The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c3.21

c3.21

*Tābīnān.* — Blochmann, i, 232, note 1, who, apparently, translates this word as well as *suwār* by “contingent,” derives it from the Arabic *tābin*, one who follows.¹ books (B.M. 1641, fol. 46b, B.M. 6599, 144b and 148b) give a long table setting forth their pay in dāms, beginning with that for five horsemen and ending with that for 40,000, but as the basis for calculation remains the same throughout, it is sufficient here to work out the pay for one horseman. For five horsemen, then 40,000 dāms a year were allowed. That would be 8000 dāms for one man; and this sum in dāms yields Rs. 200 a year (at the fixed rate of 40 dāms to the rupee), or Rs. 16 10a. 8p. per man per mensem. Bernier, 217, states the rate as somewhat higher — “he that keeps one horse shall not receive less than 25 rupees a month.” For this sum, of course, the man provided his own horse and armour, and paid for his own and his horse’s keep. One Dastūr-ul-ʿAml, B.M. 6599, fol. 144b, tells us that the number of horses to men among the troopers (tābīnān-i-barādari) was according to the rule of dah-bist (lit. “ten-twenty”), meaning apparently that the total number of horses was double that of the number of men. The scale was as follows: --