Battle of Narela

The Battle of Narela took place on 16 January 1757, at Narela, on the outskirts of Delhi, between the Maratha Army lead by Antaji Mankeshwar and an advance column of Ahmad Shah Abdali's army, in which the Maratha Army won.

The battle
Ahmad Shah Durrani, the emperor of Afghanistan was heading towards Delhi in his yet another invasion. The Marathas had signed a treaty with the Mughal emperor in 1752 to give him protection from the foreign invader. The Maratha Peshwa had appointed Antaji Mankeshwar along with 50,000 strong Maratha force to guard the emperor. However, the Maratha troops were called back by the Peshwa for Deccan operations. As a result, most of the Maratha force left Delhi leaving behind some 3,400 troops under Antaji Mankeshwar. So, the small garrison of Marathas along with the forces of Imad-ul-mulk and Najib-ud-daula had the responsibility to guard the Mughal capital from Durrani. By 14 January 1757, Durrani had reached Sonipat and decided to stay there. He sent a Rahim Khan with 5,000 strong Afghan force to capture the regions around Delhi. Antaji was asked to move along with his contingent along the road towards Karnal to check the progress of the Afghan invader. The Marathas and Afghans collided in a fierce battle in Narela, on the outskirts of Delhi. The Afghans were defeated and finally they retreated to Sonipat, where their emperor was staying.

Aftermath
When Antaji was returning from Narela, after his initial victory over the invader's advanced guard, his troops were intercepted by a huge army on the outskirts of Delhi in the night of 16–17 January. The Marathas were totally taken unawares, but they fought desperately and hurriedly retreated towards Faridabad, 30 km from Delhi with a loss of about 1000 troops. The next day, it became known that the unidentified foe who had treacherously lead a surprise attack on the Marathas, the night before was Najib-ud-daula, a courtier of the Mughal emperor. Najib betrayed the emperor and his wazir at the most critical time and moved out of Delhi with his 20,000 well equipped troops to join the invader's camp. As a result, the emperor got alone once again and Abdali successfully marched to the Red Fort unopposed and looted the capital city of Mughals.