Need for greater historical accuracy for Indian Army Lists

[newbiesoldat]

I’m a new player, just getting in the game, and wargaming in general, and I think the army lists for the Medieval Indian factions can really use some more historical accuracy to flesh them out, since right now not only most seem a bit barebones, but actually resemble little with their historical counterparts, especially North Indian army lists, which at this time represented an interesting mix of Indo-Persian, Turkic and local Indian traditions. I have some background in South Asian history, and so will just present a few suggestions here for improving the Indian Army lists.


1. The Indian Army lists need more Cavalry, the limited amount of cavalry units that they can field right now completely contradicts even the most conservative estimates. To give an example, there are North Western European Armies that can bring higher number cavalry units than North Indian Army lists. While much of the subcontinent is unsuitable for horse breeding, the North West, West, and parts of North India had the capacity to maintain large cavalry armies. The Delhi Sultanate armies under the Khiljis and the Tughlaqs from the late to 14th century number around 200000-600000 horsemen, the 200000 being a conservative estimate by modern scholars. Medieval accounts tell us of Rajput Cavalry numbers as well, and while their smaller states did not have as large a cavalry as the Delhi Sultanate at its peak, they could also field large cavalry, the Paramara Rajputs of Malwa were said to have 40000 Cavalry and 100000 Foot, Vaghela Rajputs of Gujarat had 30000 Cavalry and 80000 Foot, Chauhan Rajputs of Ranthambore (principality of the size of around modern day Netherlands) had around 120000 Cavalry, later Rajput States of late 14th to early 16th century also could raise significant amount of horsemen, with Babur, the first Mughal Emperor of India, facing the Rajput confederacy of anywhere between 80000-200000 horsemen at the Battle of Khanwa in 1527. So the Cavalry units’ limit needs to be increased in the Indian Army lists.

2. The Indian Muslim Armies need to have more Elite Armored Horse Archers and also get Armored Horse Archers and some limited Armored Lancers to reflect their composition. The Delhi Sultanate had Ghulams as their heavy cavalry, used for decisive charges, while they also had Iqtadars, cavalrymen with land in lieu of military service, and Silahdars, salaried cavalrymen, to act as armored horse archers. It is recorded that Sultan Balban in the latter half of the 13th century mustered 50000 regular horsemen for a review of his Central Army, and the later Khiljis and Tughlaqs far exceeded this number. Records speak of Khiljis categorizing Silahdar, salaried cavalrymen, in 2, the elite were the Murattab who were paid high wages as they brought their own armor and horse armor, along with 2 of their own horses, the second and lesser Silahdars were the Duaspa, who brought their own armor and 1 horse, and were provided with a second horse from the State. All of them were specifically trained as expert horse archers.

3. The Rajput Armies need to have both Superior Indian Lancers representing the elite Rawats, landed cavalrymen, and the Indian Lancers representing the lesser Chindhars, the service cavalrymen. Also the Indian Light Lancer’s AP should be increased from 16 to 20, and should be available to both Indian Muslims and Rajputs. Amir Khursrau, a late 13th century and early 14th century courtier talked about the Sultanate acquiring 10000 horses, as fast as the wind, from the stables of Ranthambore fortress alone after the victory over the Chauhans. Secondly, the description of battles, whether the Ranthambore Chauhan ambush of the Sultanate forces in 1301, or the Sultanate civil war of 1321 between Ghiyassudin Tughlaq and usurper Khusrau Khan near Delhi was decided by rapid charges, and a flanking counter attack, both by Rajput light cavalry contingents in Sultanate service, these one side had the Gakhars from Punjab, while the other had the Baradus of Gujarat, both as light cavalry lancers with their typical barchhi light lances.

4. The Rajputs also need to have more Indian Light Cavalry (with Javelins) apart from Lancers, in fact much more, since the many of their armies were built around light cavalry tactics during the medieval period. Not to mention the irregular cavalry was a huge part of the military manpower of India. Even the Delhi Sultanate and the later regional Sultanates hired many ad hoc light cavalrymen, often called Khudaspa, when going on campaigns. Ambush tactics were very common, often taking up positions to make surprise attacks from multiple directions. These tactics may have been developed in fact as a means to oppose the larger Sultanate armies initially.

