The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c11.3

c11.3

Mahadaji was by no means the first Indian ruler to appreciate the superior fighting qualities of European officers. They had been welcomed by Indian princes since their first advent in the country, and Cosme da Guarda² tells us that in the seventeenth century every European in India was supposed to be an artillery expert, and even an apostate clergyman did not find the least difficulty in securing a lucrative office in the Mughal army without any previous military training. Gemelli Careri was asked by Rajaram’s men, whom he met on his way to Goa, ‘whether he could shoot out of a Musket or understood the Art of Gunnery’, and he further tells us what a good pay and an easy life a European in the Mughal service might expect. ‘Many *Frenchmen* belonging to the Army’, he writes, ‘told me it was a Pleasure and Diversion to serve the Mogul, because they that will not Fight, or do not keep their Guards are Subject to no other Penalty but losing that day’s pay, that they are convicted of having Transgress’d, and that they themselves did not value Honour much in the Service of a Barbarous King, who has no Hospital for the wounded Men. On the other side there being no Prince in the World that pays his Souldiers better, a Stranger that goes into his service soon grows Rich, especially an European or Persian.’¹ We are further told by the same Italian traveller that ‘All this Artillery, especially the heavy, is under the direction of Franks or Christian Gunners, who have extraordinary pay; especially the Portuguese, English, Dutch, Germans, and French, who go from Goa, or run away from aboard Ships. Some of them formerly had 200 Roupies a Month; but now the Moguls have learnt somewhat of the Art they have less’. ²