THE MARATHAS AS SOLDIERS 223

cloth, and gave him permission to depart. Baji Rao, becoming downcast and dispirited after meeting with this ignominious defeat, turned his face from that quar- ter and proceeded towards Delhi. Samsam-ad-daulah Amir-ul-umara Bahadur, after considerable deliberation, sallied forth from Shahjahan- abad with intent to check the enemy; but Baji Rao, not deeming it expedient at the time to kindle the flame of war, retired towards Agra, and the " Amir of amirs," considering himself fortunate enough in having effected so much, re-entered the metropolis. This was the first occasion on which the Marathas extended their aggres- sions so far as to threaten the environs of the metrop- olis. Though most of the men in the Maratha army are unendowed with the excellence of noble and illus- trious birth, and husbandmen, carpenters, and shop- keepers abound among their soldiery, yet, as they undergo all sorts of toil and fatigue in prosecuting a guerrilla warfare, they prove superior to the lazy and effeminate troops of Hind, who for the most part are of more honourable birth and calling. If this class were to apply their energies with equal zeal to the profession and free themselves from the trammels of indolence, their prowess would excel that of their rivals, for the aristocracy ever possess more spirit than the vulgar herd. The freebooters who form the vanguard of the Maratha forces, and, marching in advance of their main body, ravage the enemy 's country, are called pmkarahs; the troops who are stationed here and there by way of pickets at a distance from the army for the purpose