5. The Delhi Sultanate introduced the use of crossbows called Nawak, which seemed to have been very effective against the Rajputs. Though it seems the Rajputs never adopted it in their own armies, perhaps due to the very limited focus on their infantry. The Sultanate also had elite Paik, infantrymen, probably spearmen, to form the regular infantry regiments. Thus, the Indian Muslim Army lists should include it, perhaps a strong spearmen unit of Paiks and a crossbow unit of Nawak users.

6. Lastly, there was a huge difference in various types of Indian Muslim Sultanates after the breakup of the Delhi Sultanate in the latter half of the 14th century. Those in the North followed roughly the old system, while those in the east became more Elephant and Infantry oriented, relying on ‘Purabiya Rajputs’ literally meaning Eastern Rajputs, who were famed as infantrymen rather than the popular image of the Cavalrymen of the Western Rajputs. The Sultanates in the West adopted more according to the Western Rajput system, using lancers and light cavalry under feudal landed nobles, while the Deccan Sultanates adopted more of hit and run and ambush tactics of the Maratha light cavalry and hillmen, with addition of Telugu and Indian Muslim infantry, added with foreign elements such as the mercenary Turco-Persian armored horse archers and Ethopian Slave Armored Cavalry and Infantry. Same with the Rajputs as well, with the variations even among western groups, such as Mewar (Udaipur region) having plenty of swift cavalry thanks to its location near Gujarat and Malwa, while those in Marwar (Jodhpur region) having very few good horses, and were mostly fighting as mounted infantry, using horses mostly for transport before dismounting to fight, or even as how Purabiya Rajput fought mostly on foot.


These are some of the suggestions that I feel will help enhance the experience with Indain Army lists, hopefully they prove constructive, all comments and opinions are welcome.

[SnuggleBunnies]

1. The Indian Army lists need more Cavalry, the limited amount of cavalry units that they can field right now completely contradicts even the most conservative estimates. To give an example, there are North Western European Armies that can bring higher number cavalry units than North Indian Army lists. While much of the subcontinent is unsuitable for horse breeding, the North West, West, and parts of North India had the capacity to maintain large cavalry armies. The Delhi Sultanate armies under the Khiljis and the Tughlaqs from the late to 14th century number around 200000-600000 horsemen, the 200000 being a conservative estimate by modern scholars. Medieval accounts tell us of Rajput Cavalry numbers as well, and while their smaller states did not have as large a cavalry as the Delhi Sultanate at its peak, they could also field large cavalry, the Paramara Rajputs of Malwa were said to have 40000 Cavalry and 100000 Foot, Vaghela Rajputs of Gujarat had 30000 Cavalry and 80000 Foot, Chauhan Rajputs of Ranthambore (principality of the size of around modern day Netherlands) had around 120000 Cavalry, later Rajput States of late 14th to early 16th century also could raise significant amount of horsemen, with Babur, the first Mughal Emperor of India, facing the Rajput confederacy of anywhere between 80000-200000 horsemen at the Battle of Khanwa in 1527. So the Cavalry units’ limit needs to be increased in the Indian Army lists.

Interesting stuff, welcome to the game. I am not specialist on the region, so I will limit myself to this part of your comment. For this kind of thing, I think the valuable information to glean is the overall ratio of cavalry to infantry to try to adjust the army lists. The overall numbers I am *highly* skeptical of. These absolutely enormous numbers are the sort of logistically insupportable numbers we see in many other eras and places, like Herodotos' account of the Achaemenid army, or various ancient Chinese accounting of armies. Whatever the theoretical number of men who held enough property to fight as fully equipped horsemen, the number actually fielded in any one army at a time was undoubtedly far lower, thanks to the constraints of pre modern logistics and road networks. Herodotos said the Persians had millions of men, but modern scholars think 80-120,000 was the maximum feasible number, and armies up to the Napoleonic era were usually much smaller.

This isn't to say that you haven't offered potentially useful information, just that overall numbers don't matter as to the composition of army lists so much as the general proportions of the various arms. The other thing I would add is that historically, army list revisions have required not just information but sources. Given that you have some background in the area, listing some of the relevant sources can often go a long way to getting your desired revisions into the game.

