Pindari

Pindari
Disbanded1818
AllegianceMaratha Confederacy, Gwalior State, Indore State, Nagpur Kingdom, Mughal Empire
RolePlunderers, foragers, Reconnaissance units
Size20,000 to 30,000 (1800-1818)
Commanders
Notable
commanders

The Pindaris (Bhalse, Pasi, Maratha, Rohilla and Pathans) were irregular military plunderers and foragers in 17th- through early 19th-century Indian subcontinent who accompanied initially the Mughal Army, and later the Maratha Army, and finally on their own before being eliminated in the 1817–19 Pindari War.[2] They were unpaid and their compensation was entirely the booty they plundered during wars and raids.[2] They were mostly horsemen armed with spears and swords who would create chaos and deliver intelligence about the enemy positions to benefit the army they accompanied.[3] The majority of their leaders were Muslims, but also had people of all classes and religions.[4][5]

The earliest mention of them is found in the Mughal period during Aurangzeb's campaign in the Deccan, but their role expanded with the Maratha armed campaigns against the Mughal Empire.[3] They were highly effective against the enemies given their rapid and chaotic thrust into enemy territories, but also caused serious abuses against allies such as during the Pindari raid on Sringeri Sharada Peetham in 1791.[3] By the early 1800s, armed Pindari militia groups sought wealth for their leaders and themselves.[6] There were an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Pindari militia during the "Gardi-ka-wakt" ("period of unrest") in north-central India[7][8] around 1800–1815 CE, who plundered villages, captured people as slaves for sale,[9] and challenged the authority of local Muslim sultanates, Hindu kingdoms, and the British colonies.[5]

Francis Rawdon-Hastings, the Governor-General of British India, led an 120,000 strong force in early 19th-century against the Pindaris during the Third Anglo-Maratha War; the campaign became known as the Pindari War.[2][10][11]

  1. ^ The Literary panorama: Volume 11, Issue 1812. 1812.
  2. ^ a b c Pindari: Indian History, Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. ^ a b c 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. pp. 32–34, 94–95, 303–305. ISBN 978-0-521-82444-6.
  4. ^ "Pindari". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  5. ^ a b Martine van Woerkens (2002). The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India. University of Chicago Press. pp. 24–35, 43. ISBN 978-0-226-85085-6.
  6. ^ Banerjee, Tarasankar (1972). "The Marathas and the Pindaris: A Study in Their Relationship". The Quarterly Review of Historical Studies. 11: 71–82.
  7. ^ Banerjee 1972, p. 77
  8. ^ Katare, Shyam Sunder (1972). Patterns of Dacoity in India: A Case Study of Madhya Pradesh. New Delhi: S. Chand. p. 26.
  9. ^ Edward Thompson (2017). The Making of the Indian Princes. Taylor & Francis. pp. 208–217, 219–221. ISBN 978-1-351-96604-7.
  10. ^ Vartavarian, Mesrob (2016). "Pacification and Patronage in the Maratha Deccan, 1803–1818". Modern Asian Studies. 50 (6): 1749–1791. doi:10.1017/S0026749X16000044. S2CID 151915975.
  11. ^ Hardy, Thomas (1972). The Muslims of British India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 34–39, 51–52. ISBN 978-0-521-09783-3.