Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s18.4

v2.c27.s18.4

The Durrānī officers were clad in armour, the weight of which was easily borne by their superb Khurasani horses. Even the leather jackets and thick quilted coats which their common soldiers as natives of a very cold climate wore, could turn away many a sword cut or spear thrust. But among the Marathas armour was hardly worn even by the officers; their garments were very light as more suited to the warm South where they lived and the small mares they rode, while their common soldiers often wore nothing beyond the *dhoti* wrapped round the waist; whence Ahmad Shah’s habitual scornful reference to them as ‘the bare backed’ (*kun berahna.*)