The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c26.40

c26.40

Gurdāspūr. The reduction of Gurdāspūr and the consequent surrender of Bandah, the Sikh leader, is another instance of the starving out of a garrison. ‘Abd-uṣ-ṣamad Khān appeared before the place in April 1715, but it was not taken before the 17th Dec. of that year. Some time before this happened, the provisions had come to an end, not a grain being left in the storehouses. The garrison obtained a little food from the common soldiers outside, for which they paid at the rate of two or three shillings a pound; they also slaughtered oxen and other animals, and having no firewood, ate the flesh raw. Then they picked up and ate whatever they found on the road. They gathered the leaves from the trees; when these were gone, they stripped the bark and gathered the smaller shoots, and grinding these down, used them as a substitute for flour. The bones of animals were also ground down and used in the same way. It is said that some of the Sikhs even cut flesh from their own thighs, roasted it, and eat it.