The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c20.22

c20.22

*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.