The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c15.25

c15.25

The connection between the Baksariyahs of the army and the town of Baksar in Bahār was evidently a matter of common belief and acceptance. In the Chahār Gulshan of Rāe Chatarman (my copy, fol. 127b), written in 1173 H. (1759), in the itinerary from Rāe Barelī to Paṭnah, when the author comes to Baksar, he adds “original home-country of the Baksariyahs” (aṣl waṭn-i-Baksariyah-hā). It is strange that they should have been known by the name of the town rather than by that of the subdivision of the country, that is, parganah Bhojpur, sirkār Ruḥtās, Ṣūbah Bahār (Āīn, ii, 157). We call them nowadays Bhojpurīs and not Baksariyah. In the historians belonging to the 18th century, I find that the men of the garrison artillery are usually designated Baksariyah.