The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c15.10

c15.10

*Najīb*. The word means literally “noble”, and Blacker, “War”, 22, tells us they were irregular infantry, who disdained uniform and carrying a musket, their arms being a matchlock, or blunderbuss, and a sword. They disdained to stand sentry or do any fatiguing duty, considering it their only business to fight and to protect the person of their prince. W. H. Tone, 50, says that long practice had enabled them to load with sufficient readiness, while their matchlock carried farther and infinitely truer than the firelock of those days. The Najībs was also excellent swordsmen.