A History of the Mahrattas v1.c28.31

v1.c28.31

The Deccan army, prepared to accompany Sewdasheo Rao and his nephew, amounted to about twenty-thousand chosen horse; besides ten thousand men, artillery and disciplined infantry, under Ibrahim Khan Gardee, whose corps was doubled after the late service against Sulabut Jung and Nizam Ally. The equipment of this army was more splendid in appearance than any Mahratta force that ever took the field.² The camp equipage, which, in the former expensive campaign, had been brought back from Hindoostan by Rugonath Rao, was employed as part of the decoration. The lofty and spacious tents, lined with silks and broad cloths, were surmounted by large gilded ornaments, conspicuous at a great distance; immense parti-coloured walls of canvas enclosed each suite of tents, belonging to the principal officers; vast numbers of elephants, flags of all descriptions, the finest horses, magnificently caparisoned, and all those accompaniments of an Indian army, which give such an imposing effect to its appearance, seemed to be collected from every quarter in the Bhow’s camp. Cloth of gold was the dress of the officers, and all seemed to vie in that profuse and gorgeous display characteristic of wealth lightly acquired. It was in this instance an imitation of the more becoming and tasteful array of the magnificent Moghuls in the zenith of their glory.