Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c28.s9.3

v2.c28.s9.3

Oppression by revenue officers and robbery by their neighbours, especially the Gujars, during the dissolution of government, drove the Jat peasants to a predatory life by way of self-defence or reprisal. They had the making of the best infantry in them. With their sturdy physique, manly habits, and the experience and tradition of forays and even of vulgar burglaries, they supplied the Rajahs of Bharatpur,—as in another region they did the Rajahs of the Panjab,—with the finest material for an army, if only they could be properly armed trained and led. But the Jat soldiery of Bharatpur, in spite of their martial instincts, lacked that intelligence and power of co-ordination which modern warfare requires.* They also used cannon only in forts and had to depend for their field artillery on foreign allies or mercenaries. Further, this peasant race was without letters, without knowledge, unlike the Marathas,—among whom an admirable union was effected between the brainy priest and writer castes and the warrior Maratha caste, in fighting as much as in diplomacy and the civil administration,—so that all the various works of a State could be done in Maharashtra by men of the same race speech and province. The Jat Rajahs, on the contrary, had to depend on other people than Jats for their revenue administration and diplomatic settlements.