A History of the Mahrattas v1.c17.93

Language: English

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The number of his forces is not specified by any Moghul historian, and the estimate formed by the Mahrattas is quite incredible. The display of power, however, presented by Aurungzebe's march into the Deccan was grand and imposing to a degree which has seldom been surpassed. Besides foreigners, his cavalry assembled from Cabul, Candahar, Mooltan, Lahore, Rajpootana, and the extended provinces of his vast empire, was the flower of his army, and presented an array of gigantic men and horses completely armed and accoutred, whom it might be imagined the more slender and lighter armed natives of the Deccan could hardly venture to oppose. His infantry was also numerous, and was composed of musketeers, matchlockmen and archers, well equipped; besides bodies of hardy Boondelas and Mewattees accustomed to predatory contests among the mountains, and the better able to cope with the Mahratta Mawulees. To these were afterwards added many thousands of infantry raised in the Carnatic. Besides a number of field-pieces, which accompanied the royal tents, there were several hundred pieces of cannon manned by natives of Hindoostan and directed by European gunners, and a great number of miners were attached to the park of artillery, with artisans of every description.

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A long train of war elephants was followed by a number of the same animals on the Emperor's private establishment, employed to carry the ladies of his seraglio, or to convey such of his tents as were too large to be borne on camels. Numerous led horses, magnificently caparisoned, formed a stud for the Emperor's riding; a menagerie accompanied the camp, from which the rarest animals in the world were frequently brought forth and exhibited by their keepers before the Emperor and his court;—whilst hawks, hounds, hunting tigers, trained elephants, and every accompaniment used for field sport, swelled the pomp of this prodigious retinue. The canvas walls which encompassed the royal tents formed a circumference of 1,200 yards, and contained every description of apartment to be found in the most spacious palace. Halls of audience for public assemblies and privy councils, with all the courts and cabinets attached to them, each hall magnificently adorned, and having within it a raised seat or throne for the Emperor, surrounded by gilded pillars with canopies of velvet, richly fringed and superbly embroidered; separate tents as mosques and oratories; baths and galleries for archery and gymnastic exercises; a seraglio as remarkable for luxury and privacy as that of Delhi; Persian carpets, damasks, and tapestries; European velvets, satins, and broad-cloths;

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Chinese silks of every description, and Indian muslins and cloth of gold, were employed in all the tents with the utmost profusion and effect. Gilded balls and cupolas surmounted the tops of the royal tents; the outside of which and the canvas walls were of a variety of lively colours, disposed in a manner which heightened the general splendour. The entrance into the royal enclosure was through a spacious portal flanked by two elegant pavilions, from which extended on each side rows of cannon forming an avenue, at the extremity of which was an immense tent containing the great state drums, and imperial band;—a little farther in front was the post of the grand guard on duty, commanded by a nobleman who mounted with it daily. On the other sides, surrounding the great enclosure just mentioned, were separate tents for the Emperor’s armoury, harness, &c., a tent for water, kept cool with saltpetre, another for fruit, a third for sweetmeats, a fourth for betel and so on, with numerous kitchens, stables, &c. &c. Such luxury in a camp is scarcely to be conceived; but besides what has been described, every tent had its exact duplicate which was sent on in advance to be prepared against the Emperor’s arrival. His march was a procession, and when he entered his pavilions a salvo from fifty or sixty pieces of ordnance announced the event; and he assumed and maintained every form and ceremony observed at the established residences of the imperial court.