The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c7.38

c7.38

If the horses were bad, the riders could not be expected to be much better; for they were seldom regularly paid. The salary of a horseman in the Peshwa days generally varied from 250 to 300 Rupees a year. In 1802-3 Baji Rao II authorised one Muhammad Jamaluddin to raise a force of 2,000 Pathans at 600 Rupees per annum per man,² and although this sum included compensation for fallen animals and allowance for wounds incurred in action, as well as the cost of ammunition, it must be regarded as unusually high. The Peshwa found himself compelled to raise forces on any terms and probably conceded whatever was demanded by the Pathan officer, for in a paper dated 1804-5 we find that 38 Rupees per month was considered an exceptional salary for a horseman.³ But whatever the salary allotted in the *sanad*, the ordinary soldier seldom expected to draw it regularly. We read in the *Harivanshachi Bakhar* that one of the Patwardhan chiefs deducted one month’s salary every year and he should be considered very moderate,⁴ when the Peshwa’s agent at Maheshwar writes that Holkar had failed to pay his soldiers regularly for five consecutive years. They were at last content to write off a part of their arrears, while the remainder was paid partly in cash, partly in kind and partly by *varat* or assignment.⁵ Even this settlement was only made after Holkar had been subjected to a rigorous *dharna*.⁶