The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c14.14

c14.14

*Deg-andāz*. These were the men who had charge of and used the *deg*, which I have mentioned under the head of Heavy Artillery. The name is literally “Pot-thrower”, P. *deg*, a pot, and *andāz*, throwing. I am not certain whether this means that they had charge of mortars, called *deg*, or whether they used hand-grenades. The latter would be more near the literal meaning, and I do not think that mortars were at all common in India until introduced by Europeans after the middle of the 18th century. A passage in Fitzclarence, 246, seems to bear out my interpretation of *Deg* and *Degandāz*. He says “at times they have recourse to thick earthen-ware pots with fuses and full of powder, the pieces of which wounded dreadfully”.