New History of the Marathas v1.c16.62

v1.c16.62

6. Army Organisation.—Little need be said on Shivaji’s army. The forts formed an adjunct to his main fighting forces, which had only two branches, troopers and foot-soldiers, the latter mostly garrisoning the forts. Shivaji mixed freely with all kinds of men and possessed an intuitive capacity for judging their character and ability. Most of his soldiers were either directly selected by him or guaranteed by those about him who shared his confidence. Small muskets, swords and shields, or small daggers and spears were the weapons then mostly in use. There were two main classes of troopers, *Silledars* and *Bargirs*. Silledars were the higher type who brought in their own horses and weapons, and received a larger pay, while the bargirs were direct employees, receiving their accoutrement from government. Large camps of troops were formed at convenient places with thousands of horses and magazines of weapons and stores of provisions. Shivaji was fond of horses and procured select animals of the Arab, the Kathiawadi and other breeds. Bodies of spies were attached to each regiment, whose officers arranged the troop-movements in consonance with the information supplied by the spies. These spies formed the most efficient branch of Shivaji’s army. How minutely Shivaji regulated the affairs of the army can be judged from the following letter which was circulated by him as standing orders to all the revenue and military officers.