Aurganzeb’s
Army
v.1.0 January 1, 2006 Aditya MittalIntroduction
This account of the Mughal
army had been taken from the works of Francois Bernier, a French traveler who
was attached to the court of Aurangzeb. His travels have been described in a
book "Travels in the Mogul Empire, 1656 - 1668". The troops under the King,
both infantry and cavalry may be counted under two heads: one part was always
near the kings person and the other was dispersed in the provinces. Ranks
and Organization
1. King 2. Omrahs
Hazari (lord of 1000 horses) Dou
Hazari (lord of 2000 horses)
Penge Hazari (lord of 5000 horses) Deh
Hazari (lord of 10,000 horses) Douazdeh Hazari (lord of 12,000 horses, Aurangzeb’s eldest
son held this title) 3. Mansabdars 4. Rouzindars Omrah
The Mughal army was primarily
organized around the king. "Chain of command" seems to be a little
known concept. Under the King, there were a number of Omrahs (Nobles). Each
Omrah, according to the title they were awarded by the king, was in charge of
maintaining a certain number of cavalry. Omrahs were dependent on the king
for the upkeep of the army and their pay was in proportion to the number of
horses under them. Two horses were generally
allowed to one trooper. The horses bore the markings of the Omrah. The number of Omars was not
fixed. At any given time, there were 25-30 Omrahs at court. There would be
more omrahs in the provinces.
MUGHAL WAR ELEPHANT
THIS IS A 120mm SIZE RESIN MINATURE, FROM www.histomin.com/linever/verasn/mpve1319.jpg.
BY GEORGE GRASSE FOR VERLINDEN. CIMH HAS NO AFFILIATION WITH THE COMPANY, BUT
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MINATURES, PLEASE VISIT THEIR SITE Mansabdar
The Mansabdars are horsemen
with mansab pay. A mansab pay was not as much as that for a Omrah but still
considerable. They were looked on as petty Omrahs. They acknowledge no other
chief but the king. Under a Mansabdar there would be two, four or six service
horses that would bear the kings markings. Their number was not fixed (under
Akbar the number was fixed at 66) but they are more numerous than the Omrahs.
They were under the command of the King and accepted only his superiority. Rouzindar
Rouzindars were cavaliers who
were paid on a daily basis. They filled the inferior offices, mainly clerks
and under-clerks. Horsemen
The common horsemen served
under the Omrahs. They are of two kinds; the first keep a pair of horses
which bear the Omrahs mark on the thigh and the second only keep one horse.
The former are more esteemed. There is no information on what was the rank
hierarchy among these horsemen. There might have been none. Artillery men Most of the artillery men
were foreigners – Portuguese, English, Dutch, Germans and French. Many of
them were fugitives from Goa and the Dutch and English companies. Foot
soldiers
Most of them seem to be
musketeers. Artillery
near the king
There were two kinds of
artillery, Heavy artillery and artillery of the stirrup. The Heavy artillery that
escorted the king consisted of seventy pieces of cannon, mostly of brass each
requiring twenty yoke of oxen to draw them. It also consisted of two to three
hundred light camels who carried field piece the size of a double musket
attached to the back of the animal. The artillery of the stirrup consisted of fifty or sixty small brass field-pieces. Each piece was mounted on a handsomely painted carriage containing two ammunition chests, one behind and the other in front. The carriage was drawn by two horses and attended by a third horse as a relay. The light artillery was always meant to be near the kings person. Head
Counts
Army
near the King (King's bodyguard)
Cavalry – 35 to 40 thousand Infantry (musketeers,
artillery and attendants) – 15 thousand Army
of the Provinces
Cavalry Deccan – 20 to 25 thousand Kabul – 12 to 15 thousand Kashmir – more than 4 thousand Bengal - ?? Infantry (musketeers,
artillery and attendants) - ?? |
