The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c25.2

c25.2

In the plains of the Ganges and Indus, these forts were usually placed on an artificial mound, the earth for which was taken from the foot of the site, thus forming on one or more sides a large pond or marsh, which protected the fort from a sudden attack. As a rule these forts consisted of four high walls, enclosing a rectangular space; they were provided with a bastion or tower at each corner; and had a fortified gate on one side, the entrance lane turning several times at right angles before arriving at the interior of the place. This narrow tortuous entrance lane was generally enfiladed with guns and loop-holed on every side. These gates with their intricate passages are well described by R. Orme ("Mil. Trans." i, 320, Trichinoply), and in the south of India generally by Lake, "Sieges", 56, who considered the gateways the strongest part of the Indian forts. The outer walls were generally of clay and very thick: they were loop-holed for musketry, round earthen-ware pipes being inserted in the walls for this purpose (Fitzclarence, 245, Orme, “Mil. Trans.” ii, 203, 255). If the owner were lucky enough to have any wall-pieces, they would be mounted on the flat roofs of the houses built against the inside of the wall. These outer walls might be from twenty to thirty feet in height. Such a stronghold was safe against any small force, and with the means then in use, could hardly be reduced except by starvation. At the more important places they added one and sometimes two ditches, together with outworks, so as to render regular approaches necessary (E. Lake, “Sieges”, 11). In hilly country and in the Dakhin the fortresses were of much more elaborate construction. Of these I shall speak in a subsequent paragraph.