The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c20.1

c20.1

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).