The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c8.2

c8.2

There was no division into regiments. Single troopers, as we have already said, enlisted under the banner of some man a little richer or better known than themselves. These inferior leaders again joined greater commanders, and thus, by successive aggregations of groups, a great noble's division was gathered together. But from the highest to the lowest rank, the officer or soldier looked first to his immediate leader and followed his fortunes, studying his interests rather than those of the army as a whole.¹ It was not till quite the end of the period that, under the influence of European example, and also partly in imitation of the Persian invaders, it became usual for the great nobles to raise and equip at their own expense whole regiments without the intervention of petty chiefs. In Audh, Ṣafdar Jang and Shujāʿ-ud-Daulah had such regiments, as, for instance, the Qizzilbāsh, the *Sher-bachah*, and others, which were all clad alike, and apparently were mounted and equipped by the Nawāb himself.