08-26-2004, 07:15 AM
Some interesting background info on the soldiers of the East India Company in this book:
<b>Last of the Mughals</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Purbia story :
The favored soldiers in this new age were the Purbias and some other classes proficient in infantry warfare. They were employed in the armies of all major powers of the Indian continent and the largest portions went to the English army of Bengal and to the campoo established by De Boigne. In the second decade of the nineteenth century English ascendancy over the Indian continent was established beyond doubt and the Purbias had only one employer to look up to.
A conscious feeling of power had grown up in this community from the central role they had played in the succession of victories over the other Indian powers, and also from the fact of their holding several important cities and forts of Hindustan in independent command. This feeling was not helped by the carelessness of the English who could not spare troops from the wars in the Crimean peninsula and China to balance the power held by the Purbias. This carelessness extended to certain blunt and insensitive administrative decisions like the order commanding the Indian troops to be ready for service anywhere in India and abroad, and the famously callous introduction of cartridges greased with the fat of certain animals.
These incidents provided the spark to the inflated sense of importance that the Purbias had formed of themselves, even as far back as the days when they were hired by all major Indian powers. Those same Indian powers, like the Maratha Peshwa, the Delhi Emperor, the Avadh aristocracy, and some other Chiefs now looked to the Purbias for the restoration of their own power. In addition the Purbias had the unstinted support of their brethren in the provinces of Avadh and Bihar. In the light of these facts, Indians of later generations have termed the events of 1857 as a general revolt by the Indian Princes and peoples against the British rule over India.
For the English, the activities of the various Princes and Chiefs were of less importance in modern warfare than the movements and plans of the Purbia battalions. The defeat and disbandment of these units and the ruthless pacification of their provincial homes were the prime aims of the shell-shocked British power. Thus for their historians these events were nothing more than a âsepoy mutinyâ.
Several drastic changes were made to the policy and organization of the British administration in India after 1857, and the one change that decided the future of the Purbias was the trend of recruitment into the battalions. Preference was now given to communities from the extreme north like the Dogras, Sikhs, Gurkhas and Punjabi Muslims, whiler the Purbias vanished into oblivion from the English fauj. These communities were mostly ignorant rustics like the Purbias and their provinces generally were under direct British rule.
But most importantly these communities had no experience of service under the Marathas, no consciousness of their own greatness in the recent military history of Hindustan, and lastly no sympathy to the important powers anywhere else in India. The growth of political consciousness and the importance of education became a factor in these out-of-the-way provinces only in the early twentieth century and even then these groups were fed with false stories of their âmartial greatnessâ and of their superiority to other Indian races by the British rulers so that their loyalty could be ensured forevermore.
It was only in independent India that the recruitment of the army was extended to cover all Indian states, and the performance of this new army has vindicated that decision. Because in professional armies any group of men can be trained into first class soldiers---- notwithstanding the legacy of the military classes from the last eight hundred years of Indian history.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Last of the Mughals</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Purbia story :
The favored soldiers in this new age were the Purbias and some other classes proficient in infantry warfare. They were employed in the armies of all major powers of the Indian continent and the largest portions went to the English army of Bengal and to the campoo established by De Boigne. In the second decade of the nineteenth century English ascendancy over the Indian continent was established beyond doubt and the Purbias had only one employer to look up to.
A conscious feeling of power had grown up in this community from the central role they had played in the succession of victories over the other Indian powers, and also from the fact of their holding several important cities and forts of Hindustan in independent command. This feeling was not helped by the carelessness of the English who could not spare troops from the wars in the Crimean peninsula and China to balance the power held by the Purbias. This carelessness extended to certain blunt and insensitive administrative decisions like the order commanding the Indian troops to be ready for service anywhere in India and abroad, and the famously callous introduction of cartridges greased with the fat of certain animals.
These incidents provided the spark to the inflated sense of importance that the Purbias had formed of themselves, even as far back as the days when they were hired by all major Indian powers. Those same Indian powers, like the Maratha Peshwa, the Delhi Emperor, the Avadh aristocracy, and some other Chiefs now looked to the Purbias for the restoration of their own power. In addition the Purbias had the unstinted support of their brethren in the provinces of Avadh and Bihar. In the light of these facts, Indians of later generations have termed the events of 1857 as a general revolt by the Indian Princes and peoples against the British rule over India.
For the English, the activities of the various Princes and Chiefs were of less importance in modern warfare than the movements and plans of the Purbia battalions. The defeat and disbandment of these units and the ruthless pacification of their provincial homes were the prime aims of the shell-shocked British power. Thus for their historians these events were nothing more than a âsepoy mutinyâ.
Several drastic changes were made to the policy and organization of the British administration in India after 1857, and the one change that decided the future of the Purbias was the trend of recruitment into the battalions. Preference was now given to communities from the extreme north like the Dogras, Sikhs, Gurkhas and Punjabi Muslims, whiler the Purbias vanished into oblivion from the English fauj. These communities were mostly ignorant rustics like the Purbias and their provinces generally were under direct British rule.
But most importantly these communities had no experience of service under the Marathas, no consciousness of their own greatness in the recent military history of Hindustan, and lastly no sympathy to the important powers anywhere else in India. The growth of political consciousness and the importance of education became a factor in these out-of-the-way provinces only in the early twentieth century and even then these groups were fed with false stories of their âmartial greatnessâ and of their superiority to other Indian races by the British rulers so that their loyalty could be ensured forevermore.
It was only in independent India that the recruitment of the army was extended to cover all Indian states, and the performance of this new army has vindicated that decision. Because in professional armies any group of men can be trained into first class soldiers---- notwithstanding the legacy of the military classes from the last eight hundred years of Indian history.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->