The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c8.2

c8.2

Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad says that Shivaji had 45,000 cavalry and only 10,000 Mawle infantry in his army.³ But the few figures that we have of his expeditionary forces at different dates contradict this estimate. A cavalry trooper was necessarily more expensive. He needed a good horse, better equipment and therefore a higher salary. Shivaji’s military operations were often confined to hilly regions where horses would be of little or no use. He frequently led his men through unfrequented mountain tracks where the sure-footed Mawle alone could go, and the accuracy of Krishnaji Anant’s account is, therefore, more than doubtful. From the few figures available in the contemporary correspondence of the English factors it appears that during Shivaji’s time the infantry preponderated over the cavalry.) On 12 November 1668, the Carwar factors informed their countrymen at Surat of a report that Shivaji contemplated an expedition against Goa and had with that intent assembled an army of 2,000 horse and 8,000 or 10,000 foot.¹ The army that appeared near Hubli in 1673 consisted, according to a report current at Carwar, of 2,000 horse and 4,000 foot.² In 1675 Shivaji laid siege to the fortress of Phonda and in the besieging force, as we learn from a Carwar letter, dated 14 April, the cavalry was far outnumbered by infantry, their respective strength being 2,000 and 7,000.³ On 19 November 1678, the Rajapore factors wrote to their friends at Bombay that the Bijapur generals dared not attack Shivaji who had 15,000 horse and 20,000 foot at Panhala.⁴ Even in the small force that had joined Sambhaji in his foolish rebellion the cavalry formed the minority, for, when the prodigal son returned to his father’s castle at Panhala, he was accompanied, according to an English report, by 300 horse and 1,000 foot.⁵ The infantry continued to maintain its majority in the Maratha army even after Shivaji’s death, for in 1707 Dhanaji Jadhav, as we are told by the Bundela chronicler, had under his command a strong infantry force of 25,000, while his cavalry numbered 5,000 only.⁶