The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c20.23

c20.23

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.