The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c20: Chapter XVIII
The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c20
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Chapter XVIII
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When an army or the emperor first took the field, there were generally great difficulties and delays in making a start. Nothing was ever ready when wanted; and if a great noble was put in command, he had always some further petition to urge or objection to make before he could be persuaded to start. Then there were the astrologers to be consulted. No march began until the lucky moment (*saʿat-i-saʿīd*) had been fixed by reading the stars. If it were not possible to make a real departure on the proper day or at the proper time, the advance tents would be sent out and a pretended start would be made in the hope of cheating the Fates (Seir, i, 309, note 248). In all cases, however, the first march out was a very short one, in order that stragglers might have time to join and anything left behind might be sent for. This regard for lucky and unlucky days was a great obstacle to the Moguls’ success in war, as it often prevented them from taking the most obvious advantages of an enemy (Cambridge, “War”, Introd. xi).
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Emperor’s taking the field in person. The emperor was not supposed to take the personal command unless the army was large and the campaign important (Horn, 46 relying on the *Tuzuk-i-Taimūrī*). Thus, when Bahādur Shāh in 1710 headed the army sent against the Sikh, Bandah, he was blamed for meeting an antagonist unworthy of him. On the way it was usual to pay visits to holy men of repute in order to obtain their blessing; and the shrines of any noted saints situated near the line of march were perambulated and the saint’s help implored. Thus Shāh ‘Ālam Bahādur Shāh when on his way to fight his brother, offered up prayers at the tombs of Qutb-ud-dīn and Nizām-ud-dīn Auliyā at Dihlī. In the same way Farrukhsīyar, marching up from Patnah to Āgrah, prayed at the tombs of Takī-ud-dīn ut Jhūsī, of Badī‘ud-dīn at Korah, and of Shāh Madār at Makhanpūr. Another curious practice is described by Yaḥyā Khān, 129b. He says that when in 1721, Prince Muḥammad Ibrāhīm was raised to the throne and was about to start against Muḥammad Shāh, he was taken, in accordance with an old custom, to Qutb-ud-dīn’s shrine, to have his turban wound round his head there, and a sword attached to his waist. Then a bow with its string loosened ought to have been placed near the tomb. If the string of itself resumed its place, this would be held a sign of victory. On this occasion, such was the uproar and confusion, the order to bring the bow was not carried out.
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Description of an army on the march. Catrou, 12mo ed. 1715, iv, 49—57, or 4to edition p. 126, gives us the following picture of a march of the emperor Aurangzeb. The heavy artillery went first and formed as it were the advance guard. The baggage followed in good order. First came the camels bearing the imperial treasure, one hundred loaded with gold and two hundred with silver coin. The load of each did not exceed 500 lbs. The treasure was succeeded by the hunting establishment. There were a great many dogs used for coursing deer and numerous “taureaux” ¹ for hunting tigers. Next came the official records. It is the practice of the Moghul empire for these never to be separated from the emperor. The accounts and other archives of the empire were carried on eighty camels, thirty elephants and twenty carts. Immediately behind these came fifty camels carrying water for the court and the princes. This is a necessary precaution in Indian travelling, you are often in a waterless country or the water, speaking generally, is stagnant and unwholesome. Behind these camels came the imperial kitchen and fifty camels with the provisions for the day. There were fifty cows to give milk, as Aurangzeb chiefly lived on milk. One hundred kitchen servants riding on horses followed. Each man prepared one particular sort of stew . . . . Next was the wardrobe of the emperor and the harem, and for this fifty camels and one hundred carts sufficed. Thirty elephants bore the harem jewels and the store of swords and daggers, from which the emperor makes presents to his generals. In front of the baggage train and the artillery two thousand pioneers marched with spades ready to smooth the ground. There were other thousand who followed to repair any holes made by the camels or elephants.
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¹ This must surely be a mistake; perhaps leopards (chītah) are meant or buffaloes for fighting with tigers. But the original Portuguese text of Manucci, Berlin Ms., Phillipps 1945, p. 47, says nothing about bulls. The sentence reads: “One hundred and fifty camels loaded with nets (redes) for hunting tigers, of which sport I have already spoken”. For the use of these nets, see Constable’s Bernier, p. 378.
