Moghul 1494 AD - 1700 AD (II/26)

Proposer: Gareth "Silhidar"

Proposal:

Add the following line:

Only after 1605 AD:

Downgrade mansabdar cavalry to Barq-andaz mounted matchlockmen - Dr (I)    0 - 2

The basic reference is I.A. Khan's Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Mediaeval India

(OUP India, 2004), pp.151-55.

As the current Sipahi class includes men armed with matchlocks, I

would suggest that instead adding to the list strength, it is included

as a downgrade for the mansabdar cavalry. There were never many of

them, and their use seems to have been for revenue collection and

policing in the same way that dragoons were in Europe. They came under the

jurisdiction of the court Mir Atish, or "master gunner", and are also mentioned in

M K Zaman's Mughal Artillery (Delhi 1983), p.11:

"Artillery men, generally called as Sair, were usually entitled as Topichi, Golandaz,

Barqandaz, as the nature of his employment might be. The actual functions of these

cannot be ascertained; except for the last named, whom Abul Fazl describes as mounted

artillery man, or as we might understand a matchlockman on a horse."