Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s22.7

v2.c27.s22.7

It is an age-old habit of the Hindu soldiers to work at high pressure up to noon and then retire for taking food and rest. An unconquerable lassitude comes over them after one o’clock in the afternoon. (Hence, General Harris launched his storming columns on Seringapatam at that psychological hour.) The Marathas had spent a sleepless night and had fasted or been half-fed for a month before. Moreover, troops who carry roast meat and dry bread in their saddle bags and water in leather bottles can easily refresh and reinvigorate themselves in the field. Not so a caste over-ridden by the dread of defiling touch at meal time and regarding leather with abomination as a carcase. The long-drawn battle had worn the Marathas out far more than the Muslims when the fresh Durrānī troops appeared on the scene.