Battle of Lalsot

Battle of Lalsot
Part of Imperial Maratha Conquests
Date 1787 Location Lalsot Result Stalemate.
Belligerents
Kingdom of Gwalior Mughal Empire(defected) Rao of Macheri	Kingdom of Jaipur Kingdom of Marwar Mughals under Muhammad Beg Hamadani and Ismail Beg Hamadani
Commanders and leaders
Mahadji Shinde General de Boigne Rana Khan Khande Rao Hari Ambaji Ingle Murtaza Khan Barech Ghasi Khan Motigir Gosain Najaf Khan Leseneau Le Vassoult	Pratap Singh of Jaipur Muhammad Beg Hamdani † Bhim Singh
Strength
unknown number under Mahadji 25,000 reinforcements under Khande Rao Hari, Boigne and Ambaji Ingle	20,000 feudal levies from Jaipur 5,000 Rathor horsemen from Jodhpur 5,000 Naga infantry from Jodhpur unknown number under Hamdani
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown but Higher

The Battle of Lalsot was fought between the Rajputs of Jaipur and Jodhpur against Mahadji Scindia of Gwalior who as the Vakil-Ul-Mulqtak (Regent) of the Mughal Empire was burdened to collect taxes from the Rajput States. Mahadji demanded Rs.63,00,000 from the Jaipur court however these demands were refused upon which Mahadji marched against Jaipur with his army. A part of the Mughal army under Hamdani deserted and defected to the Rajput army before the battle. The battle ended after three days, with the retreat of Mahadji Shinde at Tunga, close to Lalsot.

Battle

The battle started with cannonade on both sides. The Jaipur army stayed back in a defensive position as they had long range artillery, the cannonade continued till 11 O'Clock, the Gwalior army faced some casualties as they had light artillery and could not counterattack effectively. The Rathor horsemen of Jodhpur however grew impatient as they found the Jaipur strategy to be cowardly and degrading, around 4000 of them with their chieftains and family heads charged the Gwalior army leaving their general Bhim Singh behind. The Marathas shot the Rathors with artillery and musket fire killing many, however the Rathors undaunted by the casualties charged the Marathas and broke into their left wing, many from the Gwalior side were killed, the Rathors pushed deep into Gwalior lines and attacked De Boigne, forcing him to retreat after a short fight. Rana Khan upon seeing his left wing crumble, sent reinforcements under Shivaji Vithal, Rayaji Patil and Khande Hari, they slowly rallied the fleeing soldiers and fought "the bloodiest and most obstinate struggle of the day". The Jaipur army however did not take advantage of this opening created by the reckless charge and held their positions. The Rathors upon seeing no reinforcements, started losing morale as the Gwalior reserves were now approaching them, they were finally pushed back. The right wing of the Gwalior army fared better as they unknowingly killed the Mughal General Muhammad Beg Hamdani when a stray shot from the cannon struck a tree which dropped upon him and causing him to fall off his howdah and ripped half his body open. Hamdani's soldiers made a charge at the Gwalior right wing, but were pushed back. Upon knowing that their general was dead the Mughalias did not make another attempt to attack the Gwalior army. The Rathors did make attempts to capture the Gwalior artillery, they charged the Gwalior army four times but were repelled in all their attempts. The two armies held their positions till midnight and then returned to their camps. Mahadji did not make any advances as he did not know about Muhammad Beg's death. Mahadji also feared that the Rajput and Mughal soldiers in his own army may change sides. There was some cannonade but both sides remained in their camps for the rest of the war.

Aftermath

Mahadji Scindia was forced to retreat on 1 August 1787. Both sides claimed victory in this battle. However all successive charges by the Rathore cavalry were repulsed and no gunnery of the Marathas could be captured. The Rajputs also had higher casualties, mostly suffered by the Jodhpur army as they lost more than a thousand Rathor horsemen. On the other hand the Marathas did not manage to rout the enemy out of their camps because they were unaware of Hamadani's death until late night. Ultimately Mahadaji Shinde's forces had to retreat owing to treachery and dissensions in his own ranks and the utter failure of provisions.