1111 2 3 4 5111 Mughal Warfare 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Mughal Warfare offers a much-needed new survey of the military history 4 of Mughal India during the age of imperial splendour from 1500 to 1700. 5 Jos Gommans looks at warfare as an integrated aspect of pre-colonial Indian 6 society. 7 Based on a vast range of primary sources from Europe and India, this 8 thorough study explores the wider geo-political, cultural and institutional 9 context of the Mughal military. Gommans also details practical and tech- 20111 nological aspects of combat, such as gunpowder technologies and the 1 animals used in battle. His comparative analysis throws new light on much- 2 contested theories of gunpowder empires and the spread of the military 3 revolution. 4 As the first original analysis of Mughal warfare for almost a century, this 5 will make essential reading for military specialists, students of military history 6 and general Asian history. 7 8 Jos Gommans teaches Indian history at the Kern Institute of Leiden 9 University in the Netherlands. His previous publications include The Rise 30111 of the Indo-Afghan Empire, 1710–1780 (1995) as well as numerous articles 1 on the medieval and early modern history of South Asia. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 1111 Warfare and History 2 General Editor 3 Jeremy Black 4 Professor of History, University of Exeter 5 6 Air Power in the Age of Total War The Soviet Military Experience 7 John Buckley Roger R. Reese 8 The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Vietnam Society in the Early Islamic State Spencer C. Tucker 9 Hugh Kennedy 1011 The War for Independence and the 1 The Balkan Wars, 1912–1913: Transformation of American Society Prelude to the First World War Harry M. Ward 2 Richard C. Hall 3 War and the State in Early Modern Europe: English Warfare, 1511–1642 Spain, the Dutch Republic and Sweden as 4 Mark Charles Fissel Fiscal-military States, 1500–1660 5 European and Native American Warfare, Jan Glete 6 1675–1815 Warfare and Society in Europe, 1792–1914 7 Armstrong Starkey Geoffrey Wawro 8 European Warfare, 1660–1815 Jeremy Black Warfare at Sea, 1500–1650 9 Jan Glete The First Punic War 20111 J. F. Lazenby Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500–1800: 1 Maritime Conflicts and the Transformation Frontiersmen: Warfare in Africa Since 1950 of Europe 2 Anthony Clayton John K. Thornton 3 German Armies: War and German Politics, Warfare, State and Society in the 4 1648–1806 Byzantine World, 565–1204 5 Peter H. Wilson John Haldon 6 The Great War 1914–1918 War in the Early Modern World, 1450–1815 7 Spencer C. Tucker Jeremy Black 8 Israel’s Wars, 1947–1993 Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa, 9 Ahron Bregman 1830–1914 30111 The Korean War: No Victors, no Vanquished Bruce Vandervort Stanley Sandler 1 Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades, 2 Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300–900 1000–1300 Susan Rose John France 3 4 Modern Chinese Warfare, 1795–1989 The Irish and British Wars, 1637–1654: Bruce A. Elleman Triumph, Tragedy, and Failure 5 Modern Insurgencies and Counter-insurgencies: James Scott Wheeler 6 Guerrillas and their Opponents since 1750 European Warfare, 1494–1660 7 Ian F. W. Beckett Jeremy Black 8 Naval Warfare, 1815–1914 War and Society in Imperial Rome, Lawrence Sondhaus 9 31 BC–AD 284 40111 Ottoman Warfare, 1500–1700 Brian Campbell Rhoads Murphey 1 Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and 2 Seapower and Naval Warfare, 1650–1830 High Roads to Empire, 1500–1700 3 Richard Harding Jos Gommans 44111 1111 2 3 4 51 Mughal Warfare 6 7 8 Indian Frontiers and High Roads to Empire, 9 1011 1500–1700 1 2 311 4 5 6 7 Jos Gommans 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 TL E D 8 U G O 9 E R 40111 • • T a p 1 y u lo ro r G 2 & Francis 3 44111 London and New York 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3 First published 2002 4 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE 5 Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada 6 by Routledge 7 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 8 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group 9 20111 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. 