The infantry held an inferior position and were of little or no consideration. It consisted of a multitude of people assembled together without regard to rank or file. There were swordsmen, gunmen, archers, matchlock men and guards. Some were armed with spears, and even though disciplined, could not be relied upon.

Mughal Indian Infantry

In short, the infantry were more a rabble of half-armed men than anything else, being chiefly levies brought into the field by petty zamindars, or men belonging to the jungle tribes. Any Mahomedan or Rajput who respected himself, managed somehow or other to provide himself with a mount and obtained enrolment as a cavalry soldier.

Mughal Indian Infantry

The high figures for Infantry in each district and province, shown in the historical records can only be accepted under considerable reservation. These numbers probably represent the men called on to render strictly local duty, and they must have consisted almost entirely of villagers armed with long pikes, or swords and shields, perhaps even with only an iron-bound bamboo staff.

Mughal Indian Infantry

Mughal Indian Light Infantry Archers

Mughal Indian Light Infantry Matchlockmen

Mughal Indian Light Infantry Spearmen

Mughal Indian Medium Infantry Archers

In the later years of Mughal empire, a class of troops known as Alighol wuld seem to have been the equivalent of the ghazis from the Afghan frontier. These were a sort of chosen light infantry of the Rohilla Patans. Sometimes the term appears to be applied to other troops supposed to be used generally for desperate service.

Mughal Indian Light Medium Infantry Archers

Mughal Indian Light Medium Infantry Archers

In 1799, the Jaipur Rajah had a body-guard of sixteen hundred men, armed with matchlocks and sabres, who were called the silah-posh, no doubt from their being clad in armour.

Mughal Indian Close Order Matchlockmen

Mughal Indian Light Medium Spearmen

Mughal Indian Close Order Spearmen

Farangi

Just Kidding!

These were Europeans serving in the capacity of common soldiers. They were probably for the most part native Christians, or Portuguese, either from Goa, or from the colonies of that nation settled about the mouth of the Ganges and Brahmputra. There may have been among them some fugitive sailors from ships lying at Surat or Cambay. More usually, however, such men entered the artillery. In 1739 there were still Franks in the Mughal service. They were all Frenchmen, either attached to the artillery or practicing as surgeons, bone-setters, or physicians.