"Eminent historian of Kerala, Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, recorded the atrocities committed by Tipu, especially in Kozhikode: Kozhikode was then a centre of Brahmins. There were around 7000 Namboodiri houses of which more than 2000 houses were destroyed by Tipu Sultan in Kozhikode alone. Sultan did not spare even children and women. Menfolk escaped to forests and neighbouring principalities. Mappilas increased many fold [sic] (due to forcible conversion). During the military regime of Tipu Sultan, Hindus were forcibly circumcised and converted to Muhammadan faith. As a result, the number of Nairs and Brahmins declined substantially."

"In this context, it’s also pertinent to mention a 1964 book published by the Pakistan Administrative Staff College at Lahore. Entitled Life of Tipu Sultan, this book summarizes Tipu’s destructive raid in the Malabar as follows: Tipu imprisoned and forcibly converted more than a lakh Hindus and over 70,000 Christians in the Malabar region (they were forcibly circumcised and made to eat beef). Although these conversions were unethical and disgraceful, they served Tipu’s purpose. Once all these people had been cut off from their original faith, they were left with no option but to accept the very faith to which their ravager belonged, and they began to educate their children in Islam. They were later enlisted in the army and received good positions. Most of them morphed into religious zealots, and enhanced the ranks of the Faithful in Tipu’s kingdom. Tipu’s zeal for conversion was not limited only to the Malabar region. He had spread it all the way up to Coimbatore. But for the remonstrance of his mother, Tipu would have compelled his favourite Dewan Poornayya to have forsaken the religion of his forefathers."

"Even a summary of Tipu’s atrocities in the Malabar makes for painful reading. Colonel Fullerton’s report on the matter is one such account. During his 1783 siege of the Palaghat fort,Tipu’s soldiers daily exposed the heads of many innocent Brahmins within sight from the fort for Zamorin and his Hindu followers to see. It is asserted that the Zamorin rather than witness such enormities and to avoid further killing of innocent Brahmins, chose to abandon the Palghat Fort. In fact, it is not inaccurate to say that Tipu’s (later) Malabar campaign was—apart from trying to secure strategic advantage—a campaign motivated by extreme religious fanaticism against the Hindus of Kerala. Tipu and his army spared no section of the Hindu society—Brahmins, Nairs, Thiyyas, Christians, women, and children. Fullerton continues, It was not only against the Brahmins who were thus put in a state of terror of forcible circumcision and conversion; but against all sections of Hindus. In August, 1788, a Raja of the Kshatriya family of Parappanad and also Trichera Thiruppad, a chieftain of Nilamboor, and many other Hindu nobles who had been carried away earlier to Coimbatore by Tipu Sultan, were forcibly circumcised and forced to cat beef. Nairs in desperation, under the circumstances, rose up against their Muslim oppressors under Tipu’s command in South Malabar and the Hindus of Coorg in the North also joined them…"

"A Sreedhara Menon, the former editor of the Gazetteer of Kerala mentions that Hindus, especially Nairs and chieftains who resisted Islamic cruelties, were the main targets of Tipu’s anger. Hundreds of Nair women and children were abducted to Sreerangapatanam or sold as slaves to the Dutch. Nairs were hunted down and killed and also deprived of all traditional and social privileges. Thousands of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Nairs and other respected classes of Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam or driven out of their traditional ancestral homes. Thousands sought refuge in Travancore State while hundreds fled to forests and hills to escape Tipu’s atrocities which had completely shaken their sense of security. The new phase of Mysore administration in Kerala resulted in unending wars. Extreme cruelties of the invading army had badly affected every section of the society, leading to the mass exodus of people from Malabar.Many Hindu temples, royal houses and chieftain families were destroyed and plundered. The exodus of Brahmins and Kshatriyas who were the patrons and custodians of traditional arts and culture, resulted in stagnation in the cultural field also."

