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The Battle of Merta was fought on 10 Spetember 1790 between the Maratha Empire and the Rajputs of Jodhpur which resulted in a decisive Maratha victory. ==Background== The battle of Patan had not really put an end to the Kachhwa-Rathor combination. From the fatal field the vanquished general Mirza Ismail Beg and most of his soldiers and captains escaped, though at the sacrifice of all their guns and property. And now from his refuge in Jodhpur territory he began to assemble a new army by calling his scattered followers. The Maratha cause was furthered weakened by the incurable quarrel between Scindhia and Holkar, and their failure to collect enough war indemnity for meeting the daily cost of their inflated army.〔Fall of the Mughal Empire: 1789-1803, Jadunath Sarkar, p 22〕 So Scindhia's generals, after making some little money collection in the Shekhawati district, by-passed Jaipur and laid siege to Ajmer fort (on 21 August). At the same time, Mahadji, by a master stroke of strategy, terrified and neutralized the Raja of Jaipur by pushing a large detachment from his camp in Mathura, on to Bhusawar (15 August), on the eastern frontier of the Jaipur state, in readiness to invade that country if his troops marched west to aid the Marwar army then defending Ajmer. Finally in order to strike even greater terror, he announced that he would join the campaign in person, and entered 'marching tents' outside that holy city, and a few days later advanced to Shantanukund.〔Fall of the Mughal Empire: 1789-1803, Jadunath Sarkar, p 22〕 The Raja of Jodhpur set himself to collecting an army under the brilliant leadership of Mirza Ismail Beg for raising the siege of Ajmer and expelling the Marathas from his territory. It was a question of life and death to Mahadji to strike the first blow.〔Fall of the Mughal Empire: 1789-1803, Jadunath Sarkar, p 22〕 No time was to be lost in breaking up the relieving the Marwar army posted at Merta before it could be doubled by the arrival of the reinforcements which were gathering at Nagor, only forty miles away. This strategic move was immediately put into execution by the Marathas. Leaving 2000 Deccani horse and a small body of trained musketeers to hold the siege trenches before Ajmer and prevent any succour from reaching the beleaguered fort, the main army of Scindhia under Gopal Hari Raghunath (popularly known as Gopal Bhau Chitnis) set out for Merta on 4 September, The Maratha horse moved one march ahead, forming a screen before the more slowly guns and trained infantry under De Boigne, and arrived at Netaria, four miles east of Merta, on the seventh. De Boigne had to take a more circuitous route, south of Ajmer, then west and finally north, by ways of Pisangaon and Govindgarh, to Alniawas, on the southern bank of the Luni, and ploughed his way across the broad, sandy bed of that river on to the town of Rian, fifteen miles south-east of Merta, on the eighth. His arrangements were perfect; a large number of camels carried skins of water for his men over this dry region, and others transported his infantry to lessen their fatigue. At midnight between eighth and the ninth, De Boigne resumed his march and next dawn arrived at the Maratha camp in Netaria.〔Fall of the Mughal Empire: 1789-1803, Jadunath Sarkar, p 22〕 A mile due east of Merta city is the village of Dangawas, with two large tanks lying east of it. Three miles beyond Dangawas, in the same easterly direction lies another village, Netaria, (eleven miles north-west of Rian and the Luni river) with a similar water supply. Thus, Netaria served as the base of Scindhia's army before the battle, and the fighting began with an attack upon the northernmost point (or the left extreme) of the Rajput trenches which extended from the tanks east of Dangawas westwards in a semi-circular line along the south side of Merta city.〔Fall of the Mughal Empire: 1789-1803, Jadunath Sarkar, p 23〕 Merta has been righly called the Gateway of Marwar, and here every invader of the Rathore kingdom has been first opposed.〔Fall of the Mughal Empire: 1789-1803, Jadunath Sarkar, p 23〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Merta」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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