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The army came after the baggage. It was composed almost entirely of cavalry. As for the infantry it is made up in case of need from the numerous sutlers, traders, and servants that follow the army. These are armed only with the sword, spear and shield. After the cavalry came the emperor, followed by his seraglio. Ordinarily he rode an elephant. On the back of this great animal, they had built a room with glass windows, in which was a couch and a bed. By the side of the elephant were palankins all ready for use should the emperor wish to change his mode of conveyance. His elephant was followed by led horses. Aurangzeb was fond of riding and at a considerably advanced age he was still the best rider in his empire. Some camels preceded the emperor bearing some large cooking-pots always steaming, perfuming the air as they went by. Forming the two wings on the two sides of the emperor's elephants, marched in good order the whole of the imperial guard. The queens, princesses, and ladies of the harem followed the emperor. They were carried, as he was, on elephants, but the room which contained them was surrounded with wooden blinds (*jalousies*) covered over with loose, thin muslin. They saw all and could breathe the air without being seen. The other women who worked in the harem were on horseback, wrapped in long mantles covering their faces and reaching to their feet. The line of march was brought up by the light artillery, each field piece on its carriage being drawn by horses.
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The rear guard was swollen by the prodigious number of people always at the Court, and the innumerable multitude of servants leading elephants, camels, horses, and those carrying the tents and baggage of the lords of the court and the generals of the army. All moved in order and without confusion. This rear guard had its place allotted as exactly as the disciplined troops.
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*Standards.* The flag of the noble or sovereign was carried on an elephant during the march (De la Flotte, i, 258 Fitzclarence, 138). These was a special officer entrusted with the insignia and standards. Of these some account has been given under the head of *Manṣabdārs*. Collectively they were called the *qūr*, an Indian usage of the Turkish word which is not given among the definitions in P. de Courteille, "Dict." 425. The officer's title was *Qūrbegī*, lord of the *Qūr*; and the men under him carried a supply of weapons for the emperor's use. The details, as they stood under Akbar, will be seen in the *Āīn*, i, 109, 110. Bernier, 371, speaks of the *qūr* (or as he spells it, *cours*) preceding the emperor on the march: these standards and emblems were surrounded by a large number of players on cymbals and trumpets.
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The following graphic description of an emperor on the march with music playing and standards displayed is found in a Hindi poem by Shrīdhar Murlīdhar of Allahabad, lines 355—376:
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Phajir Shāhanshāh sājeu,
Sakal bṛind gayaṇḍ gājeu,
Bajī naubate gahgahi tab,
Bhaī naubat rāwarī ab,
Ghor dhauṇsā dhuni dhakārat,
“Phateh, phateh”, manu pukārat,
“Ho-hu-ho” karanāī bājat,
Shāhanshāh-hi sagun sājat,
Sagun soṇ suranāī bāji,
Siddhi rām karīju sājī,
“Jhāru-jhārun” jhānjh jhankat,
Khanan lāgi-hi ghaṇṭ “khanakh-kat”,
Phīl wār nishān jhaharat,
Man-hu agā phatuh phaharat,
Āt patr anūp rājat,
Iṇdr syoṇ prabhu tābi rājat,
Jhālarī muku tāsu lachhak,
Man-hu tārā chhatr rachhak,
Āphtāb bīhās keṇ kar,
Man-hu rakhshak sang dini ar,
Tog suṇdar māha māhī,
Sagun kī manu det gwāhī.
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Next morning the King of Kings started,
The throng of elephants roared,
The royal march was beaten loudly,
Then played the music of His Majesty,
The big drums shook with mutterings and growlings,
Men shouted ‘Victory! Victory!’,
The trumpets brayed ‘ho-hu-ho’,
The King of Kings’ good omens appeared,
The hautboys sounded happy augury,
Rāma and the sages joined the throng.
‘Clash, clash’ clanged the cymbals,
Jingling bells began their ‘tinkle, tinkle’,
The elephant riders displayed their standards,
In front ran men shouting ‘Victory!’
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Everywhere incomparable brightness reigns,
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The splendour is that of Indra’s heaven,
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Fringes hang over their faces,
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Guardians of stars and umbrellas,
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Sun screens waving in their hands,
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Hearts full of joy, they shout for the Faith,
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Yaktails, *sundar*, the fish dignity,
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Give evidence of happy augury.