"Other evidence of Tipu’s barbarism in the Malabar has survived even today. In the words of the scholar and researcher Ravi Varma, One finds a heavy concentration of Mappilas [Kerala/Malabar Muslims] along the invasion routes of Tipu’s army, including the places of its temporary occupation, as in Mangalore, Cannanoor, Ponnani, Kondotty, Malappuram, Calicut, Kodungallur, Chawakat, Alwaye, Coimbatore, and Dindigal. This is another proof of forcible circumcision and conversion of helpless Nairs, defenceless Thiyyas and poor Cherumans on a mass scale. Even today, the origin of many Kshatriya, Nair and Brahmin families settled in Travancore and Cochin can be traced back to their ancestral families in Malabar - yet another proof of the severity of Tipu’s atrocities against Hindus during his Islamic wars in Kerala."

"Wherever Hyder Ali’s men marched, Hindus were massacred in cold blood. Everywhere, dead bodies deformed by sword cuts and bullet injuries were laying in pools of blood. All the temples and houses on the way were pillaged and set ablaze. To escape from swords of the Mysore army which engulfed the area like flood waters, many resorted to hiding themselves in deep forests. When Hyder’s force reached near Bharatha river, they inflicted heavy damages to life and properties in Vettatthu Nadu by plundering homes and temples and setting fire to everything belonging to Hindus indiscriminately. Big temples which were pillaged and damaged partly or wholly were Nava Mukunda temple of Thirunavaya, Temple of Brahma and Siva at Thavanur, Kodakkal Tali temple, Mahadeva temple at Thruprangod, Mahadeva temple at Trikkandiyur, Vamana temple at Kalad, Lakshmi Narasimha temple of Edamana. Further several small temples were also destroyed. Hyder Ali and his army demolished the eastern gopuram of Trikkandiyur Mahadeva temple and entered the inside premises and smashed the wooden structure holding a lakh of lamps and the Gopurams (entrance tower) and Mukhamandapam (sacred pillared pavilion in front of the sanctum). The head of the idol of sacred bull (Rishabha) was severed. They tried to enter the sanctum sanctorum and pluck out and throw away the idol but could not succeed. Hence it was badly disfigured. The remnants of the attack of Hyder are still visible in the temple. Even now the idol of the deity worshipped at Thrikkandiyur temple is the same which bears the cut mark inflicted by Hyder."

"Vella Nambudiri who was a direct witness of the atrocities committed by Hyder Ali and his army, records some of the incidents as under. “After Nawab went to Coimbatore and remained there, thinking that this land can be recaptured by a war, one king of Puthiya Kovilakam collected some fighters and started fighting. They could claim back some areas. Then “Madannan”was at Thirunavaya. There also the war commenced. Then they remained within temples and royal residences. They also fought. Chonakara also fought with all vigor. Then, there, Kalat Gopala Pisharody was appointed head man at Ponnani. He is also there. Hearing this news at Coimbatore, Nawab and his army came fast. At the same time Bouddha ( Muslim s) also came to the southern bank and fought. All the lords and a big group of people are there. When the fight began there, they all ran away from there. The Nawab and his army came to Vellanattukara, and seized girls and Brahmins as slaves, torched houses, executed many by the noose or sword. Then the Nawab and his people came to the northern bank. With Muslim s on the southern bank, they torched all the houses, temples, and the schools where Vedas were being taught to children. Many people of Vettatthunadu were forcibly converted to Islam. Then they went in different directions. Such a confrontation has not happened before. What more danger is there to come? Particularly Thirunavaya temples and entry towers were all torched. This is the facts.”"

"During the onslaught of Mysore army Hindus lost several temples like Sreekrishna temple at Paravanna, Siva temple of Nechikkat, Mahadeva temple of Thanniyur etc. In all the temples the idols were dug out. These were later converted to mosques. There are pseudo intellectuals now who claim that these conversions were not forced but through persuasion only and the mosques were constructed according to Hindu architecture which alone was known to the craftsmen there. Their purpose is to establish that Hindu temples were not converted to mosques."

"This order being executed with the utmost strictness nothing was to be seen in the roads for the distance of four leagues round but scattered limbs and mutilated bodies. The country of the Nayars [Nairs] was thrown into general consternation which was much increased by the cruelty of the Mapileys [Mapillahs], who followed the cavalry, massacred all who had escaped, without sparing women and children; so that the army advancing under the conduct of this enraged multitude, instead of meeting with resistance, found the villages, fortresses, temples and in general every habitable place forsaken and deserted."

