A History of the Mahrattas v2.c44.8

v2.c44.8

The great success of Sindia’s regular infantry, rendered efficient by the talents and energy of De Boigne, led most of the Mahratta states to introduce regular battalions as a part of their armies. Many Mahrattas, however, were of opinion that this departure from usage would prove their ruin; infantry and guns, as they had once too bitterly experienced, compelled them to fight when flight was more judicious, and some of them predicted that, if they ever attempted to combat Europeans with their own weapons, they would one day experience a defeat still more fatal than that of Panniput.² Tookajee Holkar long resisted the introduction of regular infantry, but he saw that Sindia could have made no progress in reducing the strong forts in Rajpootana without such aid; and although he might have been convinced that it would have been much better for his army to have wanted the four battalions of Dudrenec at Lukhairee, he was so well satisfied with their conduct, that he immediately afterwards ordered Dudrenec to raise a like number.