The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c7.5

c7.5

As said before, the recruit was supposed, at any rate so far as the State was concerned, to furnish his own horse. Orme states the case thus: — "Every man brings his own horse and offers himself to be enlisted. The horse is carefully examined: and according to the size and value of the beast, the master receives his pay. A good horse will bring thirty or forty rupees a month. Sometimes an officer contracts for a whole troop. A horse in Indostan is of four times greater value than in Europe. If the horse is killed the man is ruined, a regulation that makes it the interest of the soldier to fight as little as possible." — "Historical Fragments," 4to edition, 418. Along with his horse the man brought his own arms and armour, the production of certain items of which was obligatory. In actual practice, however, the leaders often provided the recruits with their horses and equipment. When this was the case the leader drew the pay and paid the man whatever he thought fit. Such a man, who rode another's horse, was called a *bārgīr* (load-taker); while a man riding his own horse was in modern times called a *silahdār* (weapon-holder). The latter word is the origin of the Anglo-Indian phrase of "Sillidar cavalry," applied to men who are paid a lump sum monthly for themselves, horse, uniform, and equipment.