Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
154 1822.
and of Gurkhas.
CHAP. VI
aimless aspirations to his own profit, and to found a dynasty of 'Peshwas' on the achievements of unlettered Sudras. Ambitious soldiers took a further advantage of the spirit called up by Sivaji, but as it was not sustained by any pervading religious principle of action, a few generations saw the race yield to the expiring efforts of Muhammadanism, and the Marathas owe their present position, as rulers, to the intervention of European strangers. The genuine Maratha can scarcely be said to exist, and the two hundred thousand spearmen of the last century are once more shepherds and tillers of the ground. Similar remarks apply to the Gurkhas, that other Indian people which has risen to greatness in latter times by its own innate power, unmingled with religious hope. They became masters, but no peculiar institution formed the landmark of their thoughts, and the vitality of the original impulse seems fast waning before the superstition of an ignorant priesthood and the turbuLence of a feudal nobility.
The difference between these races and the fifth tribe of Indian warriors will be ^t once apparent. The Sikh looks before him only, the ductility of his youthful intellect readily receives the
most useful impression,
or takes the most advantageous form, and religious faith is ever present to sustain him under any adversity, and to assure him of an ultimate triumph. Aversion of the older
military tribes of
India to regular
:
u.; cipline,
with the exception of the Gurkhas,
and partially of the
Muhammadans.
The Sikh forces originally composed of
horsemen armed with matchlocks. Notices of the Sikh troops',
Forster,
The Rajput and Pathan will fight as Pirthi Raj and Jenghiz Khan* waged war; they will ride on horses in tumultuous array, and they will wield a sword and spear with individual dexterity but neither of these cavaliers will deign to stand in regular ranks and to handle the musket of the infantry soldier, although the Muhammadan has always been a brave and skilful server of heavy cannon. The Maratha is equally averse to the European system, of warfare, and the less stiffened Gurkha has only had the power or the opportunity df forming battalions of footmen, unsupported by an active cavalry and a trained artillery. The early force of the Sikhs was composed of horsemen, but they seem intuitively to have adopted the new and formidable matchlock of recent times, instead of their ancestral bows, and the spear common to every nation. Mr. Forster noticed this peculiarity in 1783, and. the advantage it gave in desultory warfare.^ In 1805, Sir John Malcolm did not think the Sikh was better mounted than the Maratha; - but, in 1810, Sir David Ochterlony considered that, in the confidence of un-
by
1783; 1
Forster, Travels, i. 332. Sketch of the Sikhs, pp. 150, 151.
2 Malcolm,
154 1822.
and of Gurkhas.
CHAP. VI
aimless aspirations to his own profit, and to found a dynasty of 'Peshwas' on the achievements of unlettered Sudras. Ambitious soldiers took a further advantage of the spirit called up by Sivaji, but as it was not sustained by any pervading religious principle of action, a few generations saw the race yield to the expiring efforts of Muhammadanism, and the Marathas owe their present position, as rulers, to the intervention of European strangers. The genuine Maratha can scarcely be said to exist, and the two hundred thousand spearmen of the last century are once more shepherds and tillers of the ground. Similar remarks apply to the Gurkhas, that other Indian people which has risen to greatness in latter times by its own innate power, unmingled with religious hope. They became masters, but no peculiar institution formed the landmark of their thoughts, and the vitality of the original impulse seems fast waning before the superstition of an ignorant priesthood and the turbuLence of a feudal nobility.
The difference between these races and the fifth tribe of Indian warriors will be ^t once apparent. The Sikh looks before him only, the ductility of his youthful intellect readily receives the
most useful impression,
or takes the most advantageous form, and religious faith is ever present to sustain him under any adversity, and to assure him of an ultimate triumph. Aversion of the older
military tribes of
India to regular
:
u.; cipline,
with the exception of the Gurkhas,
and partially of the
Muhammadans.
The Sikh forces originally composed of
horsemen armed with matchlocks. Notices of the Sikh troops',
Forster,
The Rajput and Pathan will fight as Pirthi Raj and Jenghiz Khan* waged war; they will ride on horses in tumultuous array, and they will wield a sword and spear with individual dexterity but neither of these cavaliers will deign to stand in regular ranks and to handle the musket of the infantry soldier, although the Muhammadan has always been a brave and skilful server of heavy cannon. The Maratha is equally averse to the European system, of warfare, and the less stiffened Gurkha has only had the power or the opportunity df forming battalions of footmen, unsupported by an active cavalry and a trained artillery. The early force of the Sikhs was composed of horsemen, but they seem intuitively to have adopted the new and formidable matchlock of recent times, instead of their ancestral bows, and the spear common to every nation. Mr. Forster noticed this peculiarity in 1783, and. the advantage it gave in desultory warfare.^ In 1805, Sir John Malcolm did not think the Sikh was better mounted than the Maratha; - but, in 1810, Sir David Ochterlony considered that, in the confidence of un-
by
1783; 1
Forster, Travels, i. 332. Sketch of the Sikhs, pp. 150, 151.
2 Malcolm,
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