[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1928) › c8.10 # The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c8.10 The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c8.10 - **Language:** English ### [c8.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1928.c8.10) In the Peshwa period, however, the position was reversed. The Marathas were no longer compelled to defend their hearth and home. Secure in their native territories, they were now in a position to carry war into enemy country, and in these distant expeditions, designed mainly for plunder, a cavalry force was far more useful than infantry. In a Portuguese report, dated June 1787, therefore, we read that the Peshwa could bring in the field 80,000 to 100,000 horse, 10,000 foot and 40 to 50 pieces of artillery.⁷ In the few lists of military saranjams of the later Peshwa period that have come down to us, we find no mention of infantry at all, and Tone¹ tells us that in his days the Maratha did not care to enlist as a foot-soldier and the infantry consisted almost entirely of outsiders. The Maratha footmen were employed mainly for the suppression of disturbances by the Bhils, Kolis and other turbulent tribes. - [Previous: c8.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1928.c8.9) - [Next: c8.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1928.c8.11) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1928.c8) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1928.c8.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1928.c8.10) · Pramāṇa