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*Military Music and the Naubat.* The beating of drums, accompanied by the playing of cymbals and the blowing of trumpets, at certain fixed intervals (*naubat*), was one of the attributes of sovereignty. The place where the instruments were stationed, generally at or over a gateway, was the *naubat* or *naqqār khānah*, the latter name coming from *naqqārah*, one kind of drum used. Details will be seen in the *Āīn*, i, 51. As I read that passage, there would seem to have been nine *naubat* in the twenty four hours, but generally they are spoken of as recurring at the end of each of the eight watches (*pahr*) into which that period was divided. The number is differently stated by different writers. Haji Mustapha, *Seir*, i, 3 note 31, after saying that in its origin this music was a mark of sovereignty, though later usurped by all provincial governors, goes on, “It played four times by day and once by night, and also to announce good news”. Others speak of only three *naubat*. Fitzclarence, 192, writes “the continual beating of the *naubat*, or great drums, is one of the highest signs of rank and power; over the gate of every palace is a gallery or balcony where this noisy instrument is beaten at certain hours in the day and night. One of them (i. e. a drum) is always carried on an elephant before the commander of a native army. At Murshidābād, when I was there, the Nawāb had them continually beaten. Four gates to his palace had each a *naubat*, and each of them sounded a quarter of each hour and made the most horrid din imaginable”. As to the beating of kettle drums on the march there is a passage to the same effect in Captain J. Williamson “Oriental Field Sports”, p. 79.
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In addition to the fixed periods at which the imperial drums were beaten and the music played, it would seem that music and drum beating accompanied the march of the emperor (Fitzclarence, 138). The intention to make a march was announced by the beating of kettle drums, as was done for instance by Prince ʿAlā Gohar in 1171 H., *Tārīkh-i-ʿĀlamgīr Sānī*, fol. 155b. Or as Manucci asserts, ii, 68, a trumpet was sounded for the same purpose. If the emperor were not present, the commander, if entitled to this high honour, caused his own drums to be beaten, and as Horn, 17, remarks, the sound of these drums was a sign that some great noble was in command and that probably the army under him was a large one. The drums were also beaten at the opening of a battle. We are told by one writer of the year 1169 H. (1756), *Tārīkh-i-ʿĀlamgīr Sānī*, fol. 49a, that a horn was blown at night in the emperor’s camp to indicate a halt for the next day. We read of one noble who kept in his service one hundred horn-blowers (*karranāī*), so that when a fight was trembling in the balance, they should all blow together and inspire the other side with dread. (*Maʿāsir-ul-umarā*, i, 514). After a battle the drums and trumpets were also employed by the victors to announce their victory; and even on ordinary occasions a noble was preceded by music. In 1757 Anquetil Duperron, *Zend Avestā*, i, xliv, after being presented to Sirāj-ud-daulah, speaks of the Nawāb coming out to visit the mint, and “nous entendîmes un bruit affreux de tymbales, de trompettes, entremêlé de coups de fusils et de cailletoques”. This picture taken on the spot must represent, as I take it, the usual practice.
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The kettle drums (*naqqārah*) were made of iron hoops, and they were twice as big as those used by cavalry in Europe (*Seir*, i, 24, note 31). One of the drums used was called *Ḍankah*, a small wooden drum, no doubt identical with ढक्क, Shak. 1129, a bass kettledrum, in size between the *naqqārah* and the *lakora*, or as *Qanoone Islām*, App. p. lv, has it, the bass end of the small kettle-drum. De la Flotte, 211, compares the sound of their trumpets (*trompettes*), ten or twelve feet long, to that of a French cowherd’s goathorn, only louder; and G. Careri iii, 182, speaks of seeing a man walking in front of the camp Provost Marshal (*koṭwāl*), blowing a copper horn 8 “palmes” in length, the sound of which made him laugh, “il ressemble tout à fait à celui que les porchers font en Italie lorsqu’ils veulent rassembler leurs cochons égarés”.
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*Patrolling and Watching*. At night time some troops were sent out to march round the camp and protect it. The name of these detachments was *tilāyah* (*Mirāt-ul-Iṣṭilāḥ*, fol. 202*b*, Steingass, 817). In 1151 H. (1738) when Muḥammad Shāh marched out to Karnāl to oppose the advance of Nādir Shāh, these night rounds or patrols were apparently still carried out; Ashob, fol. 182*b* calls them *shab-gard*, which seems the correct technical name, Steingass 732. He uses *ṭalīʿah*, fol. 182*a*, for advanced posts or pickets, which seems the more exact meaning of that word, Steingass 819. The same form, *ṭalīʿah*, is used c. 1169 H. (1755-6) by Muḥammad ʿAlī, Burhānpurī, in his *Mirāt-uṣ-ṣafā*, fol. 99*a*. As for the care of the interior of the camp, Bernier, 369, describes the system of watch and ward then prevailing. His watchmen with their cries of *khabardār* (Take care), the guards at their watch fires every five hundred paces round the camp, and the *koṭwāl* with his armed men and their trumpet, were better fitted to prevent thieves and robbers entering the camp than to act as military precautions against surprise. In later times even these imperfect precautions seem to have been abandoned. In the 18th century it was found that, often as native troops had been surprized in the night by Europeans, they could never be brought to establish order and vigilance in their camp.
