The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c19.5

c19.5

Round the enclosure were the imperial bazars, through which a street led from the gate in the direction of the next day's march, marked out by long poles, which were surmounted by yak tails and placed at 300 paces from each other. The princes and great nobles pitched their camps at various distances, sometimes of several miles, from the emperor's tents. Each was surrounded by the tents of his men and his own bazar, the only order observed being that the chief's tents must face towards the imperial Public Audience-hall (Bernier, 366). Bernier estimates, 367, that where there was ample space for spreading, ‘Ālamgīr's whole camp would have measured about six miles in circumference. The bazars were marked out (Bernier, 365) by long poles surmounted, as already said, by the tails of the great Tibet cow “which have the appearance of so many periwigs”.