[newbiesoldat]

Thank you for replying, firstly, I will begin with citing the sources for the numbers that I have given. The Medieval Sources from which I’ve cited the numbers are Khazain ul Futuh by Amir Khusrau (for the Ranthambore numbers) Tarikh I Firuzshahi by Ziya al Din Barani (for the approximate Delhi Sultanate and Paramara Rajput numbers), Tarikh I Mubarakshahi by Yahya bin Ahmed Sirhindi who wrote in the early 15th century referring to the previous mentioned works, the numbers for the Malwa, Gujarat and other states are mentioned thus by him. The other sources referred are Baburnama and Tarikh I Ferishta, written in early 16th and early 17th century respectively.

Now let us come to the topic of exaggerations, there are plenty in both the Rajput and Sultanate chronicles written during this period. When we talk about Indian exaggerations, they usually go in hundreds of thousands, such as the estimate of Delhi Sultanate having 600000 horsemen, or Rajputs having 200000 horsemen at Khanua. The conservative estimates that I cited are in fact the lower numbers given. For example, while having cited that Ranthambore Chauhans had only 12000 horsemen, during the description of the conflict, some sources state that Chauhans counter attacked with around 200000 horsemen and footmen, which is obviously a wild exaggeration considering the relatively modest size of the Ranthambore State, and considering that source contradicts its earlier quotation of Ranthambore only having 12000 horsemen and unspecified number of infantry. Another example is when the army of Mohammad of Ghor and Prthviraj Chauhan were numbered as 120000 and 300000 cavalry respectively. However, it is important to understand the motives for exaggeration.

When the Sultanate sources state that a Rajput state had 12000 horsemen, or a larger state having 40000, that cannot be considered exaggeration since if there was a motive to exaggerate for glorifying or creating awe then they would have given much greater numbers for the Rajput cavalry especially since they mention greater numbers of the Sultanate Cavalry. In covering conflict they do indulge in this though, often numbers of their foes are exaggerated and figures such as 200000 are reached when covering a particularly difficult battle to further glorify the victory, which is why I did not add those numbers, but when the account is giving an almost matter of fact survey of these regional States, we do not see such exaggerations. An army of Orissa, an eastern Indian state, as per Sultanate chronicle, I forget which, cites them having an around army of around just 5000 horse and 10000 foot, while Tarikh I Firuzhshahi states a Chandella Rajput ruler in the Indo-Gangetic, stating that he only had 5000 horsemen while over 100000 infantry. In fact Sultan Balban was quoted by the Barani's account to have disdained Indo-Gangetic rulers (the Rais of Hind) for being having armies of Paiks (infantry ) and Dhanuks (Archers) that could be easily defeated by 6-7000 Delhi horsemen. An exaggeration of Delhi’s prowess, but here the point of importance is that the Sultanate records are very clear as to importance of cavalry numbers.

What must also be seen is that the numbers are not as outlandish if we compare the numbers of these medieval accounts with more early modern accounts such as Ain-Akbari of Abul Fazl in the late 16th century and even the English East Indian Company account of the late 18th century, I’m forgetting the exact name of the officer, perhaps it was Robert Orme, we see that they are quite comparable. Abul Fazl states that the province of Ajmer (including almost all of major Western Rajput states) can furnish some 850000 horse, this may seem an exaggeration but then we also see him covering other states, for example Malwa’s cavalry seems to have declined to around 15-180000 during this period as per Fazl. Orme gives us an estimate that the larger states like the Marathas (the largest post Mughal State) had over 80000 cavalry while smaller ones such as Jodhpur had around 25000-30000 cavalry, while Udaipur had around 20000. So again, these are not exaggerations. In fact areas and places having a dearth of cavalry and horses are also covered in the medieval accounts, such as the Jodhpur region was said to barely have any good horses, and till the late 15th century, the Rajputs of this region acted more like mounted infantry rather than actual cavalry.

It must be understood that the scale of armies in India was massive. You have Mewar of 15th century, a state smaller than France at the time, mustering 40000-50000 horse (Tarikh I Ferishta and Mirat I Sikandari) when supported by its feudatories, and around 15000 (Tod's estimations) when just on its own. The figure of 40000 is in fact the lowest and the most modest estimate, Baburnama, the autobiographical diary of Babur, written before 1529, states that Mewar mustered some 200000 horse in 1527 when supported by its feudatories and some allies, while Mirat i Sikandari in one campaign describes them having 100000 horsemen. Modern historians also put Rajput cavalry numbers between 50000-80000. So while many may think 40000 to be an exaggeration, the numbers involved in Indian warfare, both in actuality and exaggerations are of an entirely different scale. Another example is of South India, where even though the humidity of South India prevented large scale breeding of horses, the Portuguese envoys gives an estimate that early 16th century Vijayanagar state could field 30000 horsemen, mostly sustained through the seaborne trade of horses from Arabia and Persia coming to the ports of South India.

