16. Character of the Marātha armies
“The Marātha cavalry at times make very long and rapid marches, in which they do not suffer themselves to be interrupted by the monsoon or any violence of weather. In very pressing exigencies it is incredible the fatigue a Marātha horseman will endure; frequently many days pass without his enjoying one regular meal, but he depends entirely for subsistence on the different corn-fields through which the army passes: a few heads of juāri, which he chafes in his hands while on horseback, will serve him for the day; his horse subsists on the same fare, and with the addition of opium, which the Marāthas frequently administer to their cattle, is enabled to perform incredible marches.”
The above analysis of the Marātha troops indicates that their real character was that of freebooting cavalry, largely of the same type as, though no doubt greatly superior in tone and discipline to the Pindāris. Like them they lived by plundering the country. “The Marāthas,” Elphinstone remarked, “are excellent foragers. Every morning at daybreak long lines of men on small horses and ponies are seen issuing from their camps in all directions, who return before night loaded with fodder for the cattle, with firewood torn down from houses, and grain dug up from the pits where it had been concealed by the villagers; while other detachments go to a distance for some days and collect proportionately larger supplies of the same kind.”[23] They could thus dispense with a commissariat, and being nearly all mounted were able to make extraordinarily long marches, and consequently to carry out effectively surprise attacks and when repulsed to escape injury in the retreat. Even at Pānīpat where their largest regular force took the field under Sadāsheo Rao Bhao, he had 70,000 regular and irregular cavalry and only 15,000 infantry, of whom 9000 were hired sepoys under a Muhammadan leader. The Marāthas were at their best in attacking the slow-moving and effeminate Mughal armies, while during their period of national ascendancy under the Peshwa there was no strong military power in India which could oppose their forays. When they were by the skill of their opponents at length brought to a set battle, their fighting qualities usually proved to be distinctly poor. At Pānīpat they lost the day by a sudden panic and flight after Ibrahīm Khān Gārdi had obtained for them a decided advantage; while at Argaon and Assaye their performances were contemptible. After the recovery from Pānīpat and the rise of the independent Marātha states, the assistance of European officers was invoked to discipline and train the soldiery.[24]
[1] Sir H. Risley’s India Census Report (1901), Ethnographic Appendices, p. 93.
[2] P. 48, footnote.
[3] Nāsik Gazetteer, ibidem. Elphinstone’s History, p. 246.
[4] The proper spelling is Bhosle, but Bhonsla is adopted in deference to established usage.
[5] Bombay Census Report (1901), pp. 184–185.
[6] Rājasthān, i. 269.
[7] Ibidem, ii. 420.
[8] Sholapur Gazetteer, p. 87.
[9] Satāra Gazetteer, p. 64.
[10] Ibidem, p. 75.
[11] Bombay Census Report (1907), ibidem.
[12] Letter on the Marāthas (India Office Tracts).
[13] Satāra Gazetteer, p. 75.
[14] Grant-Duff, 4th edition (1878), vol. i. pp. 70–72.
[15] Forsyth, Nimār Settlement Report.
[16] Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xviii. part i. pp. 413–414.
[17] Elliott, Hoshangābād Settlement Report.
[18] The following description is taken from the Ethnographic Appendices to Sir H.H. Risley’s India Census Report of 1901.
[19] Irvine’s Army of the Mughals, p. 82.
[20] Ibidem, p. 232. Gopāl is a name of Krishna.
[21] Lit. armour-bearers. Colonel Tone writes: “I apprehend from the meaning of this term that it was formerly the custom of this nation, as was the case in Europe, to appear in armour. I have frequently seen a kind of coat-of-mail worn by the Marātha horsemen, known as a beuta, which resembles our ancient hauberk; it is made of chain work, interlinked throughout, fits close to the body and adapts itself to all its motions.”
[22] In order to obtain redress by Dharna the creditor or injured person would sit starving himself outside his debtor’s door, and if he died the latter would be held to have committed a mortal sin and would be haunted by his ghost; see also article on Bhāt. The account here given must be exaggerated.
[23] Elphinstone’s History, 7th ed. p. 748.
[24] Ibidem, p. 753.