LouieWebb342 at 14:43, 24 March 2026

2026-03-24T14:43:00Z

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{{Short description|Maratha general (1723–1760)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = ''[[Sardar]]''
| name = Dattaji Shinde (Scindia)
| honorific_suffix = [[Scindia]]
| image = Dattaji Rao Scindia.jpg
| caption = Dattaji Shinde (Scindia)
| birth_date = {{circa|1723}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1760|1|10|1723|||df=yes}}
| birth_place =
| death_place =
| nickname =
| allegiance = [[File:Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg|20px]] [[Maratha Empire]]
| branch =
| serviceyears =
| rank =
| unit =
| commands =
| battles = *[[Battle of Delhi (1757)]]
*Battle of Merta (1755)
*Battle of Sindhkhed (1757)
*Maratha-Nizam War (1751–52)
*[[Northern Conquest of Raghunath Rao]]
*[[Battle of Taraori (1759)]]
*[[Battle of Barari Ghat]]{{KIA}}
| awards =
| spouse =
| relations = [[Ranoji Shinde]] (father) [[Jayappaji Rao Scindia]] (brother) [[Jankoji Rao Scindia]] (nephew) [[Jyotiba Rao Scindia]] (brother) [[Tukoji Rao Scindia]] (halfbrother) [[Mahadji Shinde]] (halfbrother)
}}
'''Dattaji Rao Shinde''', also known as '''Dattaji Rao Scindia''', (c. 1723 – 10 January 1760) was the second son of [[Ranoji Rao Shinde]] and Maina Bai, alias Nimba Bai. His elder brother was [[Jayappaji Rao Scindia|Jayappaji Rao Shinde]] and his younger brother was Jyotiba.<ref>Abhas Verma, "Third Battle of Panipat", Bhartiya Kala Prakashan, {{ISBN|9788180903397}}</ref>

==Early life==
Dattajirao was the elder half-brother of [[Mahadaji Shinde]], who later became the confederacy head of [[Gwalior]] princely state, famous fabricator of the Great Maratha Resurrection of 1771, and also the regent for his nephew [[Jankoji Rao Scindia|Jankoji Rao Shinde]], from 1755 until Jankoji's death in 1761.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

==Battle with Afghans and death==
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2023}}
[[Balaji Baji Rao]], also called Nanasaheb Peshwa, gave Dattaji Rao command of the subjugated [[Subah of Lahore|Lahore]] and [[Subah of Multan|Multan]] provinces, with an army of 18,000 cavalry to stop the Afghan invasion led by [[Ahmed Shah Durrani]], also called Ahmad Shah Abdali. The Marathas had captured the forts of [[Attock]] and [[Peshawar]] in 1757–1758, and wanted to expand their rule up to [[Kabul]], [[Kandahar]] and the Afghanistan-Iran border. After many centuries since 1020, when [[Mahmud of Ghazni]], head of the [[Ghaznavids]], had defeated the Hindu ruler [[Trilochanapala|Trilochanpala]] and [[Hindu Shahis|Hindushahi]] of ancient Gandhar and Punjab regions, Hindu rule had returned to the entire [[Indus River]] region.

After the fiercest battles in Lahore and Multan area, the victorious [[Raghunath Rao]], returned to [[Delhi]] and then to [[Pune]] without appointing the range commanders, for the Lahore and Multan regions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mehta |first=Jaswant Lal |title=Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707-1813 |publisher=New Dawn Press Inc |year=2005 |isbn=9781932705546 |pages=258}}</ref> He wasn't much interested to settle down and rule in this region permanently, away from the luxuries of Pune, their own seat and throne area. Eventually, this proved as a historical mistake of the Grand Maratha Confederation Army's top leadership.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

