From Akbar’s time, the bulk of the paid cavalry were provided by ‘Omrahs’ or ‘Man-sabdars’, nobles or adventurers whose position was similar to that of colonels in 16th Century Europe, in that they were paid to raise and maintain a band of men; and that they used part of the money to pay their followers and kept the rest themselves — the resemblance was complete down even to ‘dead pays’ which were even commoner in India than in Europe.
There were in addition troopers — ‘Ahadi’, ‘Silhidars’ — who served individually and were paid directly by the Emperor. They owned their own horses and equipment (this seems to be the significance of the term ‘Silhidar’) and may have formed a sort of bodyguard or 6lite force.
Some Hindu Rajahs were also paid a retainer to keep their forces at the disposal of the Emperor, and these would also include large numbers of cavalry.
The weapons of the cavalry were, firstly, the light lance, in India made of bamboo and eight to 15 feet long. It was used over-arm as a thrusting spear rather than couched under the arm like a true lance. Secondly, the composite bow, similar to that of the Persians or Tartars, and as usual these were supplemented by a variety of other weapons. Indians used maces with bladed, globular or three-ball heads; axes, including double-bladed and crows-beak patterns; swords — in this period apparently often long and straight; and daggers of many types, mostly curved, but including the unique ‘katar’ or fist-dagger with its ‘H’-shaped hilt. By the mid-17th Century there were even some firearms in use.
The paid semi-regular cavalry would appear all to have been armoured, basically in Persian style with mail and char-aina, usually covered by a richly-decorated
Above right Moghul cavalry and firearm infantry (The British Library).
Short-sleeved coat. Very baggy trousers and shawls wrapped around the waist protected the lower part of the body, though Indians often wore rather tasset-like and distinctive leg-armour. Helmets were mostly of Mongol type, differing from the later Persian styles, firstly by their frequent lack of a nasal, secondly by the single plume springing from the point of the helmet (some had a spike with a small pennon). The ‘coat of a thousand eyes’, a sort of studded brigantine, could also be worn, and lighter irregular cavalry were often protected by padded cotton jackets and voluminous turbans, some of their folds swathed under the chin.
Most cavalry carried shields, either of steel, or of buffalo or rhinoceros hide with a metal boss; round and up to 24 inches in diameter, they were similar to Persian or Turkish examples.
Horses were sometimes protected in the Persian style (or in some cases by numerous cows’ tails hung all round) but often had only very richly-decorated harness. They were sometimes trained to advance on their hind legs — a tactic particularly used against elephants, for some reason.
In battle, cavalry tactics were loose and irregular. Like most Easterners the Moghul horse were highly-skilled with their weapons but not trained, like Europeans, to act together in formation. Omrahs’ and Mansabdars’ bands would keep together, and there were officers referred to as chiefs of 500, 1,000, and up to 7,000 who might head larger bodies; large masses in fairly deep ‘column of mob’ seem to have been usual.
World History
