History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c16.24

c16.24

Now, to begin with, as has already been pointed out, the meaning of the word *martab* or *murattab* is very doubtful. There is nothing to show that he was a superior officer in the army. Had he been one, Barani would have given his rank or at least would have said so. On the contrary a *martab* is nothing more than an ordinary soldier (*ahl-i-jihād*) as both got 234 *tankahs*. Barani nowhere mentions a *savār* as a second grade officer or that the lowest grade soldier was known as *do aspah*. In the above passage Barani simply uses the word *savār* in the sense of a horseman. He does not specifically mention that a *savār* was in any way superior to a *do aspah*. He simply means to say that the Indian soldiers became so dominant that a *do aspah* could bring ten prisoners of war and a soldier or cavalryman could drive before him a hundred Mughals. It is more difficult to arrest ten than to drive away a hundred men, and the passage quoted above does not prove the superiority of *savār* to *do aspah*. It is only a hyperbolical way of asserting the supremacy of Indian soldiers and the passage should not be taken literally.