Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s15.t2: Equipment and Discipline
Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s15.t2
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Equipment and Discipline
v2.c27.s15.t2.1
The organization of the Durrāni king's own troops was as regular as that of the European-trained sepoy regiments of India. Each dasta (cavalry regiment) of Abdali's army may therefore be taken as exactly 1,000 or 1,200 strong.
v2.c27.s15.t2.2
On the other hand, in every Maratha general’s contingent the actual number of soldiers fell very far below the normal round number for which his cash salary (naqd) or land-assignment (sarānjām) was calculated. Sir C. W. Malet noticed in the Peshwa’s army in 1795:—
v2.c27.s15.t2.3
“The sums which the commanders receive for the payment of their troops, generally run to a certain rate per man and a fixed sum for the commander; and as in the management of these corps the payment by Government is generally very tardy, the commanders have recourse to every trick by which they can possibly elude the checks [of Government]; . . .by which means it happens,—more particularly in the Peshwa’s service,—that a corps of 100 men has seldom more than 50 effectives. . .Not only is half the grass and forage allowed to the horses of the Pāgā (cavalry mounted on Government horses) embezzled, but horses are changed, reported dead, and every species of the most flagitious peculation practised with impunity arising from the general interest and participation therein.”
v2.c27.s15.t2.4
“The arms of the Maratha cavalry [in 1795] are swords, spears (bhālā), matchlocks and a few bows and arrows. The sword is universal and indispensable; the matchlock frequent and almost universal in the Pagas [this was not the case in 1761] and seems to be daily gaining ground of the long spear,—long a favourite weapon of the Marathas; but many of the silahdars, yekandias, and those who claim or affect superiority of birth or rank seldom encumber themselves with anything but a sword or two. It must, however, be understood that the arms, accoutrements and clothing of the horseman being his own property, there is not the smallest uniformity, every individual being equipped as his taste or circumstances suggest.
v2.c27.s15.t2.5
Every horseman throughout a Maratha army looks upon himself as company for his chieftain and always sits down with him.”
v2.c27.s15.t2.6
“So long as the Shāhān-shāh was on his horse all these [his high officers] stood on foot around him...When he sat down in his tent, they too went in and used to make their speeches standing. Only Hafiz Rahmat Khan was often ordered to sit down at the time of dawn, which was not the time of holding Court, on the ground of his having memorized the *Qurān*.” [Nur-ud-din, 40b.]
v2.c27.s15.t2.7
DISCIPLINE.
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Bālājī Vishwanath took Malhar Holkar with him to Delhi as a Pindhara, with 20 to 25 retainers. The Peshwa agreed in return for ransom from a certain village there not to damage its green crops. But Malhar went with his retainers, cut the crop and gave it to his horses to eat. So Balaji’s son Baji Rao himself went, stick in hand, to punish them. On seeing in Malhar’s camp a *bārgir* feeding his horse with the green crop, he struck him with the stick. Then Malhar from the door of his small square tent abused Bāji Rāo and flung a clod of earth at him...Some time later during their return march, one day Bāji Rāo was sitting in the shade of a bush on the bank of a *nālā* in the plain of Sipri-Kolāras, with an escort of only 10 to 20 men, bathing and getting ready for his meal. Malhar Holkar arrived there with 500 troopers by devious paths, levelled his spear at the heart of Baji Rao and cried out, “That day I had hit you with a clod; if I now transfix you with my *bhālā*, who can save you?” But the Rao...rose up, and walking up to the feet of [Malhar’s] horse, greatly flattered him! [*Holkarānchi Kaifiyat*, 2-4.]
v2.c27.s15.t2.9
Bālkrishna Dikshit writes on 15 Feb. 1751:—“On my pilgrimage to Gaya I alighted at Daudnagar [a town in South Bihar.] There some 3 or 4 hundred horsemen of Nilopant Vaishampāyan came up and plundered the market of Daudnagar, taking away four lakhs worth of goods. They also laid hands on me, and I lost clothing utensils and a gold chain weighing 12 tolas. They had no sardar over them; only a man named Mānāji Bhāgwat.” [Raj. iii. 383.]
v2.c27.s15.t2.10
On 31 May 1754, when Malhar Holkar arrived opposite Delhi, as the ally of Imād-ul-mulk (imperial Paymaster-General), a body of his troops forded the Jamuna and plundered the *katra* of Nizam-ud-din Auliya’s tomb and some other places and also burnt the Khurma mart. Imād, on hearing of it, went to Malhar and cried out, “What is this? Why are your soldiers plundering the city?” Malhar replied, “They are soldiers. They always do it.” [Tarikh-i-Ahmad Shāhi, 133.]
v2.c27.s15.t2.11
“As the common soldiers among the Durrānis are stubborn and disobedient, notwithstanding the Shah’s proclamation, they committed some irregularities in Shuja-ud-daulah’s camp (1760.) The Shah, on hearing of this, had 200 of them seized, and having had their noses bored through with arrows, and strings passed through the holes, they were led in this condition, like camels, to Shuja…to be put to death or pardoned, as he should think proper.” [Kāshirāj, 8.]
v2.c27.s15.t2.12
“29 January, 1757. The Persian troops who had gone out for foraging, invaded many of the lanes [of Delhi], broke the doors of houses and plundered the property within. The shops of the bazars remained closed in consequence of this oppression…. This day the Shah slit the noses of two or three of the Persian soldiers, cut their stomachs open, thrust arrows into their nostrils, and in this manner paraded them in disgrace. This brought safety to Delhi.” *DC.*
v2.c27.s15.t2.13
CHAPTER XXI
v2.c27.s15.t2.14
THE BATTLE OF PANIPAT, 1761
Linked texts (1)
- Bayān-i wāqiʿ — Khwāja ʿAbd al-Karīm Kashmīrī 1780, Persian