The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c10.2

c10.2

Out of the wealth of weapons, a description of which follows, it is not to be supposed that the whole were carried by any man at one time; but a great number were so carried, and, in a large army, all of them were to be found in use by some one or other. The great number of weapons that a man carried is graphically depicted by Fitzclarence, in the case of a petty officer of the Nizām's service, who commanded his escort (*Journal*, 134). "Two very handsome horses with superb caparisons belong to this jamadar, who is himself dressed in a vest of green English broad cloth¹ laced with gold, and very rich embroidered belts. A shield of buffalo hide with gilt bosses is hung over his back. His arms are two swords and a dagger, a brace of English pistols, and he has his matchlock carried before him by a servant." The following satirical description from Moor's *Narrative*, 98, also shows what a number of different weapons would sometimes be carried. "Many of the sardars" (i. e. of the Nizām's army in 1791) "were in armour, and none of them deficient in weapons of war, both offensive and defensive. Two swords, a brace to half a dozen pistols, a spear, a crees, and matchlock-carbine constituted the moving arsenal of most of them. One man was mounted upon a tall, thin, skeleton of a horse, from whose shoulders and flanks depended, as a barricading, twenty or thirty weather-beaten cows' tails: two huge pistols appeared in his capacious holsters, while one of still larger dimensions, placed horizontally upon the horse's neck and pointed towards his ears, which were uncommonly long, dreadfully menaced the assailants in front. His flanks and rear were provided with a similar establishment of artillery of different sizes and calibres; one piece was suspended on each side of the crupper of the saddle, and a third centrically situated and levelled point blank at the poor animal's tail . . . . The rest of his armament consisted of a couple of sabres, a spear, a matchlock and shield . . . . He wore besides a rusty coat of mail from the lower part of which a large red quilted jacket made its appearance." The variety of weapons is again dwelt on with great effect in Wilks, iii, 135, "no national or private collection of ancient armour contains a weapon or article of equipment which might not be traced in this motley crowd" i.e. Nizām 'Alī Khān's cavalry in 1791.