Army of the Mughal Empire

Mughal Army
Flag of the Mughal Empire
Great Mogul And His Court Returning From The Great Mosque At Delhi India - Oil Painting by American Artist Edwin Lord Weeks
Founded	Late 15th Century
Disbanded	1805
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	Mughal emperor

The Army of the Mughal Empire was the force by which the Mughal emperors established their empire in the 15th century and expanded it to its greatest extent at the beginning of the 18th century. Although its origins, like the Mughals themselves, were in the cavalry-based armies of central Asia, its essential form and structure was established by the empire's third emperor, Akbar.

The army had no regimental structure and the soldiers were not directly recruited by the emperor. Instead, individuals, such as nobles or local leaders, would recruit their own troops, referred to as a mansab, and contribute them to the army.

The Mughals originated in Central Asia. Like many Central Asian armies, the mughal army was horse-oriented. The ranks and pay of the officers were based on the horses they retained. Babur's army was somewhat small and looked like an army of Afghan origin. Akbar restructured the army and introduced a new system called the mansabdari system. Later emperors followed this system.

Mughal emperors maintained a small standing army. They numbered only in thousands. Instead the officers called mansabdars provided much of the troops.

The Mughal Emperors maintained small standing armies. The emperor's own troops were called Ahadis. They were directly recruited by the Mughal emperor himself, mainly from the emperor's own blood relatives and tribesmen. They had their own pay roll and pay master, and were better paid than regular hormen sowars.

They are gentlemen soldiers, normally on administrative duties in the palace. They also included palace guards, emperor's own body guards shahiwalas, and gatekeepers. They were better equipped and had their own horses.

The emperor also maintained a division of foot soldiers and had his own artillery brigade.

Akbar introduced this unique system. The Mughal army had no regimental structure. In this system each officer worked for government was a military officer, responsible for recruiting and maintaining his quota of horsemen. His rank was based on the horsemen he provided, from ten, the lowest, up to 5000. A prince had the rank of 25000. This called as zat and sowar system.

An officer must keep a 1:2 ratio of men to horses. Horses must be carefully verified and branded, preferably an Arabian breed. He must also maintain his quota of horses, elephants and cots for transportation, as well as foot soldiers and artillery. Soldiers were paid in cash or jagir, cash paid for month to maximum one year, but many chose jagir. The emperor allocated jagir for maintenance of mansabs.

The Mughal army had no real divisions, though it had four types of warriors: cavalry, infantry, artillery and navy. The cavalry held the primary role, and the others were auxiliary.