The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c7.s2: Classification of Horses

The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c7.s2

Language: English

Classification of Horses

c7.s2.1

According to the *Āīn*, i, 233, there were seven classes of horses founded on their breed:—(1) *‘Arabī*, (2) *Persian*, (3) *Mujannas*, resembling Persian, and mostly *Turkī* or Persian geldings, (4) *Turkī*, (5) *Yābū*, (6) *Tāzī*, (7) *Janglah*.

c7.s2.2

In ‘Ālamgīr’s reign we find (B.M. N°. 6599, fol. 163*a*) the following classification: (1) *‘Irāqī*, (2) *Mujannas*, (3) *Turkī*, (4) *Yābū*, (5) *Tāzī*, (6) *Janglī*. This is practically the same as Akbar’s, except that Arab horses are not mentioned. This must be an oversight, since we learn from many passages in the contemporary historians that Arab horses were still in use. The *Tāzī* and *Janglī* were Indian horses, what we now call countrybreds, the former being held of superior quality to the latter. The *Yābū* was, I suppose, what we call now the *Kābulī*, stout-built, slow, and of somewhat sluggish temperament. The *Turkī* was an animal from Bukhārā or the Oxus country; the *‘Irāqī* came from Mesopotamia.

c7.s2.3

In ‘Ālamgīr’s reign the proportion in which officers of the different ranks were called on to present horses of these different breeds at the time of branding was as follows:—

c7.s2.4

| RANK OF OFFICER. | CLASS OF HORSE. | TOTAL. |
| | *‘IRĀQĪ.* | *MUJANNAS.* | *TURKĪ.* | *YĀBŪ.* | |
| 400 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 300—350 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 100—150 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 80—90 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 50—70 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 40 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |

c7.s2.5

These figures differ from those in the *Āīn*, i, 248—9, where the number of horses is given for all *manṣabs*, up to the very highest. Some figures are also given in *Mirāt-i-Aḥmadī*, ii, 118, which agree on the whole with those in the above table.

c7.s2.6

According as the standard was exceeded or not come up to, the branding officer made an allowance or deduction by a fixed table. This calculation was styled *tafāwat-i-aspān* (discrepancy of horses) — B.M. N°. 6599, fol. 163*a*. The extra allowances were as follows: —