Battle of Saunshi

Battle of Saunshi
Date 1777 Location Gajendragarh, Present-Day Karnataka Result Mysore Victory.[1]
Belligerents
Maratha Empire	Sultanate of Mysore
Commanders and leaders
Konher Rao Padurang Rao	Hyder Ali Muhammad Ali

The Battle of Saunshi was fought between the Sultanate of Mysore and the Maratha Empire.^[2][3] Hyder Ali attempted to try to regain his lost territories of Malabar and Coorg from the Marathas and was successful in doing so. Hyder Ali who was the Emperor of Mysore decided to attack the Marathas at Saunshi. Hyder Ali decided to send his General, Muhammad Ali to attack the Maratha position. The result of the battle was a victory for Mysore against the Maratha forces. Maratha Chief Konher Rao was killed and Padurang Rao was caught by the Mysore forces.^[1][4][5]

References

1. Jacques, Tony. Dictionary of Battles and Sieges. quote:"Haidar Ali of Mysore recovered from loss at Chinkurli (1771) to regain Coorg and Malabar, previously lost to the Marathas, then sent a force under Mohamed Ali across the Tungabhadra in southern India. Near Dharwawr at Saunshi, Patwardhan Chief Konher Rao was defeated and killed and Padurang Rao was captured. As a result, many local Chiefs soon submitted to Haidar.". Greenwood Press. p. 916. ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5.
2. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (1977), The History and Culture of the Indian People: The Marath supremacy, quote: "Haidar's triumph became unmistakable when he succeeded in defeating the Patwardhans in a sanguinary contest on 8 January 1777, at Saunshi, near Dharwar.", p. 425
3. M. S. Naravane (1996), Battles of medieval India (AD 1295-1850), APH Pub. Corp., p. 173
4. Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency - Volume 22, quote: "Before the joint Maratha and Nizam armies could march, a small force under Konherrao Patvardhan and Pandurang, was (1776) sent to drive Haidar's troops out of Savanur. Muhammad Ali, the Maisur general and Raghoba's agent in command of a body of auxiliary Marathas, came up with the troops under the Patvardhan at Sansi about twenty-five miles south-east of Dharwar. Finding the Poona force drawn up in order of battle, Muhammad Ali began the action with his cavalry. He feigned a check, and, retiring in apparent disorder, was thoughtlessly followed by the Marathas, who, confident of victory, pursued in headlong haste till the fugitive Musalmans suddenly disappeared through openings in a powerful reserve. At the same time a body of men in ambush poured into the flanks of the Marathas a tremendous fire of graph and musketry. The slaughter was serious and the confusion hopeless. Muhammad Ali made a determined charge at the head of his cavalry, and, completing the rout, continued the pursuit for nine miles, and captured many of the Marathas, among them their leader Pandurang. After this defeat, in 1777...", Government Central Press, 1884, p. 413
5. C. A. Kincaid (1925), A History of the Maratha People (PDF), note: "Sansi" as quoted in this text on page 119 refers to Saunshi, Oxford University Press, p. 119