The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c11.7

c11.7

The same reason that led the Mughal Emperors to offer such excellent terms to foreigners of unknown antecedents with nothing but their European origin to recommend them, had also induced the Maratha princes to employ them in their own army. Since Mahadaji’s time trained battalions had become so much the rage of the day that even Bapuji Ganesh Gokhle³ had in his army infantry regiments commanded by two European officers, and those who could not find white captains were content to engage some *gardis* led by their brown disciples. But long before the superiority of the western method of warfare was appreciated, the westeners’ efficiency as sailors and artillerymen had been recognised by Indian rulers and even Shivaji had some Portuguese in his army. Their presence in the Maratha force had probably occasioned some protest from Mirza Raja Jai Sing, but in which department of the army and in which capacity they had been employed by Shivaji, we do not precisely know. In July 1686, a royal proclamation was issued requiring ‘all English subjects who had entered into the service of the Country Powers, particularly the Mogul, the King of Siam, the Queen of Acheen, and Sambagee Rajah, to return to the Company’s settlements at Bombay or Madras, within six months of the publication of this Proclamation in India’.¹ The English subjects in Sambhaji’s army might have been Portuguese or Indian residents of Bombay, but it is not improbable that some English deserters had found employment with their nearest neighbour. English deserters continued to seek safe refuge in the Maratha service during the Peshwa period as well, for they are specifically mentioned in the instructions framed for Captain W. A. Price, who was sent on an embassy to Poona in 1759.² John Henry Grose, who came to India in 1750, also says that the Marathas ‘encouraged deserters from European nations’ and gave them ‘a pretty high pay’, but he also adds that ‘no Europeans take service amongst them, but such as are of desperate fortunes, or have committed crimes that have obliged them to seek refuge amongst them’.³ In the navy also these European deserters were warmly welcomed. Even if we leave aside the ambiguous reference to the Portuguese soldiers in connection with one of Shivaji’s naval expeditions, there is conclusive evidence of the employment of European sailors and gunners by Kanhoji Angria and his sons. Clement Downing says that there were several Dutchmen in Kanhoji’s fleet and Plantain, a notorious pirate, also entered his service, while Kanhoji himself mentions a Portuguese officer in his letter to Governor Boone.⁴ Captain Anselm of the Derby saw a Portuguese and a Dutch gunner in the employment of Sambhaji Angria.¹