I hope this gives a perspective on Indian military situation during the Medieval period.

[rbodleyscott]

Many thanks. I will look at making alterations to the army lists for the next update.

[newbiesoldat]

Thank you so much, and I am glad you found this post useful.

Actually most of the army list is fine, and doesn't need drastic changes in my opinion. I will try and sum in points what, in my opinion, can work with the available units. To note here is that I'm still very new to this, so I might be getting a lot wrong here as far as gameplay balance is concerned, this is just a limited attempt to reflect things from my readings so far.

1. Increase the unit cap of Elite Armored Horse Archers and Indian Lancers for Indian Muslim armies, and if possible give them Armored Lancers under the limited cap of probably not more than 5 (Medium Army size setting). The Delhi Sultanate armies were built around armored horse archers (Iqtadars and Silahdars), supplemented by light cavalry and heavy Ghulam lancers.

2. Rajput Armies should get Indian Lancers, representing the Chindhar, the lower level cavalry, along with their Superior Indian Lancers that represent the more noble Rawat horsemen. The Indian Lancers can have a cap of around at least 10 considering currently the Indian Superior Lancers have a cap of around 8-10 on Medium size. The Rajput armies should also have an increased unit cap for Indian Light Cavalry (Javelin Light Horse), currently at around just 2 or 4 (I'm not remembering), they should be able to bring many more, at the least around 8 on Medium size army.

3. Give Indian Muslims a decent Spearmen unit, representing the Sultan's Paik regiments, and a crossbow unit representing the Nawak crossbows, of course not as good as any European ones, but good enough to be effective in Indian and Asiatic opponents.

4. Also most Rajput armies and Western Indian armies in general did not have adequate elephants, as Western India usually had fewer elephants, and they were mostly used for battering fort gates, as champions in elephant duels, and as raised command posts for commanders. Thus, reducing their unit cap, and making them more expensive for Rajputs would be more accurate.

5. Later Indian Muslim armies, post 1400 that is, should have less horse archers and more Indian Lancers and Indian Light Cavalry (Javelin Light Horse) reflecting the regional Sultanates adopting to their limited geographical contexts and constraints.

6. Finally, and this is only if one needs to go in a lot of detail. There were many types of Rajput states, large and small, with different military cultures, which is often ignored in a lot of studies on their culture, unless of course one looks at the primary sources. For example, a Marwar (Jodhpur region) army from 1350-1450 will barely have any Cavalry, and would in fact be mostly infantry since one of the sources (Khyat of Munhot Nainsi) states how during wars with Mewar (Udaipur) they could barely mount a 100-200 horsemen out of their army of around 10000. On the other hand Mewar (Udaipur) from 1350-1500 had a large cavalry force, anywhere from between 15000-40000, latter figure when their feudatories supported them. So in case you wish to go in detail, these variations in the Rajput States can also be used. I mention Mewar (Udaipur) and Marwar (Jodhpur) because these were the 2 leading Western Hindu Rajput States, while the rest were mainly feudatories, mostly under Mewar, or Malwa or Gujarat Sultanates.

These changes in my opinion should be enough to give a very accurate picture of Medieval North Indian warfare. Of course these are just suggestions, so take them as such. In case you have any query, I'll be happy to help here. Sorry for such long posts, and once again thank you so much.

[rbodleyscott]

Here is a proposed revised Muslim list for the earlier period.

I have added "Best-Equipped cavalry" with lance and bow, and increased the availability of superior and average horse archers. (Note that the latter have "Some Armour")

It is now possible to field an army entirely of cavalry apart from the compulsory elephants.

I have added crossbowmen and spearmen, though whether the "Elite" infantry were good enough to qualify as Superior Spearmen [by comparison with other Muslim lists] remains to be seen. They could alternatively be Average.

Muslim Indian 1192-1339 AD.jpg (149.87 KiB) Viewed 3275 times

[rbodleyscott]

Here is a proposed revision of the earlier Rajput list:

I have added a large number of average lancer cavalry, and greatly increased the number of javelin light horse.

