The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c17.8

c17.8

*Punishments.* For desertion to the enemy we read occasionally of men being blown from the mouth of a gun. In 1714 two Mīnā robbers were blown from guns by Ḥusain ʿAlī Khān, when on the march from Dihlī to Ajmer. Again Ḥaidar Qulī Khān, when commanding at the siege of Āgrah in 1131 H. (1719), had recourse to this punishment with good effect, *Siwāniḥ-i-khiẓrī* (my copy). In the year 1174 H. (1760) the Mahrattahs blew away from guns two Maḥomedan leaders taken prisoners by them at Kunjpūrah, "History of the Rohelas" by Rustam ʿAlī, Bijnorī, fol. 51*a*. And in 1175 H. (30th May 1762) the Mahrattah commander, Narū Pandit, blew two men from guns at Burhānpūr, *Mirāt-uṣ-Ṣaffā*, 116*a*. In the "Abrégé Historique" prepared by Colonel Gentil in 1772, (E. Blochet, "Inventaire et description des miniatures des Mss. orientaux conservés à la Bibliothèque Nationale", p. 202, N°. 219) there is a picture of a man tied to the mouth of a cannon. Horn deals with the subject of desertion on pp. 49 and 51, but both of his references to Bābar's memoirs, viz., P. de C. ii, (should be i) 325, and ii, 352, 353, seem to be cases of surrender. That to the *Bādshāhaāmah* i, 334, is not a case of desertion at all. The garrison of Manṣūr-gaṛh in Orissa (1049 H.) asked for quarter by holding blades of grass between their teeth. This is the well-known Indian custom of indicating submissiveness, see Elliot, “Supp. Gloss.”, 252, s. v. Dānt-tinkā (teeth-straw), which is practised by villagers to this day. It is also said to have been resorted to by the Mahrattah horsemen at Dihlī (Feb. 1719), when they were overpowered in a street riot, Mḥd Qāsim, Lāhori, *‘Ibratnāmah* 244, my copy. Another instance is found in a book written c. 1147 H., *gāh dar dandān giriftah* (*Aḥwāl-i-khawāqīn*, fol. 217a).