History
Panipat was one of the five cities (prasthas) founded by the Pandava brothers during the times of the Mahabharata; its historic name being Panduprastha. Panipat was the scene of three pivotal battles in Indian history.
The First Battle of Panipat was fought on 21 April 1526 between Ibrahim Lodhi, Sultan of Delhi, and the Timurid warlord Zaheeruddin Babur. Babur's force defeated Ibrahim's much larger force of over one lakh (one hundred thousand) soldiers.
The Second Battle of Panipat was fought on 5 November 1556 between the forces of Akbar and Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, the Hindu King of North India, who had captured the large states of Agra and Delhi defeating Akbar's forces. Hindu king, also known as Vikramaditya had won 22 battles against the Afghan rebels from 1553-1556, and had his coronation at Purana Quila in Delhi on 7th Oct. 1556 and had established Hindu Raj in North India, before the 2nd battle of Panipat. Akbar and Bairam Khan did not participate in the war and were stationed 16 km from the battle field, with the instructions to run away to Kabul in case of defeat. Hemu had a large army, and initially his forces were on winning spree, but suddenly Hemu was struck by an arrow in the eye and he lost his senses. On not seeing him in his Ohda on the back of elephant, his army fled. He was later captured and beheaded by the Mughals. His head was sent to Kabul to be hanged outside Delhi Darwaza and torsoe was hanged outside Purana Quila in Delhi. Second battle of Panipat, thus ended the 'Hindu Raj' established by Hemu in north India, though for a short duration.
The Third Battle of Panipat was fought in 1761 between the Afghan king Ahmad Shah Abdali and the Marathas under Sadashivrao Bhau of Pune. Ahmad Shah won it but with a very heavy casualty on both sides. The famous Urdu shayar Maulana Hali was born in Panipat.