If they really need "light lancers" as well, then I will need to rebrand some Bedouin light horse models. (And if so, perhaps reduce or remove the Average non-light lancers)

(They can't have the Average Lancers' movement allowance increased, except by switching them to count as Light Horse instead of Cavalry - otherwise they would be the only non-light Cavalry in the game with 20 AP. We have to be consistent.)

Rajputs.jpg (145.11 KiB) Viewed 3262 times

[newbiesoldat]

I went through the list, and they feel perfect to me. I think these would very well represent the Medieval Indian warfare. I really appreciate this.

Though a small nitpick can be that Elephants post 1200 CE don't feature as essentials for either the Muslims or the Rajput states, so I'm not sure if having them as compulsory. Of course, in large campaigns if the Sultan or the Maharaja (or the Maharana) is going with all his vassals for a large campaign, then yes. But in most accounts we don't really hear much about elephants. As far as lower level and medium scale battles are concerned, they were mostly for sieges or for duels, only the really large battles had them, that too in very limited numbers. Elephants remained vital for Eastern and South Indian States where the States had easy access to them.

But as I said, I'm nitpicking a bit here, both the lists seem perfect to me.

PS: Also on more thought, I must say that Indian Lancers with AP 16 are fine, otherwise they would seem overpowered, especially if the Army list has both Indian Light Horse (already having AP 20) and Indian Lancers with AP 20, that would be sort of overkill now that I consider it.

[rbodleyscott]

Though a small nitpick can be that Elephants post 1200 CE don't feature as essentials for either the Muslims or the Rajput states, so I'm not sure if having them as compulsory. Of course, in large campaigns if the Sultan or the Maharaja (or the Maharana) is going with all his vassals for a large campaign, then yes. But in most accounts we don't really hear much about elephants. As far as lower level and medium scale battles are concerned, they were mostly for sieges or for duels, only the really large battles had them, that too in very limited numbers.

Fair enough, I will remove the compulsory minima for elephants in the Muslim and Rajput lists.

What do you think the end date (if any) might be for the Crossbowmen and/or spearmen?

[newbiesoldat]

Thank you for considering my suggestion about the elephants!

As far as end date for Crossbowmen and Spearmen are concerned, I'm a bit unsure as to what is meant by this.

Historically, I don't remember regional Sultanates using crossbows, with perhaps the exception of the Gujarat and Bahamani Sultanates on account of their use of overseas missionary. The crossbows don't seem to be mentioned in most battles that I have read about post Delhi Sultanate (1206-1388). As for Spearmen, disciplined infantrymen seem to have become more common, with various groups such as the Purabiya Rajputs enlisting and forming the backbone for Jaunpur and Malwa Sultanate armies in the 15th century.

And my last suggestion, and sorry I overlooked this very minor point, maybe increase the number of Indian horse archers from 9 to something like 12 for the Indian Muslims, or reduce the unit cap for Superior Indian Lancers for the Rajputs from 10 to 8. Reason being that the Delhi Sultanate usually could outnumber smaller Rajput states as far as cavalrymen were concerned, hence we see most battles being ambushes or siege during this time, and very few pitched battles between them, and since the Rajput army list can now field more cavalry, maybe either increase Indian Muslim horse archer cap, or reduce the Rajput Superior Lancer cap from 10 to 8. Its a small quibble that you can feel free to ignore.

[rbodleyscott]

I don't think we need to worry about the relative size of historical Muslim and Rajput armies - the actual size in game will be determined by the available points.

[rbodleyscott]

This is what I have currently for Muslims:

Muslim1.jpg (150.99 KiB) Viewed 3230 times

Muslim2.jpg (162.51 KiB) Viewed 3236 times

Muslim3.jpg (154.31 KiB) Viewed 3236 times

[newbiesoldat]

Got it, so points and balance would keep things in check mostly, thanks for clarifying that.

[rbodleyscott]

And for Rajputs. These lists appear currently be identical, but I know of no historical evidence to make them differ.

Rajput1.jpg (130.48 KiB) Viewed 3234 times

Rajput2.jpg (133.48 KiB) Viewed 3234 times

[newbiesoldat]

Just checked the later period Indian Muslim lists. So firstly, they're all excellent, especially how the Ghilman/Mamluk have been replaced with Expert Armored Horse Archers, this is very historically accurate as the Ghulam system was beginning to be sidelined by the later periods of the Delhi Sultanate itself.

