[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Histoire de la dernière révolution des États du Grand Mogol](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier) › [Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable) › 4.4 # Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 4.4 Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable) 4.4 - **Language:** English ### [4.4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.4.4.1) The common horsemen serve under the Omrahs: they are of two classes; the first consists of those who keep a pair of horses which the Omrah is bound to maintain for the King's service, and which bear the Omrah's mark on the thigh, and the second of those who keep only one horse. The former are the more esteemed, and receive the greater pay. The pay of the troopers depends, in a great measure, on the generosity of the Omrah, who may favour whom he pleases; although it is understood by the Mogol that he that keeps only one horse shall not receive less than five-and-twenty roupies a month; and on that footing he calculates his accounts with the Omrahs. ### [4.4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.4.4.2) The foot-soldiers receive the smallest pay; and, to be sure, the musketeers cut a sorry figure at the best of times, which may be said to be when squatting on the ground, and resting their muskets on a kind of wooden fork which hangs to them. Even then, they are terribly afraid of burning their eyes or their long beards, and above all lest some Dgen, or evil spirit, should cause the bursting of their musket. Some have twenty roupies a month, some fifteen, some ten; but their artillerymen who receive great pay, particularly all the Franguis or Christians, — Portuguese, English, Dutch, Germans, and French; fugitives from Goa, and from the Dutch and English companies. Formerly, when the Mogols were little skilled in the management of artillery, the pay of the Europeans was more liberal, and there are still some remaining who receive two hundred roupies a month: but now the King admits them with difficulty into the service, and limits their pay to thirty-two roupies. ### [4.4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.4.4.3) The artillery is of two sorts, the heavy and the light, or, as they call the latter, the artillery of the stirrup. With respect to the heavy artillery, I recollect that when the King, after his illness, went with his army to Lahor and Kachemire to pass the summer in that dear little 'paradise of the Indies,' it consisted of seventy pieces of cannon, mostly of brass, without reckoning from two to three hundred light camels, each of which carried a small field-piece of the size of a double musket, attached on the back of the animal, much in the same manner as swivels are fixed in our barks. I shall relate elsewhere this expedition to Kachemire, and describe how the King, during that long journey, amused himself almost every day, with the sports of the field, sometimes letting his birds of prey loose against cranes; sometimes hunting the nilgaus, or grey oxen (a species of elk); another day hunting antelopes with tame leopards; and then indulging in the exclusively royal hunt of the lion. ### [4.4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.4.4.4) The artillery of the stirrup, which also accompanied the Mogol in the journey to Lahor and Kachemire, appeared to me extremely well appointed. It consisted of fifty or sixty small field-pieces, all of brass; each piece mounted on a well-made and handsomely painted carriage, containing two ammunition chests, one behind and another in front, and ornamented with a variety of small red streamers. The carriage, with the driver, was drawn by two fine horses, and attended by a third horse, led by an assistant driver as a relay. The heavy artillery did not always follow the King, who was in the habit of diverging from the highroad, in search of hunting-ground, or for the purpose of keeping near the rivers and other waters. It could not move along difficult passes, or cross the bridges of boats thrown over the rivers. But the light artillery is always intended to be near the King's person and on that account takes the name of artillery of the stirrup. When he resumes his journey in the morning, and is disposed to shoot or hunt in game preserves, the avenues to which are guarded, it moves straight forward, and reaches with all possible speed the next place of encampment, where the royal tents and those of the principal Omrahs have been pitched since the preceding day. The guns are then ranged in front of the King's quarters, and by way of signal to the army, fire a volley the moment he arrives. ### [4.4.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.4.4.5) The army stationed in the provinces differs in nothing from that about the King's person, except in its superior numbers. In every district there are Omrahs, Mansebdars, Rousindars, common troopers, infantry and artillery. In the Decan alone the cavalry amounts to twenty or five-and-twenty, and sometimes to thirty thousand; a force not more than sufficient to overawe the powerful King of Golkonda, and to maintain the war against the King of Visapour and the Rajas who, for the sake of mutual protection, join their forces with his. The number of troops in the kingdom of Kahoul, which it is necessary to quarter in that country to guard against any hostile movement on the part of the Persians, Augans, Balouchees, and I know not how many other mountaineers, cannot be less than twelve or fifteen thousand. In the kingdom of Kachemire there are more than four thousand. In Bengale, so frequently the seat of war, the number is much greater; and as there is no province which can dispense with a military force, more or less numerous, according to its extent and particular situation, the total amount of troops in Hindoustan is almost incredible. ### [4.4.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.4.4.6) Leaving out of our present calculation the infantry, which is of small amount, and the number of horses, which is merely nominal, and is apt to deceive a superficial observer, I should think, with many persons well conversant with this matter, that the effective cavalry, commonly about the King's person, including that of the Rajas and Patans, amount to thirty-five or forty thousand; which, added to those in the provinces, forms a total of more than two hundred thousand horse. I have said that the infantry was inconsiderable. I do not think that in the army immediately about the King, the number can exceed fifteen thousand, including musketeers, foot artillery, and generally, every person connected with that artillery. From this, an estimate may be formed of the number of infantry in the provinces. I cannot account for the prodigious amount of infantry with which some people swell the armies of the Great Mogol, otherwise than by supposing that with the fighting men, they confound servants, sutlers, tradesmen, and all those individuals belonging to bazars, or markets, who accompany the troops. Including these followers, I can well conceive that the army immediately about the King's person, particularly when it is known that he intends to absent himself for some time from his capital, may amount to two, or even three hundred thousand infantry. ### [4.4.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.4.4.7) This will not be deemed an extravagant computation, if we bear in mind the immense quantity of tents, kitchens, baggage, furniture, and even women, usually attendant on the army. For the conveyance of all these are again required many elephants, camels, oxen, horses, and porters. Your Lordship will bear in mind that, from the nature and government of this country, where the King is sole proprietor of all the land in the empire, a capital city, such as Dehly or Agra, derives its chief support from the presence of the army, and that the population is reduced to the necessity of following the Mogol whenever he undertakes a journey of long continuance. Those cities resemble any place rather than Paris; they might more fitly be compared to a camp, if the lodgings and accommodations were not a little superior to those found in the tents of armies. ### [4.4.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.4.4.8) It is also important to remark the absolute necessity which exists of paying the whole of this army every two months, from the omrah to the private soldier; for the King's pay is their only means of sustenance. In France, when the exigencies of the times prevent the government from immediately discharging an arrear of debt, an officer, or even a private soldier, may contrive to live for some time by means of his own private income; but in the Indies, any unusual delay in the payment of the troops is sure to be attended with fatal consequences; after selling whatever trifling articles they may possess, the soldiers disband and die of hunger. Toward the close of the late civil war, I discovered a growing disposition in the troopers to sell their horses, which they would, no doubt, soon have done if the war had been prolonged. And no wonder; for consider, My Lord, that it is difficult to find in the Mogol's army, a soldier who is not married, who has not wife, children, servants, and slaves, all depending upon him for support. I have known many persons lost in amazement while contemplating the number of persons, amounting to millions, who depend for support solely on the King's pay. Is it possible, they have asked, that any revenue can suffice for such incredible expenditure? seeming to forget the riches of the Great Mogol, and the peculiar manner in which Hindoustan is governed. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.bernier~en-constable.4.4) · Pramāṇa