Mercenaries in India: Difference between revisions

In southern India, there is a caste/community of mercenaries in the state of Karnataka which is called [[Bunt (community)|Bunt]], The word "bunt" itself translates to Warrior/Mercenary, this community later elevated itself as the rulers of the land, several powerful dynasties emerged from this community, The most notable dynasty being the [[Alupas]] of Dakshina kannada, which reigned for 1300 years straight, This community still survives and has adopted the surnames shetty, Rai, Alva, chowta etc.

European mercenaries served in the courts of Indian rulers for 300 years, beginning with the large-scale defections of Portuguese soldiers from [[Goa]] in the 16th century, followed by a series of defections of British soldiers and laymen from the [[British East India Company]] bridgehead at [[Surat]] in the 17th century.<ref name="margin"/> During Portuguese explorer [[Vasco da Gama]]'s first historic journey to India in 1498, he observed that there were Italian mercenaries in the employ of various ''[[Rajah]]s'' on the [[Malabar coast]].<ref name="Firingipura"/> Two of da Gama's own crewmen had left him to join the Italians in the service of a Malabar ''Rajah'' for higher wages.<ref name="Firingipura"/>

Portuguese historian [[João de Barros]] stated that there were at least 2,000 Portuguese fighting in the armies of various Indian princes in 1565.<ref name="Firingipura"/> Among these mercenaries included the indigenous [[Goan Catholics|Goan Catholic]] and [[East Indians|East Indian]] soldiers and sailors.<ref name="Castro">{{harvnb|Prabhu|1999|p=69}}</ref> The Maratha Emperor [[Shivaji]] employed many Portuguese and hundreds of Goan Catholics and East Indians in his navy, until they were persuaded by the colonial authorities in Goa to desert.<ref name="Castro"/> They were generally sought after as artillery experts by the Mughals and Marathas.<ref name="Castro"/> When the Mughals complained to the Portuguese Viceroy [[António de Melo e Castro]] about the Portuguese soldiers serving under the Marathas, the latter was forced to respond with a letter stating that he had no control over the Portuguese and native Christian officers in Shivaji's army, just as he had no control over the mercenaries serving in the Mughal and other armies.<ref name="Castro"/>

During the reign of Mughal Emperor [[Shah Jahan]], so many Europeans took up service at the [[Mughal Army]] that a distinct suburb was built for them outside [[Delhi]] named Firingipura (Foreigners' Town).<ref name="Firingipura">{{Harvnb|Dalrymple|2004|pp=14–15}}</ref> Its inhabitants included Portuguese, French and English mercenaries, many of whom had converted to [[Islam]].<ref name="Firingipura"/> These mercenaries formed a special ''Firingi'' (Foreigners') regiment, under the command of a Frenchman named Farrashish Khan.<ref name="Firingipura"/> [[Shah Alam II]] gave the German mercenary [[Walter Reinhardt Sombre]] a large estate in the [[Doab]], north of [[Delhi]].<ref name="Samru"/> Sombre settled in the estate with his wife [[Begum Samru|Farzana Zeb un-Nissa]] (also known as Begum Samru), and made the village of [[Sardhana]] his capital.<ref name="Samru"/> The ruling class of this principality was drawn from an assortment of Mughal noblemen and 200 French and Central European mercenaries, many of whom had converted to Islam.<ref name="Samru">{{Harvnb|Dalrymple|2006|pp=238–239}}</ref> Sombre was succeeded after his death by his wife who took command of his mercenary troops and became the ruler of Sardhana, earning the distinction of being the only [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic]] ruler in India.<ref name="Samru"/> Among these mercenaries was John-Augustus Gottlieb Cohen, a [[History of the Jews in Germany|German-Jewish]] mercenary who was the father of [[Urdu]] poet, [[Farasu]].<ref name="Samru"/>

There were many mercenaries working in the armies of the [[Deccan sultanates]] that controlled much of central and southern India.<ref name="Firingipura"/> One of the most prominent mercenaries in the [[Adil Shahi dynasty|Adil Shahi]] court was Gonçalo Vaz Coutinho, a Portuguese former landowner in Goa, who was imprisoned there on a murder charge before escaping to [[Bijapur, Karnataka|Bijapur]] in 1542. There he converted to Islam with his wife and children, and was given lands with great revenues by [[Ibrahim Adil Shah I]].<ref name="Firingipura"/> A Portuguese-Jewish gunner Sancho Pires defected in similar circumstances to the [[Ahmadnagar Sultanate]] in 1530.<ref name="Pires"/> Pires converted to Islam and took the name Firanghi Khan; acquiring a position of great influence in the Nizam Shahi court.<ref name="Pires">{{Harvnb|Disney|1995|p=247}}</ref>

Many British renegades defected to the service of the Mughals and Deccan sultanates during the 17th century, as in the case of Joshua Blackwell, a British East India Company official who in 1649 converted to Islam and took up service in the Mughal army.<ref name="Blackwell">{{Harvnb|Dalrymple|2004|pp=24–25}}</ref> Most of these renegades, like the trumpeter Robert Trulleye, however, went into the service of the Deccan sultanates of Bijapur and [[Golconda]].<ref name="Blackwell"/> In 1654, 23 British East India Company servants deserted Surat in a single mass break-out.<ref name="Blackwell"/> In the 1670s, the British authorities uncovered an active network of covert recruiting agents in [[Bombay]].<ref name="Blackwell"/> By the 1680s, the increasing defections of British soldiers and East India Company servants led [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] to issue an order calling back all Englishmen in the employ of Indian princes.<ref name="Blackwell"/>

During the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], a British convert to Islam named Abdullah Beg was one of the most active insurgents in Delhi against [[British Raj|British rule]].<ref name="Beg"/> Beg was a former Company soldier, who upon the arrival of the mutineer ''[[sepoy]]s'' on 11 May, self-identified with them and virtually became a leader and advisor to the rebel forces in Delhi.<ref name="Beg"/> He was last seen manning the rebel artillery along with another British defector and Muslim convert, Sergeant-Major Gordon.<ref name="Beg"/> On account of his faith, Gordon was spared during the massacre of Christians at the outbreak of the uprising.<ref name="Beg"/> In due course Gordon was taken to Delhi, where he manned the guns on the northern side of the city walls.<ref name="Beg">{{Harvnb|Dalrymple|2006|p=153}}</ref>