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When they acted as allies of the English, the most earnest entreaty could never prevail upon them to be upon their guard, or quit their ground in the morning to take part in a surprize. The men ate a heavy meal just after night fall, many indulged also in drugs, and about midnight a whole army would be in a dead sleep (Cambridge, “War”, Introd. xiii). In the police of the camp the provost-marshal, or *kotwāl*, was aided by a censor, or *muḥtasib*, whose special duty (usually very imperfectly performed) was to suppress gambling, drinking, and other breaches of the Mahomedan law.
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*Escort.* The name used for this duty was *badraqah* (Steingass, 163).
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*Emperor’s conveyance and usages on his passing by.* Shāh ʿĀlam Bahādur Shāh (1707—1712) generally travelled his stages on a moving throne (*takht-i-rawān*). It is described by Bernier, 370. Another account, *Seir*, ii, 171, note 95, tells us it was a chair resting on two straight bambus or poles and carried on the shoulders of eight men. Two or three persons could find place in it, and it had not only a canopy over it, but an awning in front to intercept the glare of the sun. Preceding the moving throne were the *yasāwals* (Steingass, 1531), whose business it was to preserve order (*Maʿlūmāt-ul-āfāq*, fol. 79*b*). Sometimes Bahādur Shāh mounted a horse, but he does not seem to have ridden on an elephant except in the battle field.
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Whenever the emperor passed, it was the etiquette for princes, nobles, and chiefs to come out to the edge of their camp and present a gold coin or other offering. There are numerous instances of the practice in the historians such as Dānishmand Khān and Kāmwar Khān; and Bernier, 382, also speaks of it. The custom was observed by Herr Kötelär, the Dutch envoy, when he was in Bahādur Shāh’s camp at Lāhor in 1712. The practice spoken of by Bernier of entering the camp sometimes on one side, sometimes on another, was the *taghaiyur-i-rāh dādan* (*Mirāt-ul-Iṣṭilāḥ*, fol. 80), a custom either founded on superstition or devised as a precaution against assassination.
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Crossing Rivers. On this subject Horn, 25, quotes P. de Courteille, “Mémoires”, ii, 336, the occasion being Bābar’s boat bridge across the Ganges near Kanauj. The practice was exceedingly common. Any river, if unfordable, was crossed by a temporary bridge of boats, such as are still to be seen in the present day. Horn, referring to Elliot, vi, 363, somewhat emphasizes the fact that elephants could cross such bridges, but this is a matter of every day experience. A special officer, dignified with the name of Mīr Baḥr, Lord of the Sea, was charged with the construction of these bridges and the provision of boats. The description of one of these bridges in Bernier, 380, can hardly be improved upon. “The army crossed by means of two bridges of boats constructed with tolerable skill, and placed between two and three hundred paces apart. Earth and straw mingled are thrown upon the planking forming the foot way, to prevent the cattle from slipping. The greatest confusion and danger occur at the extremities; for not only does the crowd and pressure occur most there, but when the approaches to the bridge are composed of soft moving earth, they become so broken up and full of pits, that horses and laden oxen tumble upon one another into them, and the people pass over the struggling animals in the utmost disorder. The evil would be much increased if the army were under the necessity of crossing in one day; but the king generally fixes his camp about half a league from the bridges of boats and suffers a day or two to elapse ere he passes to the opposite side of the river; when, pitching his tents within half a league from the bank, he again delays his departure so as to allow the army three days and nights at least to effect the passage”. The practice referred to in the last sentence could be illustrated by more than one instance of river-crossing in the reign of Bahādur Shāh (1707—1712).
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It seems that there was one defect in the purely native system of making a boat-bridge. They did not make use of grapnels. Instead of these, they followed the tedious mode of driving stakes into the river bed. The result was a bridge less secure; and what might have been ready in one day took eight or ten days to complete (Remarks by Major R. E. Roberts, “Asiatic Miscell.” i, 419).
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In Ashob’s *Shahādat-i-Farrukhsiyar*, fol. 112*b*, I have come across a curious device by the Mahrattas to mark the fordable part of a river. In 1148 H. (1735) Pilājī Jādon crossed the Jamnā to attack Sa‘ādat Khān, Burhān-ul-mulk. At the place of crossing he caused bamboo poles to be planted in the water, to show the line of shallow water in case they had to retire. His forethought was, however, of no avail; they were badly beaten, fled in haste, and missed the ford, those that were not drowned being taken prisoners.
