for battle and succeeded in completely routing them in short order.
The Maratha cavalry under Netaji Palkar pursued the retreating Adilshahi forces, who were attempting to join up with the part of their reserve forces stationed in the nearby village of Wai. They were engaged in battle before they could regroup and were defeated prior to reaching Wai. The Adilshahi forces not withstanding the onslaught of the Marathas started retreating towards Bijapur. The Maratha army chased the retreating army and on their way captured 23 Adilshahi forts. In fact, the Adilshahi Killedar of the Kolhapur fort himself handed over the keys to the Marathas.
Aftermath
Adilshahi forces lost their artillery, 65 elephants, 4000 horses, 1200 camels, jewels worth 300,000 Rupees, 1,000,000 Rupees, heaps of precious cloths, tents to the Marathas. They also lost their money and grain stored at Wai. 5,000 Adilshahi soldiers were killed and almost as many were wounded. 3,000 soldiers were imprisoned, and the remainder were allowed to go home in defeat.
The battle of Pratapgad took place on November 10, 1659. It marked the beginning of the end for Adilshahi and laid the foundation of benign rule of Shivaji, and eventual independence of our nation from tyrannical foreign rulers.
The history of battle of Stirling Bridge, reminded me of a slide show on the battle of Pratapgad prepared by a retired school teacher in Mahabaleshwar. The slide show was one of the most interesting experiences on my pilgrimage to Pratapgad in 2001. Like the Scots, Shivaji's forces were heavily outnumbered by Afzal Khan's strong army. The slide show narrated the incredible rout of Afzal Khan's army at the hands of Shivaji's Mavalas. Here's a brief excerpt of the story of Pratapgad from wikipedia:
Battle
After starting from Bijapur, Afzal Khan began by destroying the temple of Bhavani at Tuljapur. He moved on to the Vittal temple at Pandharpur. He was trying to entice Shivaji out of the mountainous areas he occupied and onto the plains.
Hand to hand combat of the forces
Maratha troops commanded by Shivaji's captain Kanhoji Jedhe, swept down on Afzal Khan's 1,500 musketeers; resulting in a complete rout of the musketeers at the foothills of the fort. Then in a rapid march, a section of Adilshahi forces commanded by Musekhan was attacked. Musekhan, Afzal Khan's lieutenant, was wounded and subsequently fled the field.
Meanwhile, Moropant led the Maratha infantry toward the left flank of Adilshahi troops. The suddenness of this attack on Afzal Khan's artillery at close quarters made them ineffective in providing artillery cover for the main portion of their troops. And as a result of this the rest of their troops rapidly succumbed to an all out Maratha attack. Simultaneously Shivaji's Sardar (captain), Ragho Atre's cavalry units swooped down and attacked the large but unprepared Adilshahi cavalry before they were able to be fully geared up for battle and succeeded in completely routing them in short order.
The Maratha cavalry under Netaji Palkar pursued the retreating Adilshahi forces, who were attempting to join up with the part of their reserve forces stationed in the nearby village of Wai. They were engaged in battle before they could regroup and were defeated prior to reaching Wai. The Adilshahi forces not withstanding the onslaught of the Marathas started retreating towards Bijapur. The Maratha army chased the retreating army and on their way captured 23 Adilshahi forts. In fact, the Adilshahi Killedar of the Kolhapur fort himself handed over the keys to the Marathas.
Aftermath
Adilshahi forces lost their artillery, 65 elephants, 4000 horses, 1200 camels, jewels worth 300,000 Rupees, 1,000,000 Rupees, heaps of precious cloths, tents to the Marathas. They also lost their money and grain stored at Wai. 5,000 Adilshahi soldiers were killed and almost as many were wounded. 3,000 soldiers were imprisoned, and the remainder were allowed to go home in defeat.
The battle of Pratapgad took place on November 10, 1659. It marked the beginning of the end for Adilshahi and laid the foundation of benign rule of Shivaji, and eventual independence of our nation from tyrannical foreign rulers.
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