पान:आंग्ल प्रभा.djvu/11

The next point of departure relates to the ariny, which in fact represented the Maratha nation more faithfully than any other single section of the population. Shivaji commenced his work of conquest of the forts round about Poona and in the Konkan with the help of the Mavales and the Hetkaries, The army then consisted only of the Hasham Infantry, who were armed generally with swords and matchlocks. When, later on, he descended into the plains, the Cavalry became the chief agency of offensive warfare in the hands of the Marathas. The old Mavales and. Het karies were retained, but chiefly in commands of the Hill-forts. The cavalry, thus brought into existence, fought with the Moguls under Aurangzeb, and spread the terror of the Maratha name throughout India. They were not mercenaries in the usual sense of the word. They enlisted in the army either singly, or with their horses and men, for the fair season of the year, and when the rains approached, they returned to their homes, and cultivated their ancestral ands. The highest families gloried in being Shilledars and Bargil's, and their pride consisted in the number of troops or Pathaks that followed them, and the recruiting was done without any difficulty. The summons to arms was accompanied with a payment, called Nalbandi, made in advance for the expenses for joining the field with accoutrement and equipment of horse and man alike, and each trooper had his own favourite Commander, whose standard he followed. The strength of the Maratha Cavalry continued to be its most distinguishing feature till about the year 1750, when contact with the French and the British armies discovered the superior advantages, in modern Wars, of regularly trained infantry battalions protected by artillery, the third arm in modern warfare. The successes of the English and the French induced the Manatha leaders to have recourse to this new agency, and, for the first time, we find mention made of the Gardis or the trained battalions. The weak ness of this new addition to the Military force consisted in the fact that unlike the Mavales or the Shilledars, who each owned his plot of land and served the State, not as mercenaries, but as militia, the Gardis were mercenaries, pure and simple, made up of foreign recruits of different nationalities, who had to be paid fixed salaries all the year round, and only owed loyalty to the Commanders who paid them their wages. There was no national element in this new force. The first Maratha Gardis, employed by Sadashiva Rao Bhau, were composed of disbanded battalions of the French native army, led by the famous Ibrahimkhan Gardi. So great was Bhau's confidence in him that he, at Panipat, set at nought the Wise counsels of the great Maratha leaders, who opposed the place of Army.