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Marching through Passes. The passage through a hilly country of such a huge assemblage as a Moghul army, consisting as it mainly did of undisciplined men, was, it need hardly be said, a matter of extreme difficulty, and in the presence of an active enemy likely to end disastrously. Of this difficulty Bahādur Shāh had ample experience while governor of Kābul during the last ten years of his father’s life. It was with the greatest difficulty, and more by guile than force, that he was able to pass yearly from his winter quarters at Peshāwar to his summer residence at Kābul, and back again (Raverty, “Notes”, 84, foot note, 86, 90, foot note, 372). Warned by what had happened to him in Kābul, we find Bahādur Shāh adopting special precautions whenever he came to any narrow defile. On his return from the Dakhin, when he arrived at the Fardāpur pass between Aurangābād and Burhānpur on the 23rd Shawwāl 1121 H. (25th Dec. 1709), he sent ahead his eldest son, Jahāndār Shāh, with orders on reaching the other end to occupy in force a position in the open plain beyond (Kāmwar Khān, entry of above date). Shortly afterwards he came with his army to the Mukand darrah, or pass, and the three great Rājput chieftains of Udīpur, Jodhpur, and Jaipur being in open revolt, there was every reason to take precaution against a sudden onfall. This narrow valley in the Kotah state has a melancholy interest in Anglo-Indian history as the scene of Colonel Monson’s disastrous retreat before Jaswant Rāo, Hūlkar, in July 1804 (Thornton, “Gaz.” 624, Thorn, “War”, 358—363, Wellesley “Despatches”, iv, 178 ¹). Bahādur Shāh took very great precautions. A plan of the pass was prepared a week before they came to it: the road was reported to be only 4½ dira‘h wide (about 12½ feet). Accordingly on the 25th Muḥarram 1122 H. (25th March 1710), the eldest prince, Jahāndār Shāh, was again deputed to march through in advance of the main army, and occupy the exit from the narrow valley. It seems to have taken the main body eight days to get clear, as it was not until the 6th Ṣafar (5th April) that the emperor quitted his camp on the hill side, at the top of the pass, a position which had been occupied by him since the 29th March (Kāmwar Khān, entry of above date).
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¹ The best account of this retreat is perhaps that in Frazer’s “Skinner”, ii, 7—15, 31—35.
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Scouts and Spies. The intelligence department was always in active operation, both in peace and war. Reports of all sorts, descending even to idle gossip and scandal, were always welcome. Dānishmand Khān, entry of 11th Ramaẓān 1120 H., tells us that there were in all four thousand spies (harkārah) in the imperial service scattered throughout the kingdom. There was a head spy (daroghah-i-harkārah, who was a man of influence and much feared; his establishment formed a branch of the postal department, managed by a high court official called the Daroghah-i-dāk, or superintendent of the Post. When in the field, these spies were sent out in all directions. Their name, harkārah (literally “for every work”), arose in the Dakhin but was adopted by the Moghuls (Dānishmand Khān, l. c.). In modern usage it has been transferred to the runners carrying the mail bags. Despatches and orders were either sent through the ordinary post, manned by foot runners, or by special messengers on camels. If the recipient was to be specially honoured or the matter was very important, one of the imperial mace-bearers carried the message or letter to its destination.
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Negociations. These were carried on as a rule through holy men (darvesh) or through eunuchs, the sacred character of the one and the peculiar position of the other class making their persons more likely to be respected. Connected with this subject is the case in Erskine “History”, ii, 248, quoted by Horn, 51, where during Humāyūn’s flight through Sind in 1542, Māl Deo, the son of Rāe Lankaran of Jaisalmīr, when he came to remonstrate about plundering, bore a white flag. Another instance is found in Ashob, fol. 256b. He tells us that during the general slaughter of 1739 in Dihli, the Shāh’s men were opposed in superior force by the Wazīr’s troops stationed round the latter’s mansion. It became necessary to communicate with the Wazīr and send him a letter. The messenger displayed a white sheet “that is to say, the signal of peace and negociation”, and then advanced to state his purpose. The only other instance that I have met with of a flag of truce being used, was at the siege of Malligām in 1818, where Lake, 127, says “the garrison hung out a flag of truce, that we might carry away our dead and wounded”.
Linked texts (1)
- Śabdakalpadruma — Rājā Sir Rādhākānta Deb, Sanskrit