Pindari
Pindari | |
---|---|
Disbanded | 1818 |
Allegiance | Nagpur Kingdom |
Role | Plunderers, foragers, Reconnaissance units |
Size | 20,000 to 30,000 (1800-1818) |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders |
The Pindaris (Bhalse, Pasi, Maratha, Hindustani and Pathans) were
The earliest mention of them is found in the Mughal period during
Etymology
The term Pindar may derive from
Appearance and society
The Pindaris were horsemen who were mostly armed with a talwar and a large spear. They were organised into groups called durrahs each of which had a leader and were organised into different castes and classes. Allegiances were usually hereditary but membership of each durrah could be interchangeable.[15]
The Pindaris were from a variety of traditional backgrounds, all of which appear to have been accepted within their society. In addition to their individual beliefs, the Pindaris worshipped Ramasah Veer, an ancient Pindari raider, as an icon. Pindari women would place small icons of horses in a shrine dedicated to Veer before the commencement of their raids, and the men would wear tokens stamped with his image.[15] The Pindairs were of all classes but most of their important leaders were Muslims. They converted many of their children and the men whom they took as prisoners. Many Hindus also became converts to obtain honourable association with the fellow Pindaris.[16]
The raids, called luhbur, would be conducted in the dry-season starting from late October. During the rainy season, the Pindari would stay with their families in their native lands around the Narmada River.[15]
History
Era of the Deccan Sultanates and the Mughal Empire
The first clear mention of Pindaris in historical texts occurs in the works of the
According to Tapan Raychaudhuri et al., the Mughal Army "always had in its train the "Bidari" (as pronounced in
The Bidaris of the Aurangzeb's army and the Pindaris of the Maratha army extended this tradition of violence and plunder in their pursuit of the political and ideological wars. Shivaji, and later his successors, included the Pindaris in their war strategy. Deploying the Pindaris, they plundered the Mughal and Sultanate territories surrounding the Maratha Empire and used the plundered wealth to sustain the Maratha Army.[21][22][3][23][24]
The devastation and disruption by the Pindaris not only strengthened the Marathas, the Pindaris helped weaken and frustrate the Muslim sultans in preserving a stable kingdom they could rule or rely on for revenues.[21][22][3] The Maratha strategy also embarrassed Aurangzeb and his court.[24] The same Pindari-assisted strategy help the Marathas block and reverse the Mughal era gains in South India as far as Gingee and Tiruchirappalli.[25]
Maratha era
Marathas adopted the Bidaris militia of the earlier era. Their Pindaris were not from any particular religion or caste.[22] Most of the Pindari leaders who plundered for the Marathas were Muslims, such as Gardi Khan and Ghats-u-Din who were employed by the Maratha Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao.[15] Other famed Pindari leaders in the historic literature include Namdar Khan, Dost Mohammad, Wasil Mohammad, Chitu, Khajeh Bush, Fazil Khan and Amir Khan.[26] Similarly, Hindu leaders of Pindaris included the Gowaris, Alande, Ghyatalak, Kshirsagar, Ranshing and Thorat.[27] Hindu ascetics and monks were another pool that volunteered as militia to save their temples and villages from the Muslim invaders but also disrupted enemy supply lines and provided reconnaissance to the Marathas.[28]
According to Randolf Cooper, the Pindaris who served the Marathas were a volunteer militia that included men and their wives, along with enthusiastic followers that sometimes swelled to some 50,000 people at the frontline of a war. They moved swiftly and performed the following duties: destabilize enemy's standing army and state apparatus by creating chaos; isolate enemy armed units by harassing them, provoke and waste enemy resources; break or confuse the logistical and communication lines of the enemy; gather intelligence about the size and armament of the enemy; raid enemy food and fodder to supply resources for the Marathas and deplete the same for the enemy.[3]
The Pindaris of the Marathas did not attack the enemy infantry, rather operated by picketing the civilians, outposts, trade routes and the territorial sidelines. Once the confusion had set in among the enemy ranks, the trained and armed contingents of the Marathas attacked the enemy army. The Marathas, in some cases, collected palpatti – a form of tax – from the hordes of their Pindari plunderers to participate with them during their invasions.[3]
The Pindaris were a major resource for the Marathas, but they also created problems when they raided and plundered the Maratha allies. Shivaji introduced extensive regulations to check and manage the targeted predatory actions of the Pindari.[3]
During the Third Battle of Panipat, Vishwasrao was in command of thousands of Pindari units.
From 1784, Shinde began recruiting large amounts of Indian Muslim cavalrymen from Mughal, Farrukhabad and Rohilkhand regions.[29] At a time when the Marathas would mobilize 78,000 cavalry, 27,000 were Pindari Muslim cavalry.[30]
British Empire era
Most of the Pindaris in this time were from
With the decline of the prestige of Maratha power in India, the Pindaris almost became supreme.
