Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c56.s25.10

v4.c56.s25.10

The infantry of Oudhmen in Sindhia's service were no doubt brave and disciplined; but there was no regular cavalry in their brigades. Sindhia's horsemen were indigenous troopers, mostly Marathas with a proportion of Pathan and other North Indian races; their equipment and tactics fitted them for light raiding only. Cavalry has always been the weakest arm of the Indian army ever since our encounter with Alexander's horsemen on the bank of the Jhelam more than two thousand years ago. The Indian troopers mounted on light horses, were never trained to deliver shock charges like a battering ram, but used to whirl round and try to throw into disorder a stationary enemy. They shrank from meeting breast to breast any heavy cavalry in compact serried ranks like the Turks or the British. In fact, in the campoo the cavalry did not count; they waited for the success of the regular infantry before making any move of their own. Hence, they could never come to the aid of their hard-pressed brethren of the foot regiments.