1 © 2002 Jos Gommans 2 3 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, 4 mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, 5 including photocopying and recording, or in any information 6 storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. 7 8 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data 9 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British 30111 Library 1 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 2 A catalog record for this book has been applied for 3 ISBN 0-203-40258-8 Master e-book ISBN 4 5 6 ISBN 0-203-40899-3 (Adobe eReader Format) 7 ISBN 0–415–23988–5 (hbk) 8 ISBN 0–415–23989–3 (pbk) 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 311 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 *** 1 2 3 4 5 March, march, march away. 6 March for you’ll be victorious. 7 8 9 30111 1 2 Abul Fazl 3 (AN, III, p. 1061 [Persian text, III, p. 712]) 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 1111 2 3 4 5 Contents 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 311 List of illustrations ix 4 List of abbreviations xi 5 Note on transliteration xv 6 7 Introduction 1 8 9 1 The Indian frontier 7 20111 1 Monsoon and Arid India 8 2 Frontiers and limites 15 3 Nuclear zones of power 23 4 5 2 War-band and court 39 6 7 Ghazis and sadhus 42 8 Mirzas and Rajputs 51 9 Court society 56 30111 1 3The military labour market 67 2 Supply 67 3 Army organisation 81 4 Military marketing 88 5 6 4 Camp, warhorse and elephant 99 7 8 Camp 100 9 Warhorses 111 40111 Elephants, dromedaries and oxen 121 1 2 3 44111 vii CONTENTS 1111 5 Forts, guns and sails 133 2 Forts 136 3 Guns 145 4 5 Oars and sails 162 6 7 6 The limits of empire 169 8 The eastern front: Bengal 1608–12 170 9 The western front: Balkh 1645–8 179 1011 The southern front: Gingee 1689–97 187 1 2 Conclusion and epilogue 201 3 4 Frontier empires 201 5 Infantry revolution and colonial conquest 203 6 7 Appendix: The Mughal Dynasty 1526–1712 207 8 Notes 209 9 Bibliography 241 20111 Index 257 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 viii 1111 2 3 4 5 Illustrations 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 311 Plates and Figures 4 Cover Akbar watching the fight between two bands of Hindu 5 devotees at Thanesar, Ambala, Punjab. Outline by 6 Basawan, painting by Tara Kalan, c. 1590 (from the 7 Akbarnama at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London) 8 1 Section from a Mughal scroll route map from Delhi to 9 Qandahar, c. 1775 6 20111 2 Mughal court: Shah Jahan receives his three eldest sons 1 and Asaf Khan during his accession ceremony, 1628 38 2 3 Seven recruits from Haryana 66 3 4 Mughal battle of Shibarghan, 1646 98 4 5 Mughal siege of Ranthambor, 1568 132 5 6 Mughal campaign to Orchha, 1635 168 6 6.1 Plan of Gingee 190 7 6.2 Gingee (Rajagiri) 191 8 9 30111 Maps 1 2 1.1 Mughal India: human topography xvi 3 1.2 Saharasia 9 4 1.3 Arid India 11 5 1.4 Mughal India: high roads and nuclear zones of power 18 6 1.5 Mughal South India: side roads of the Dakshinapatha 19 7 1.6 Mughal India: physical features and natural outer frontiers 34 8 3.1 Mughal India: zones of zamindari military entrepreneurship 76 9 4.1 Mughal annual radius of action 108 40111 5.1 Fort-building in the Deccan: 1300–1500 143 1 6.1 Eastern front: 1608–12 170 2 6.2 Western front: 1645–8 180 3 6.3 Southern front: 1689–97 188 44111 ix ILLUSTRATIONS 1111 Tables 2 3 3.1 Zamindari retainers according to A’in-i Akbari (c. 1595) 74 4 3.2 Density of zamindari retainers according to A’in-i Akbari 5 (c. 1595) 75 6 4.1 Settled residence of Mughal emperors 102 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111 x 1111 2 3 4 5 Abbreviations 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 311 AA Abul Fazl Allami, The A-in-i Akbari, translated by H.