Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c51.s3.2

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Even the muskets of the Maratha army were usually second-hand arms sold by the European Powers in India as useless and out of date; and their gunpowder had to be purchased from these enemies.