The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c27.6

c27.6

Then in addition to this hindrance to zeal caused by his personal interests, we find that the individual soldier did not look to the sovereign and the State, or consider his interests identical with theirs. He was the soldier of his immediate commander and never looked beyond him. If a great leader was luke-warm in the cause or was bought over, was forced to flee from the field, or was slain in the battle, his men dispersed at once. With the leader’s disappearance, their interest in the fight was at an end, and their first concern was their own and their horse’s safety. To take one instance out of many, Sayyad Ḥusain ‘Alī Khān left Āgrah in Muḥammad Shāh’s train at the head of as large a force as had ever been collected by any Moghul general. A week or two afterwards, he was suddenly assassinated. An hour or two had hardly elapsed, and not a trace of his mighty army was left, his camp had been plundered, and even his tents burnt.