Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
156 1820.
and at length fully succeeds in making
the Sikhs regular infantry and artillery soldiers.
European discipline
introduced into the
CHAP. VI
of a body of eViraged Akalis.^ He began, after that period, to give his attention to the formation of regular infantry, and in 1812 Sir David Ochterlony saw two regiments of Sikhs, besides several of Hindustanis, drilled by men who had resigned or deserted the British service.^ The next year the Maharaja talked of raising twenty-five battalions,'^ and his confidence in discipline was increased by the resistance which the Gurkhas offered to the British arms. He enlisted people of that nation, but his attention was chiefly given to the instruction of his own countrymen, and in 1820
Mr. Moorcroft noticed with approbation the appearance of the Sikh foot-soldier.^ Ran jit Singh had not got his people to resign their customary weapons and order He encouraged them of battle without some trouble. by good pay, by personal attention to their drill and equipment, and by himself wearing the strange dress, and going through the formal exercise.-'' The old chiefs disliked the innovation, and Desa Singh Majithia, the father of the present mechanic and disciplinarian Lahna Singh, assured the companions of Mr. Moorcroft that Multan and Peshawar and Kashmir had all been won by the free Khalsa cavalier.'' By degrees the infantry service came to be preferred, and, before Ranjit Singh died, he saw it regarded as the proper warlike array of his people. Nor did they give their heart to the musket alone, but were perhaps more readily brought to serve guns than to stand in even ranks as footmen. Such was the state of change of the Sikh army, and such were the views of Ranjit Singh, when Generals Allard and Ventura obtained service in the Punjab. Murray, Ranjit Singh, p. 68. D. Ochterlony to Government, 27th Feb. 1812. 3 Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 4th March 1813. 4 Moorcroft, Travels, i. 98. There were at. that time, as there are still, Gurkhas in the service of Lahore. 5 The author owes this anecdote to Munshi Shahamat Ali, otherwise favourably known to the public by his book on the Sikhs and Afghans. 6 Moorcroft, Travels, i. 98. Ranjit Singh usually required his feudatories to provide for constant service, a horseman for every 500 rupees which they held in land, besides being ready with other fighting-men on an emergency. This propqrtion left the Jagirdar one-half only of his estate untaxed, as an The Turks efficient' horseman cost about 250 rupees annually. (Ranke, Ottoman Empire, ed. 1843, Introd., p. 5) required a 1
2 Sir
horseman for the first 3,000 aspers, or 50 dollars, or say 125 rupees, and an additional one for every other 5,000 aspers, or 208 rupees. In England, in the seventeenth century, a horseman was assessed on every five hundred pounds of income. (Macaulay,. History of England, i.
29'.)
156 1820.
and at length fully succeeds in making
the Sikhs regular infantry and artillery soldiers.
European discipline
introduced into the
CHAP. VI
of a body of eViraged Akalis.^ He began, after that period, to give his attention to the formation of regular infantry, and in 1812 Sir David Ochterlony saw two regiments of Sikhs, besides several of Hindustanis, drilled by men who had resigned or deserted the British service.^ The next year the Maharaja talked of raising twenty-five battalions,'^ and his confidence in discipline was increased by the resistance which the Gurkhas offered to the British arms. He enlisted people of that nation, but his attention was chiefly given to the instruction of his own countrymen, and in 1820
Mr. Moorcroft noticed with approbation the appearance of the Sikh foot-soldier.^ Ran jit Singh had not got his people to resign their customary weapons and order He encouraged them of battle without some trouble. by good pay, by personal attention to their drill and equipment, and by himself wearing the strange dress, and going through the formal exercise.-'' The old chiefs disliked the innovation, and Desa Singh Majithia, the father of the present mechanic and disciplinarian Lahna Singh, assured the companions of Mr. Moorcroft that Multan and Peshawar and Kashmir had all been won by the free Khalsa cavalier.'' By degrees the infantry service came to be preferred, and, before Ranjit Singh died, he saw it regarded as the proper warlike array of his people. Nor did they give their heart to the musket alone, but were perhaps more readily brought to serve guns than to stand in even ranks as footmen. Such was the state of change of the Sikh army, and such were the views of Ranjit Singh, when Generals Allard and Ventura obtained service in the Punjab. Murray, Ranjit Singh, p. 68. D. Ochterlony to Government, 27th Feb. 1812. 3 Sir D. Ochterlony to Government, 4th March 1813. 4 Moorcroft, Travels, i. 98. There were at. that time, as there are still, Gurkhas in the service of Lahore. 5 The author owes this anecdote to Munshi Shahamat Ali, otherwise favourably known to the public by his book on the Sikhs and Afghans. 6 Moorcroft, Travels, i. 98. Ranjit Singh usually required his feudatories to provide for constant service, a horseman for every 500 rupees which they held in land, besides being ready with other fighting-men on an emergency. This propqrtion left the Jagirdar one-half only of his estate untaxed, as an The Turks efficient' horseman cost about 250 rupees annually. (Ranke, Ottoman Empire, ed. 1843, Introd., p. 5) required a 1
2 Sir
horseman for the first 3,000 aspers, or 50 dollars, or say 125 rupees, and an additional one for every other 5,000 aspers, or 208 rupees. In England, in the seventeenth century, a horseman was assessed on every five hundred pounds of income. (Macaulay,. History of England, i.
29'.)
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