The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c9.s2.4

c9.s2.4

Outside their mansions the Umara were extra ostentatious. Since they attained to highest honours at court, in the provinces, and in the armies; and who are, as they call themselves, the Pillars of the Empire, they maintain the splendour of the court, and are never seen out-of-doors but in the most superb apparel; mounted sometimes on an elephant, sometimes on horseback, and not unfrequently in a *paleky* attended by many of their cavalry, and by a large body of servants on foot - not only to clear the way, but to flap the flies and brush off the dust with tails of peacocks; to carry the spitoon, water to allay the Omrahs thirst.³³