"Wherever he turned, he found no opponent, nor even any human creature; every inhabited place was forsaken: and the poor inhabitants, who fled to the woods and mountains in the most inclement season, had the anguish to behold their houses in flames, their fruit-trees cut down, their cattle destroyed and their temples burned. The perfidy of the Nayres [Nairs] had been too great for them to trust the offers of pardon made by Hyder, by means of Brahmins he despatched into the woods and mountains to recall these unhappy people; who were hanged without mercy, and their wives and children reduced to slavery; whenever they were found in the woods by the troops of Hyder; severity and mildness being both equally ineffectual in making them return to their homes."

"The entire Nair country was plundered; their homes were burnt and a universal massacre of the Nair caste was ordered. The Nairs were hunted down and butchered. Hyder gave ‘Rupees 5 to anyone who brought him the head of a Nair that was able to fight; if it was an old man, he gave four, and if of a boy he gave three rupees.’ A price of three rupees was also paid for every Nair woman captured alive. Many women were thus captured and transported to distant places as presents to governors and chiefs."

"It is sufficient here to merely recall the earlier stated writings of Paolino da San Bartolomeo, a Portuguese Roman Catholic missionary who stayed in Malabar for about twelve and a half years, from 1776 to 1789: The manner in which he [Tipu] behaved to the inhabitants of Calicut was horrid. A great part of them, both male and female, were hung. He first tied up the mothers, and then suspended the children from their necks. The cruel tyrant caused several Christians and Heathens [Hindus] to be brought out naked, and made fast to the feet of his elephants, which were then obliged to drag them about till their limbs fell in pieces from their bodies. At the same time, he ordered all the churches and temples to be burned or pulled down or destroyed in some manner. Christian and pagan [Hindu] women were compelled to marry Mohammedans. The pagans were deprived of the token of their nobility, which is a lock of hair called kudumi; and every Christian, who appeared in the streets, must either submit to be circumcised, or be hanged on the spot. This happened in the year 1789, at which time I resided at Verapole [Varapali in Travancore]. I had then an opportunity of conversing with several Christians and Pagans, who had escaped from the fury of this merciless tyrant; and I assisted these fugitives to procure a boat to enable them to cross the river which runs past that city. This persecution continued till the 15th of April 1790.33"

"A. Sreedhara Menon writes: The brutalities committed by the Mysorean troops led to large scale migration from Malabar of people belonging to all strata of society. The hardworking peasants took refuge in the forests and jungles. Consequently, agriculture was ruined. What was once a fertile and flourishing country now assumed the appearance of a cheerless desert. The Nair gentry was dispossessed and shorn of its military and political power. The decline in agriculture resulted in their economic impoverishment also . . . moreover, many a flourishing town had been laid waste by the Mysore troops. Trade and commerce also declined steadily. The cultivation of pepper on which depended the economic prosperity of the country was suspended over large areas and Kerala’s once prosperous pepper trade practically came to a standstill. The once flourishing sea ports of Kerala now presented a deserted look. Gold and silver which the country had amassed by centuries of trade with foreign countries virtually disappeared from the land. Extensive fields lay uncultivated, houses of nobles and landlords were in ruins and daily worship in many important temples was suspended. The economic depression that set in was so severe that the common people were on the verge of famine and starvation. To add to the economic distress of the times, the Mysorean invasions created a cleavage between the Mappilas and the Hindus and destroyed social harmony. The former had helped the Mysore Sultans in their campaigns in Kerala and aroused the active hostility of the Hindu population. With the expulsion of Tipu, the Mappilas who had enjoyed political power for more than 30 years lost their privileged status. They were unable to reconcile themselves to this discomfiture and were thereafter in a state of general revolt against established authority. The Mappila outbreaks of the 19th Century were thus in a way a legacy of the Mysore invasions."

"[Tipu Sultan] also boasted about ‘the destruction in the course of this holy war of eight thousand idol temples, many of them roofed with gold, silver, or copper, and all containing treasures buried at the feet of the idol, the whole of which was royal plunder.’"

