Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c51.s3: § 3. Proved inferiority of our indigenous military system and warrior classes illustrated

Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c51.s3

Language: English

§ 3. Proved inferiority of our indigenous military system and warrior classes illustrated

v4.c51.s3.1

In the 17th century, the guerilla tactics of the Maratha light horse had stopped the advance of the heavy Mughal cavalry, encumbered with clumsy artillery and unwieldy camps. But their descendants at the end of the next century could make no stand against De Boigne’s brigades marching in a compact hollow column with musketeers guarding the four faces and portable guns firing grape-shot at each corner. Similarly, none could stop Lord Lake, when he marched in a column of three hundred thousand men, of whom only one-tenth were combatants, because of the vigilant fire-protection on each flank. Such modern armies could be rendered immobile only by the fear of starvation; but stores accumulated in fortified posts on the way and well-escorted food convoys, averted that risk. And the predatory horse of the Deccan was itself liable to night attacks by picked detachments from the European campoo with devastating effect. Thus, Bussy ignominiously routed the Peshwā Bālāji Bāji Rao by a surprise night attack during a lunar eclipse (21 Nov. 1751), Lake surprised and narrowly missed capturing the famous Jaswant Rao Holkar himself at Farrukhābād (on 17th Nov., 1804). Even the unfortunate Col. Monson had dealt one such smashing blow on his pursuer Jaswant Rao Holkar in the night of 21 July 1804 which thoroughly frightened the Holkar army for many days after. [Mohan S. f. 136.]

v4.c51.s3.2

So much for the vaunted efficacy of the indigenous Marathi system of warfare (ghanimi qāwā or light foray tactics)) against firearms and discipline under European leadership. The fact is that the Maratha army was palpably inferior to the British Indian army and even to De Boigne’s campoo, not only in armament but also in the character of its leaders and men. The Maratha officers lacked education, methodical habits, and the power of planning ahead and carrying their plans to completion by the concerted action of a number of able, obedient and punctual subordinates; while their men had no discipline, no orderliness, and no wish to improve themselves. Compare a Maratha military officer with his opposite number in the East India Company’s army; consider the early Indian career of Major David Price, a run-away Brecknockshire boy who came to India as a private, or the life of a common soldier like John Shipp, or even a civilian like Thomas Twining who entered his Indian service at the age of seventeen, and say if you can supply their match from the high-born Maratha ruling class. And the common soldiers of Maharashtra in spite of their personal bravery and lightness of movement, were no match for the steady disciplined sons of Oudh who formed the campoo infantry; the long spear and short sword of the Deccanis were no protection from the excellent muskets made for the campoo under European supervision. Even the muskets of the Maratha army were usually second-hand arms sold by the European Powers in India as useless and out of date; and their gunpowder had to be purchased from these enemies.