In 1812 and 1813 the Pindaris conducted successful plundering raids on Mirzapur and Surat which were located in areas controlled by the British. In 1816, they undertook an extensive expedition into the East India Company territories around the Guntur district, raiding 339 villages and taking an estimated £100,000 worth of loot. Some of the inhabitants of village Ainavolu committed suicide by throwing themselves into the flames of their burning houses. The British reacted, not only to the financial cost of these raids, but also to the loss of trust the inhabitants had in them as a protective power. They established military outposts south of the Narmada River which contained the Pindaris and prevented any further raids.[15]
Pindari War (1817-19)
Ultimately, the British East India Company under the governorship of
In addition to the military action, the British East India Company also offered regular employment to some of the Pindari militia by converting them into a separate contingent of its own forces. A minority were given jobs as police and offered pensions or nawab positions along with land to their leaders such as Namdar Khan and Amir Khan.[11] Chitu Khan, who was a Muslim of Jat origin born near Delhi, harbored violent anti-British feelings, saying he would "ravage and destroy the country of the English". Not given any clemency, he hid in a jungle where he was continuously tracked by authorities and eventually was killed by a tiger.[39][40]
In popular culture
- Veer, a 2010 film directed by Anil Sharma and starring Salman Khan, depicts the story of a Pindari warrior named Veer Pratap Singh who fought against British colonial rule in Rajasthan.
- In the film Amarendra Bahubali visit Kuntala Kingdom he successfully nullifies the attack of Pindari and save the state.[41]
- A tribe of Pindaris terrorize British Indian villages in Azad Hind Faujresistance member Nyshadha until Devil saves her.
See also
- Thuggee
- Bargi
References
- ^ The Literary panorama: Volume 11, Issue 1812. 1812.
- ^ a b c d e f Pindari: Indian History, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-82444-6.
- ^ "Pindari". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-226-85085-6.
- ^ Banerjee, Tarasankar (1972). "The Marathas and the Pindaris: A Study in Their Relationship". The Quarterly Review of Historical Studies. 11: 71–82.
- ^ Banerjee 1972, p. 77
- ^ Katare, Shyam Sunder (1972). Patterns of Dacoity in India: A Case Study of Madhya Pradesh. New Delhi: S. Chand. p. 26.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-351-96604-7.
- S2CID 151915975.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-09783-3.
- ISBN 9788120608337.
- ^ (India), Central Provinces (1 January 1908). Nimar. Printed at the Pioneer Press.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-22692-9.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i McEldowney, Philip (1966). Pindari Society and the Establishment of British Paramountcy in India. University of Wisconsin.
- ^ India. Census Commissioner (1933). Census of India, 1931 Volume 20, Part 1. Manager of Publications. p. 200.
- ^ Niccolò Manucci (1965). Storia do Mogor: or, Mogul India, 1653-1708. by Niccolao Manucci. Translated by Irvine, William. Editions. p. 431.
- ^ Roy, M.P. (1973). Origin growth and suppression of the Pindaris.
- ^ Richard M. Eaton 2005, pp. 24–25.
- ^ John Richards 1995, pp. 8–9, 58, 69.
- ^ a b John Richards 1995, pp. 207–208, 212, 215–220.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-136-79087-4.;. Macmillan and Company, limited. pp. 388–397.
Robert Vane Russell (1916). The principal castes and tribes of the Central Provinces - ISBN 978-0-14-100143-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4725-9123-4.
- ISBN 978-0-415-23989-9.
- ISBN 978-81-269-0394-8.
- ^ LKA Iyer (1965). Mysore. Mittal Publications. pp. 393–395. GGKEY:HRFC6GWCY6D.
- ISBN 978-90-474-3002-5.
- ISBN 978-0-19-563484-6.
- ^ The Journal of Military History: Volume 69, Issues 3-4. Virginia Military Institute and the George C. Marshall Foundation. 2005. p. 675.
- ^ Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1951). English Records of Maratha History: The Treaty of Bassein and the Anglo-Maratha War in the Deccan 1802-1804. Government Central Press. p. 214.
- ISBN 9780521084888.
- ^ The Journal of Military History: Volume 69, Issues 3-4. Indian Historical Records Commission. 14 August 2023. p. 675.
- ^ Proceedings of Meetings: Volume 14. Indian Historical Records Commission. 1938. p. 213.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-107-08031-7.
- ^ a b Adolphus William Ward; George Walter Prothero; Stanley Mordaunt Leathes (1969). The Cambridge Modern History: The growth of nationalities. Cambridge University Press. pp. 725–727.
- ISBN 978-1-351-96604-7.
- ^ a b Burton, R.G. (1910). The Mahratta And Pindari War. Simla: Government Press.
- ISBN 9780226850856.
- ISBN 9781844677382.
- ^ Meena Iyer (2 May 2017). "Baahubali 2: The Conclusion Plot Summary | Hindi Movie News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
Bibliography
- Randolf Cooper (2003). The Anglo-Maratha Campaigns and the Contest for India: The Struggle for Control of the South Asian Military Economy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-82444-6.
- Richard M. Eaton (2005). A Social History of the Deccan, 1300-1761: Eight Indian Lives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-25484-7.
- John Richards (1995). The Mughal Empire. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-58406-0.
External links
- Pindari Society and the Establishment of British Paramountcy in India
- Pindari in The tribes and castes of the central provinces of India, Volume 1, by R.V. Russell, R.B.H. Lai