"Noted scholar Vadakkankoor Raja Raja Varma bemoans the dance of destruction that Kerala faced during this time, in his Kerala Samskrita Sahitya Charitram (History of Sanskrit Literature in Kerala): There was no limit as to the loss the Hindu temples suffered due to the military operations of Tipu Sultan. Burning down the temples, destruction of the idols installed therein and also cutting the heads of cattle over the temple deities were the cruel entertainments of Tipu Sultan and his equally cruel army. It was heartrending even to imagine the destruction caused by Tipu Sultan in the famous ancient temples of Thalipparampu and Thrichambaram. The devastation caused by this new Ravana’s barbarous activities have not yet been fully rectified."

"Writing about the temples destroyed in the Vettum region of Malappuram, the late P.C.N. Raja, a senior member of the Zamorin family, writes: The devastation caused by Tipu Sultan to the ancient and holy temples of Keraladheeswaram, Thrikkandiyoor and Thriprangatu in Vettum region was terrible. The Zamorin renovated these temples to some extent. The famous and ancient Thirunavaya Temple, known throughout the country as an ancient teaching-centre of the Vedas, revered by the devotees of Vishnu from Tamil Nadu, and existing before the advent of Christ, was also plundered and destroyed by Tipu’s army. After dismantling and destroying the idol, Tipu converted the Thrikkavu Temple into an ammunition depot in Ponnani. It was the Zamorin who repaired the temple later. Kotikkunnu, Thrithala, Panniyoor and other family temples of the Zamorin were plundered and destroyed. The famous Sukapuram Temple was also desecrated. Damage done to the Perumparampu Temple and Maranelira Temple of Azhvancherry Thamprakkal (titular head of all Namboodiri Brahmins) in Edappadu, can be seen even today. Vengari Temple and Thrikkulam Temple in Eranadu, Azhinjillam Temple in Ramanattukara, Indyannur Temple, Mannur Temple and many other temples were defiled and damaged extensively during the military regime."

"With their victory at Plassey (see “Seven Years War”), the British (in the form of the East India Company) ended up ruling Bengal, but right away they got off to a bad start. In 1769, the seasonal rains failed to come to India, and the resulting famine of 1769–70 killed some 10 million people, a quarter of the population of Bengal."

"Whose fault was it? A Dutch naval captain in the area at the time wrote, “This famine arose in part from the bad rice harvest of the preceding year; but it must also be attributed principally to the monopoly the English had over the last harvest of this commodity, which they kept at such a high price that the most unfortunate inhabitants . . . found themselves powerless to buy the tenth part of what they needed to live.”4"

"Finally deciding that he had to conquer the south himself, Aurangzeb rode out with an army reputed to number a half million. Not just an army, the traveling party included his entire court and a tent city of colorful pavilions, animal herds, wagons, corrals, and bazaars. For the remaining twenty-six years of his life, he would never again return to the north."

"In 1686–87 he overran the independent Muslim kingdoms of Bijapur and Golconda, whom he considered decadent and hedonistic. Then he turned his full attention against the Marathas on the mountainous rim of the Deccan plateau in west-central India. When the Mughals finally captured the Maratha king Sambhaji in 1689, Aurangzeb had him gradually dismantled over the next three weeks—cutting out his tongue the first day, eyes the next, then his limbs one by one. Finally Sambhaji was reduced to an unrecognizable fraction of his former self and was beheaded."

"As the war dragged on, southern India was devastated. According to contemporary sources, 100,000 of Aurangzeb’s men and 300,000 beasts of burden (horses, camels, asses, oxen, and elephants) died every year during the quarter century of war in the Deccan. When drought, plague, and famine hit the war-torn lands in 1702 to 1704, two million civilians died within a few years."

"Here’s how Lewin Bowring describes it: Marching through Coorg with a large army, he sent detachments about the country to hunt down the rebellious Nairs, while he himself proceeded to Kutipuram. Here, two thousand [Nairs] defended themselves and their families with resolution, but were soon obliged to surrender. This gave an opportunity to Tipu to show his apostolic zeal. Orders were issued that the whole of these unfortunates should be offered the alternative of becoming good Musalmans, or, in case of noncompliance, that they should be banished to [Srirangapattana]. They reluctantly acquiesced in the former alternative, knowing well what the deportation meant. The next day, accordingly, all the males were circumcised, while both sexes were compelled to eat beef, as a proof of their conversion. One of the principal victims of Tipu’s revenge was the Raja of Chirakkal, of ancient descent, who, having been falsely accused of conspiring, was attacked and killed, and his body hung up after his death. In this raid the Mysore sovereign is said to have carried off large treasures plundered from the temples in Malabar. He crowned his achievements by compelling the princess of Cannanore to marry her daughter to his son, Abd-ul-Khalik."

