Mahar Regiment
Mahar Regiment | |
---|---|
Active | 1815 – present |
Country | India |
Branch | Indian Army |
Type | Line Infantry |
Role | Infantry |
Size | 22 battalions |
Regimental Centre | Sagar, Madhya Pradesh |
Motto(s) | Yash Sidhi Success & Attainment[1] |
War cry | Bolo Hindustan Ki Jay Say Victory to India[2] |
Decorations | 1 Param Vir Chakra,
4 Maha Vir Chakra, 32 Vir Chakra, 1 Ashok Chakra, 4 Kirti Chakra, 39 Shaurya Chakra, 1 Padam Shri, 9 PVSM, 3 UYSM, 16 AVSM, 4 Yudh Seva Medals, 49 Vishisht Seva Medals and 221 Sena Medals, 107 M-in-D, 2 Jeevan Raksha Padak.PVSM |
Insignia | |
Regimental Insignia | A pair of crossed Vickers medium machine guns, mounted on a tripod with a dagger. The dagger was initially the Pillar of Koregaon, where the combined British and Mahar troops defeated the overwhelming Peshwa Army. The pillar was subsequently removed and was replaced with a dagger.[3] |
The Mahar Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army. Although it was originally intended to be a regiment consisting of troops from the Mahar community of Maharashtra, today the Mahar Regiment is composed of different communities from mainly states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
History
Overview
The
Mahar served in various armies over several centuries. Under Islamic rule, Mahars served as soldiers in various armies of the
The
During the colonial period, large numbers of Mahars were recruited for military duties by the
The Mahar began their service to the East India company around 1750. Between 20 and 25 per cent of the British
After the 1857 mutiny, the British decided to change their military recruitment policy. One report "emphasized that we cannot practically ignore it (the caste system), so long as the natives socially maintain it". This led to the discrimination against the Mahars, other low-caste and some unreliable Brahmin castes.[5]
Martial races theory and disbandment
After the Revolt of 1857, the
Raising of the Mahar Regiment
After the demobilisation of the Mahar troops, there were many attempts by the leaders of the Mahar community to persuade the Government to let them serve in the Army once again. Petitions to this effect were drafted by ex-soldiers such as Gopal Baba Walangkar in 1894, and Shivram Janba Kamble in 1904.[10] These petitions were supported in principle by the politician and social reformer
World War II forced the British to broaden their recruitment and the Mahar Regiment was raised in 1941.
In 1946, the 25th Mahars were disbanded, along with many other garrison battalions of the Indian Army. Its officers and men were largely absorbed by the other three battalions of the regiment. In the October 1946, the regiment was converted into a machine gun regiment, and the regimental centre was established at Kamptee. Following the conversion, the cap badge was changed. The new badge had two crossed Vickers machine guns over the Koregaon Pillar, over a scroll that said "The Mahar MG Regiment". The three surviving battalions of the regiment served as a part of the Punjab Boundary Force, and took part in escorting refugees during the Partition of India.
Border Scouts
The Border Scouts were an irregular force formed by the people of the border villages in East Punjab during Partition. Hailing as they did from the erstwhile greater state of East Punjab (which included the present states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh), the force had people hailing from a greater mix of ethnic, religious and caste backgrounds than was the norm in the Indian Army. They did some useful work defending villages from attacks during partition, and as a reward, were given a more permanent character as the East Punjab Frontier Scouts in 1948. They served along the border with Pakistan as border guards, and were regarded as a useful adjunct of the Punjab Armed Police. The unit was redesignated the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Border Scouts in 1951, with recruitment from different North Indian communities. In 1956, the decision to convert this force into Machine-Gun Regiments was taken, and the three battalions were merged with the Mahar Regiment, the only Indian Machine Gun Regiment in existence at the time. They joined the Regiment as the 4th, 5th and 6th Battalions of the Mahar Regiment, and it is to these units that the Regiment traces its mixed-class composition. The three Battalions style themselves battalions of the Mahar Regiment (Borders) even today.
Operation Pawan
Late on 25 November 1987, when a column of the Mahar Regiment under Major
Composition
Battalions:[3]
- 1st Battalion
- 2nd Battalion
- 3rd Battalion
- 4th Battalion (Borders)
- 5th Battalion (Borders)
- 6th Battalion (Borders)
- 7th Battalion
- 8th Battalion (Param Vir Chakra)
- 9th Battalion
- 10th Battalion
- 11th Battalion
- 12th Battalion
- 13th Battalion
- 14th Battalion (formerly 31st Mahar) & (UN Mission 2017 to 2018)
- 15th Battalion (formerly 32nd Mahar)
- 17th Battalion
- 18th Battalion
- 19th Battalion
- 20th Battalion
- 21st Battalion
- 22nd Battalion
Former battalions
- 25th Battalion (disbanded 1946).
- 16th Battalion (formerly 8th Parachute Regiment) (converted to 12th Mechanised Infantry in 1981)
Allied units
Territorial Army (TA)
- 108th Infantry Battalion, Territorial Army (Sagar, Madhya Pradesh)
- 115th Infantry Battalion, Territorial Army (Belgaum, Karnataka)
- 136th Infantry Battalion, Territorial Army (Ecological) (Aurangabad, Maharashtra)
Rashtriya Rifles (RR)
- 1st Battalion, Rashtriya Rifles
- 30th Battalion, Rashtriya Rifles
- 51st Battalion, Rashtriya Rifles
Special Task Force (STF)
- 21 Special Task Force (STF)
See also
- List of regiments of the Indian Army
References
- ^ "Mahar Regiment passing out parade". 25 September 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ "Mahar Regiment War Cry".
- ^ a b c Bharat Rakshak :: Land Forces Site – The Mahar Regiment Archived 2012-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 0521553628.
- ^ a b c White, Richard B. (1994). "The Mahar Movement's Military Component" (PDF). SAGAR: South Asia Graduate Research Journal. 1 (1): 39–60.
- ISBN 8171548741.
- ^ Kantak, M. R. "The Political Role of Different Hindu Castes and Communities in Maharashtra in the Foundation of Shivaji's Swarajya", Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, vol. 38, no. 1/4, 1978, pp. 40–56. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42931051. Accessed 28 January 2021.
- ISBN 978-81-85880-43-3.
- ^ Kumbhojkar, Shraddha (2012). "Contesting Power, Contesting Memories – The History of the Koregaon Memorial". The Economic and Political Weekly. EPW. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
- ISBN 978-81-87733-43-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-87733-43-0.
External links
- The Martial Races at Country-Data.com
- The Mahar Regiment, Bharat Rakshak