In March 1759, Dattaji Rao Shinde, reached [[Machhiwara]] with a massive army, of approximate 40,000 cavalry men, but just like Raghunath Rao, Dattajirao also did not want to settle down in Punjab on permanent basis, as he was fully determined to root out the main enemy of the Maratha empire then, i.e. [[Najib ad-Dawlah]] [[Rohilla]].{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} He wrote an intimation letter to the Nanasaheb Peshwa in Pune, and deployed Sabajirao Shinde to take over the [[Maratha]] garrisons of [[Punjab]] with the assistance of Bapu Rao and Dadu Rao Shinde. Dattajirao himself went to fight with Najib Khan Rohilla, in the [[Doaba|Doab]], popularly known as the Antarvedi area.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} But due to the absence of Sabajirao Shinde in [[Rohtas Fort]], the Afghans under General Jahan Khan attacked and captured both [[Attock]] and [[Rohtas Fort]] and won those back again from the Marathas. Sabajirao Shinde and local [[Sikhs]] rallied and defeated Afghans in Battle of Lahore, (1759). Afghan General Jahan Khan lost his only son in this battle and once again, Afghans retreated to Kabul. This victory of Marathas at Lahore, made Ahmad Shah Abdali more aggressive and hugely upset. Then Afghans and [[Rohilla]] allied and sent Jahan Khan with the massive army of 60,000 cavalry. Jahan Khan captured [[Attock]] and [[Peshawar]] again by defeating the Maratha garrisons decisively. General Jahan Khan then defeated Triyambak Rao's platoon size army of 6,000 men stationed at [[Dera Ghazi Khan]] and Abdali moved towards south [[Punjab]] immediately. They captured [[Lahore]], capital of Punjab.

Ahmad Shah Abdali attacked Dattaji's party of 2,500 men, outside Delhi, before the main battle. After this skirmish, [[Ahmad Shah Durrani|Abdali]] regrouped with [[Najib ad-Dawlah]], and Dattajirao retreated in to the Delhi fort, for rearranging the Maratha garrison for the main battle. Ahmad Shah Abdali then allied with the 60,000 army of Najib-ud-Daula, and together with approximately 1,20,000 men,{{efn|this number is 120,000 [1 [[lakh]] and 20 thousand men]}} they attacked on Dattajirao at final time. On 10 January 1760, in the Battle of Buradi Ghat, also known as the Burrari, or Barari Ghat, on the banks of river [[Yamuna]], near [[Delhi]], Dattaji's outnumbered army was totally defeated and then he was beheaded, by the [[Mian Qutb Shah|Mian Qutub Shah]] and [[Najib ad-Dawlah]] Rohilla.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_SB95ZA-_cC&dq=dattaji&pg=PA85|title=Decisive Battles India Lost (326 B. C. to 1803 A. D.)|author=Jaywant Joglekar|year=2006|
isbn=9781847283023|pages=85–86}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPq640stHJ0C&dq=dattaji&pg=PA3
|title=The Great Maratha Mahadaji Scindia|author=N. G. Rathod|year=1994|isbn=9788185431529|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707-1813|author=Jaswant Lal Mehta|page=262|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1wUgKKzawoC&dq=dattaji&pg=PA262|isbn=9781932705546|date=2005}}</ref>

Today also, Dattaji is remembered in the popular Maratha history for his last words when Qutub Shah & Najib said, "Kyu Patil, aur ladenge" and Dattaji Shinde replied, "kyu nahi.. bachenge to aur bhi ladenge", which he said to the [[Mian Qutb Shah|Mian Qutub Shah]] & [[Najib ad-Dawlah]] while dying.

==In popular culture==
* In the 1994 [[Hindi]] TV series ''[[The Great Maratha]]'', Dattaji's character was portrayed by [[Mangal Dhillon]].
* In the 2019 [[Bollywood]] film ''[[Panipat (film)|Panipat]]'', Dattaji Rao Scindia was portrayed by [[Milind Gunaji]].

==See also==
*[[Scindia]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{notelist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scindia, Dattaji}}
[[Category:Maratha Chiefs in the Maratha Empire]]
[[Category:People from the Maratha Empire]]
[[Category:Warriors from the Maratha Empire]]
[[Category:1720s births]]
[[Category:1760 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian princes]]
[[Category:People from Ujjain]]
[[Category:18th-century Indian royalty]]

Dattaji Rao Scindia - Revision history

LouieWebb342 at 14:43, 24 March 2026