"A short but vivid sample from Fr. Bartholomew’s account will suffice to illustrate the nature of Tipu’s raid: First a corps of 30,000 barbarians who butchered everybody on the way… followed by the field-gun unit… Tipu was riding on an elephant behind which another army of 30,000 soldiers followed. Most of the men and women were hanged in Calicut, first mothers were hanged with their children tied to necks of mothers. That barbarian Tipu Sultan tied the naked Christians and Hindus to the legs of elephants and made the elephants to move around till the bodies of the helpless victims were torn to pieces. Temples and churches were ordered to be burned down, desecrated and destroyed. Christian and Hindu women were forced to marry Mohammadans and similarly their men were forced to marry Mohammadan women. Those Christians who refused to be honoured with Islam, were ordered to be killed by hanging immediately. These atrocities were told to me by the victims of Tipu Sultan who escaped from the clutches of his army and reached Varappuzha, which is the centre of Carmichael Christian Mission. I myself helped many victims to cross the Varappuzha river by boats."

"Indeed, the devastation in Calicut was so comprehensive that it changed the character of the place forever. Calicut was home to more than 7000 Brahmin families. Thanks to Tipu, more than 2000 of these were wiped out, and the remaining fled to the forests. In the words of the German missionary Guntest, “Accompanied by an army of 60,000, Tipu Sultan came to Kozhikode [Calicut] in 1788 and razed it to the ground. It is not possible even to describe the brutalities committed by that Islamic barbarian from Mysore.”"

"In a letter to Syed Abdul Dulai he gloats that With the grace of Prophet Mohammed and Allah, almost all Hindus in Calicut are converted to Islam. Only on the borders of Cochin State a few are still not converted. I am determined to convert them also very soon. I consider this as Jehad to achieve that object."

"Here is another letter commending his officer Budruz Zuman Khan thus: Your two letters, with the enclosed memorandums of the Naimar (or Nair) captives, have been received. You did right in ordering a hundred and thirty-five of them to be circumcised, and in putting eleven of the youngest of these into the Usud Ilhye band (or class) and the remaining ninety-four into the Ahmedy Troop…"

"In yet another letter to the selfsame Budruz Khan, Tipu celebrates the triumph of his fanaticism in a different way: I have achieved a great victory recently in Malabar and over four lakh Hindus were converted to Islam. I am now determined to march against the cursed Raman Nair."

"We can turn to Bowring again:The Mysore army, flushed with success, now began to lay waste the country with fire and sword, desecrating and despoiling temples, and burning towns and villages, whose wretched inhabitants fled to the hills, where many were seized and made prisoners. The ruins to be seen at the present day testify to the ferocity of the invaders, while all the records of antiquity and the archives of the Travancore State were consumed in the burning pagodas, public offices, and houses. These atrocities were perpetrated with the express sanction of Tipu Sultan, who himself marched with his main army southward to Alwal, a favourite watering-place of the Travancore Raja. He contemplated the reduction of the whole province."

"Nadir Shah is said to have written to the emperor ‘My coming to Cabul and possessing myself thereof was purely out of zeal for Islam and friendship for you...my stay on this side of the Attock is with a view that when those infidels (the Marathas) move towards Hindustan, I may send an army of the victorious Kizzilbash to drive them to the abyss of hell’."

"Afterwards Nadir Shah himself, with the Emperor of Hindustan, entered the fort of Delhi. It is said that he appointed a place on one side in the fort for the residence of Muhammad Shah and his dependents, and on the other side he chose the Diwan-i Khas, or, as some say, the Garden of Hayat Bakhsh, for his own accommodation. He sent to the Emperor of Hindustan, as to a prisoner, some food and wine from his own table. One Friday his own name was read in the khutba, but on the next he ordered Muhammad Shah's name to be read. It is related that one day a rumour spread in the city that Nadir Shah had been slain in the fort. This produced a general confusion, and the people of the city destroyed five thousand men of his camp. On hearing of this, Nadir Shah came of the fort, sat in the golden masjid which was built by Rashanu-d daula, and gave orders for a general massacre. For nine hours an indiscriminate slaughter of all and of every degree was committed. It is said that the number of those who were slain amounted to one hundred thousand. The losses and calamities of the people of Delhi were exceedingly great…. After this violence and cruelty, Nadir Shah collected immense riches, which he began to send to his country laden on elephants and camels."