Now a few points that I feel could improve. The later Indian Muslim Sultanates were mostly regional, and as such their military manpower became more local and their military establishment became less 'formal'' and more feudal. Which meant that horse archery, which was not a natural skill to be adopted in the Indian context, since composite bows were difficult to maintain in India's sweltering heat, became less prominent with them.

Thus, the post 1400 Indian Muslim Army lists should typically have less Horse Archers, typically Expert Armored Horse Archer should be around 6, representing the elite regiments, Indian Horse Archer should also not exceed 6, while Indian Lancers should become prominent in their roster, representing the local elements becoming dominant.

[rbodleyscott]

Just checked the later period Indian Muslim lists. So firstly, they're all excellent, especially how the Ghilman/Mamluk have been replaced with Expert Armored Horse Archers, this is very historically accurate as the Ghulam system was beginning to be sidelined by the later periods of the Delhi Sultanate itself.

Now a few points that I feel could improve. The later Indian Muslim Sultanates were mostly regional, and as such their military manpower became more local and their military establishment became less 'formal'' and more feudal. Which meant that horse archery, which was not a natural skill to be adopted in the Indian context, since composite bows were difficult to maintain in India's sweltering heat, became less prominent with them.

Thus, the post 1400 Indian Muslim Army lists should typically have less Horse Archers, typically Expert Armored Horse Archer should be around 6, representing the elite regiments, Indian Horse Archer should also not exceed 6, while Indian Lancers should become prominent in their roster, representing the local elements becoming dominant.

It will be difficult to change the date ranges, so I will have to do this in the 3rd list, and treat the 2nd list as a transitional phase somewhere between the other two lists.

[newbiesoldat]

Yeah, the Rajput armies for the later period don't need much changes at all.

Small change, if at all you want to do, would be to reduce the 'regular infantry' unit caps, such as reducing the cap for Indian Close fighters and Indian Archers, and instead increasing the number of Indian Forest Tribesmen and Indian Light Javelinmen. This would basically reflect the reliance of these new emerging Rajput States on the local tribal elements for military manpower rather than the 'regular infantry', also the greater prevalence of all-cavalry armies. Typically the irregular levy was made up of tribal or 'subaltern' groups such as the Bhils, Mers, Jats and Meenas and Kolis. Western Indian saw many Rajput branches 'colonizing' previously peripheral regions to bring these groups under subjugation, which often ended in a compromise, where the natives were incorporated under the Rajput system.

Apart from this, the list is pretty much perfect, and this might not be that major a point. So it is good either way.

[rbodleyscott]

Here are revised versions of the 2nd and 3rd Muslim lists:

Muslim2.jpg (157.84 KiB) Viewed 3218 times

Muslim3.jpg (156.16 KiB) Viewed 3217 times

[newbiesoldat]

For the Muslim armies, you need not create a new list. Changing just the 1340 and 1470 list should be enough, mostly due to the decline that was already happening during Muhammad Bin Tughlaq's turbulent reign. In fact if one has to be historically precise as to the date of Delhi Sultanate's disintegration and regionalization, 1388 CE, the death of the Firuz Shah Tughlaq and the subsequent civil wars would be it. We already know that Firuz Shah (1351-1388) removed the regular inspection of cavalry, made military assignments and offices hereditary, and relaxed the standards. So changing 1340 and 1470 lists should be enough to show the decline of horse archery in the Indian Muslim armies.

[rbodleyscott]

Small change, if at all you want to do, would be to reduce the 'regular infantry' unit caps, such as reducing the cap for Indian Close fighters and Indian Archers, and instead increasing the number of Indian Forest Tribesmen and Indian Light Javelinmen. This would basically reflect the reliance of these new emerging Rajput States on the local tribal elements for military manpower rather than the 'regular infantry', also the greater prevalence of all-cavalry armies. Typically the irregular levy was made up of tribal or 'subaltern' groups such as the Bhils, Mers, Jats and Meenas and Kolis. Western Indian saw many Rajput branches 'colonizing' previously peripheral regions to bring these groups under subjugation, which often ended in a compromise, where the natives were incorporated under the Rajput system.

So perhaps:

Rajput2.jpg (131.68 KiB) Viewed 3211 times