The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c9.33

c9.33

*Kamal*. — This word is literally ‘a blanket,’ and from it the corps known as the *kamal-posh* (blanket-wearers) derived its name. The word seems to have had the secondary meaning of a cuirass or wadded coat, possibly made of blanketing on the outside. There were wadded coats of quilted cotton, as well as of wool, which would stand the stroke of a sabre. Some stuffed with silk refuse were considered capable of withstanding a bullet (*Seir*, i, 143, note 105). This sort of protection was very common. “Almost every soldier in the service of a native power has his head secured by many folds of cotton cloth, which not only pass round but likewise over it and under the chin;