"…All control of power is with the Hindus because they are the only people who are industrious and adaptable. Riches and prosperity are theirs, while Muslims have nothing but poverty and misery. At this juncture you are the only person, who has the initiative, the foresight, the power and capability to defeat the enemy and free the Muslims from the clutches of the infidels. God forbid if their domination continues, Muslims will even forget Islam and become undistinguishable from the non-Muslims"

"The cup is full to the brim, and cannot hold another drop. If anything can be done, do it. If not, let me know plainly and at once; for afterwards there will be no time for writing, or for speech"

"“You profess to be a Hindu; but how is that you have kept this mosque standing so long?” said the Bhao “Maharaj! Of late, the Royal fortune of Hindustan has become fickle in her favour like a courtesan; to-night she is in the arms of one man and next in the embrace of another. If I could be sure that I should remain master of these territories all through my life, I would have leveled this mosque down to the earth. But of what use will it be, if I to-day destroy this mosque, and tomorrow the Musalmans come, and demolish the great temples and build four mosques in place of one? As your Excellency has come to these parts the affair is now in your hands.”"

"Though, after all, the will of God will be done, it behoves us not the less to help destiny to be beneficent by our own best endeavours. Think carefully, consult Her Highness, your mother: I am not fond of trouble, and should not have come all this distance to see your Excellency were I not deeply interested."

"What, have I come from the south relying on your strength? I will do what I like. You may stay here or go back to your own place. After overthrowing the Abdali, I shall come to reckoning with you."

"Whither would you run, friends, your country is far from here."

"Two pearls have been dissolved, 27 gold coins have been lost and of the silver and copper the total cannot be cast up."

"To make the long and painful story short, it may just be mentioned that after the Third Battle of Panipat (1761), “the plunder of the (Maratha) camp was prodigious, and women and children who survived were driven off as slaves - twenty-two thousand (women), of the highest rank in the land, says the Siyar-ul-Mutakhkhirin.”"

"'Next morning the sun revealed a horrid spectacle on the vast plain south of PAnipat. On the actual field of the combat thirty-one distinct heaps of the slain were counted, the number of bodies in each ranging from 500 upwards to 1000 and in four up to 1500 a rough total of 28,000. In addition to these, the ditch round the Maratha camp was full of dead bodies, partly the victims of disease and famine during the long siege and partly wounded men who had crawled out of the fighting to die there. West and south of PAnipat city, the jungle and the road in the line of MarAtha retreat were littered with the remains of those who had fallen unresisting in the relentless DurrAni pursuit or from hunger and exhaustion. Their number - probably three-fourths non-combatants and one-fourth soldiers - could not have been far short of the vast total of those slain in the battlefield. 'The hundreds who lay down wounded, perished from the severity of the cold.'.... 'After the havoc of combat followed massacre in cold blood. Several hundreds of MarAthas had hidden themselves in the hostile city of PAnipat through folly or helplessness; and these were hunted out next day and put to the sword. According to one plausible account, the sons of Abdus Samad Khan and Mian Qutb received the DurrAni king's permission to avenge their father's death by an indiscriminate massacre of the MarAthas for one day, and in this way nearly nine thousand men perished; these were evidently non-combatants. The eyewitness Kashiraj Pandit thus describes the scene: 'Every Durrani soldier brought away a hundred or two of prisoners and slew them in the outskirts of their camp, crying out, When I started from our country, my mother, father, sister and wife told me to slay so may kafirs for their sake after we had gained the victory in this holy war, so that the religious merit of this act [of infidel slaying] might accrue to them. In this way, thousands of soldiers and other persons were massacred. In the Shah's camp, except the quarters of himself and his nobles, every tent had a heap of severed heads before it. One may say that it was verily doomsday for the MarAtha people.'.... The booty captured within the entrenchment was beyond calculation and the regiments of Khans [i.e. 8000 troopers of AbdAli clansmen] did not, as far as possible, allow other troops like the IrAnis and the TurAnis to share in the plunder; they took possession of everything themselves, but sold to the Indian soldiers handsome Brahman women for one tuman and good horses for two tumans each.' The Deccani prisoners, male and female reduced to slavery by the victorious army numbered 22,000, many of them being the sons and other relatives of the sardArs or middle class men. Among them 'rose-limbed slave girls' are mentioned.' Besides these 22,000 unhappy captives, some four hundred officers and 6000 men fled for refuge to ShujA-ud-daulah's camp, and were sent back to the Deccan with monetary help by that nawab, at the request of his Hindu officers. The total loss of the MarAthas after the battle is put at 50,000 horses, captured either by the AfghAn army or the villagers along the route of flight, two hundred thousand draught cattle, some thousands of camels, five hundred elephants, besides cash and jewellery. 'Every trooper of the Shah brought away ten, and sometimes twenty camels laden with money. The captured horses were beyond count but none of them was of value; they came like droves of sheep in their thousands."

