The Capture of Delhi, fought in 1760, pitted the forces of the

Maratha Confederacy The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent Maratha states under the nominal leadership of the former. ...

against those of the

Durrani Empire The Durrani Empire, colloquially known as the Afghan Empire, or the Saddozai Kingdom, was an Afghanistan, Afghan empire founded by the Durrani tribe of Pashtuns under Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747, which spanned parts of Central Asia, the Iranian ...

led by Yakub Ali Khan. The Maratha army was commanded by Sadashiv Rao Bhau, a prominent military leader and the brother-in-law of the Maratha Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao. The Durrani army, on the other hand, was led by Yakub Ali Khan, a trusted general of

Ahmad Shah Durrani Ahmad Shāh Durrānī (; ; – 4 June 1772), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the first ruler and founder of the Durrani Empire. He is often regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan. Throughout his reign, Ahmad Shah fought ov ...

, the founder of the

Siege

Bhau, accompanied by his allies, arrived in

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

on 14 July but was forced to abandon his plan of negotiating with Govind Ballal due to the high floods of the

Jamuna river The Jamuna River () is one of the three main rivers of Bangladesh. The two other major rivers in Bangladesh are the Padma and the Meghna. The Jamuna is the lower stream of the Brahmaputra River, which originates in Tibet as Yarlung Tsangpo, ...

. Instead, he decided to move northward and avoid waiting for three months until the water receded. Bhau's advance guard, led by Malharrao, Jankoji, and Balwantrao Mehendele, attacked Delhi on 22 July. The city fell, but the fort remained under Afghan control. One hundred Maratha soldiers entered the fort undetected and began plundering the royal apartments. However, some were killed by Afghan guards, and others jumped down from the walls and broke their limbs. The fort was besieged and bombarded, and on 27 July, Bhau arrived in Delhi on 29 July and negotiated peace terms with Yaqub Ali Khan, allowing him to depart safely with his family, property, and troops. Naro Shankar was appointed as the new subahdar of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, and Baloji Palande was put in charge of the fort under Naro Shankar's authority.

References

{{reflist 18th-century battles Maratha Empire Durrani Empire Battles involving the Jats Battles involving the Maratha Empire