"And after the Third Battle of Panipat (1761), “the unhappy prisoners were paraded in long lines, given a little parched grain and a drink of water, and beheaded… and the women and children who survived were driven off as slaves - twenty-two thousand, many of them of the highest rank in the land, says the Siyar-ut-Mutakhirin.”"

"The dead lay strewn shoulder to shoulder from the plain of Panipat to Delhi. About ninety thousand persons, male and female, were taken prisoners, and obtained eternal happiness by embracing the Muhammadan faith. Indeed, never was such splendid victory achieved from the time of Amir Mahmud Subuktigin."

"In 1926 there arose a controversy as to who really won the third battle of Panipat, fought in 1761. It was contended for the Muslims that it was a great victory for them because Ahmad Shah Abdali had 1 lakh of soldiers while the Mahrattas had 4 to 6 lakhs. The Hindus replied that it was a victory to them—a victory to [the] vanquished—because it stemmed the tide of Muslim invasions. The Muslims were not prepared to admit defeat at the hands of Hindus, and claimed that they will always prove superior to the Hindus. To prove the eternal superiority of Muslims over Hindus, it was proposed by one Maulana Akbar Shah Khan of Najibabad in all seriousness, that the Hindus and Muslims should fight, under test conditions, [a] fourth battle on the same fateful plain of Panipat. The Maulana accordingly issued/17/ a challenge to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in the following terms: "If you Malaviyaji, are making efforts to falsify the result at Panipat, I shall show you an easy and an excellent way (of testing it). Use your well-known influence and induce the British Government to permit the fourth battle of Panipat to be fought without hindrance from the authorities. I am ready to provide. . . .a comparative test of the valour and fighting spirit of the Hindus and the Musalmans. . . .As there are seven crores of Musalmans in India, I shall arrive on a fixed date on the plain of Panipat with 700 Musalmans representing the seven crores of Muslims in India and as there are 22 crores of Hindus I allow you to come with 2,200 Hindus. The proper thing is not to use cannon, machine guns or bombs: only swords and javelins and spears, bows and arrows and daggers should be used. If you cannot accept the post of generalissimo of the Hindu host, you may give it to any descendant of Sadashivrao/18/ or Vishwasrao so that their scions may have an opportunity to avenge the defeat of their ancestors in 1761. But any way do come as a spectator; for on seeing the result of this battle you will have to change your views, and I hope there will be then an end of the present discord and fighting in the country. . . .In conclusion I beg to add that among the 700 men that I shall bring there will be no Pathans or Afghans as you are mortally afraid of them. So I shall bring with me only Indian Musalmans of good family who are staunch adherents of Shariat.""

"…We have already brought Lahore, Multan, Kashmir and other subahs on this side of Attock under our rule for the most part, and places which have not come under our rule we shall soon bring under us. Ahmad Khan Abdali's son Taimur Sultan and Jahan Khan have been pursued by our troops, and their troops completely looted. Both of them have now reached Peshawar with a few broken troops...we have decided to extend our rule up to Kandahar."