Sepoy

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Sepoy
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Illustration of Hyder Ali as a sepoy
Active16th to 21st centuries
CountryFile:Alam of the Mughal Empire.svg Mughal Empire
File:Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg Maratha Empire
File:Flag of India.svg India
File:Flag of Pakistan.svg Pakistan
File:Flag of Nepal.svg   Nepal
Branchinfantry and artillery
EquipmentMusket

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Look up sepoy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A sepoy (/ˈsiːpɔɪ/) is a term used to refer to South Asian soldiers. Originating from the Persian word Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:Wikt-lang), the term was anglicised to "sepoy" by the British. In the army of the Mughal Empire sepāhī referred to a type of infantryman, while in colonial India it was used as a term for native troops in European service. During the early modern era European colonial authorities in India, most prominently those of the British East India Company, raised units of sepoys for service against native states or other European powers.[1][2] The term is used today as the equivalent rank of private in the Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese armies.

Etymology

In Persian Script error: No such module "Lang". (Aspa) means horse and Ispahai is also the word for cavalrymen.

The term sepoy is the anglicised form of the Persian word Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:Wikt-lang), meaning the traditional "infantry soldier" in the Mughal Empire.

Historical usage

The term sepoy came into common use in the forces of the British East India Company in the eighteenth century, where it was one of a number of names, such as peons, gentoos, mestees and topasses, used for various categories of native soldier. Initially it referred to Hindu or Muslim soldiers without regular uniforms or discipline. It later generically referred to all native soldiers in the service of the European powers in India.[3] Close to ninety-six percent of the British East India Company's army of 300,000 men were native to India and these sepoys played a crucial role in securing the subcontinent for the company.[4]

Equipment

File:The Nawab's artillery at Plassey.jpg
Sepoy units loyal to the Nawab of Bengal armed with artillery pieces and a war elephant.

The earliest sepoys used matchlock muskets and operated bulky and inefficient cannons to a limited extent during the reign of Akbar. By the time of Aurangzeb the Mughal armies had advanced significantly and utilized a wider range of weapons to win battles.

During the Carnatic Wars and Anglo-Mysore Wars the sepoys of the Mughal Empire employed more advanced types of musket, as well as blunderbuss and rocket weapons.

History

Mughal Empire 16th–18th centuries

A Sipahi or a sepoy was an infantryman armed with a musket in the army of the Mughal Empire.

The earliest sepoys were armed with daggers, talwars and matchlocks.[5] By the mid to late 17th century they began to utilize more upgraded forms of muskets and even rockets. These sepoys also operated and mounted artillery pieces and sharpshooter upon war elephants which were also used for transport, hauling artillery and in combat.[6]

By the 18th century individual Nawabs employed their own sepoy units as did the European merchant companies established in parts of India.

Sepoys became more visible when they gained European arms and fought for various fragmented polities of the Mughal Empire during the Carnatic Wars and the Bengal War, after which the importance of the local sepoy diminished and they were replaced by the "European hired Sepoy".

Sepoys in British service

The East India Company initially recruited sepoys from the local communities in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies. The emphasis here favoured tall and soldierly recruits, broadly defined as being "of a proper caste and of sufficient size".[7] In the Bengal Army however, recruitment was only amongst high caste Brahmin and Rajput communities, mainly from the present day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar regions. Recruitment was undertaken locally by battalions or regiments often from the same community, village and even family. The commanding officer of a battalion became a form of substitute for the village chief or gaon bura. He was the mai-baap or the "father and mother" of the sepoys making up the paltan (from "platoon"). There were many family and community ties amongst the troops and numerous instances where family members enlisted in the same battalion or regiment. The izzat ("honour") of the unit was represented by the regimental colours; the new sepoy having to swear an oath in front of them on enlistment. These colours were stored in honour in the quarter guard and frequently paraded before the men. They formed a rallying point in battle. The oath of fealty by the sepoy was given to the East India Company and included a pledge of faithfulness to the salt that one has eaten.[3]

The salary of the sepoys employed by the East India Company, while not substantially greater than that paid by the rulers of Indian states, was usually paid regularly. Advances could be given and family allotments from pay due were permitted when the troops served abroad. There was a commissariat and regular rations were provided. Weapons, clothing and ammunition were provided centrally, in contrast to the soldiers of local kings whose pay was often in arrears. In addition local rulers usually expected their sepoys to arm themselves and to sustain themselves through plunder.[3]

This combination of factors led to the development of a sense of shared honour and ethos amongst the well drilled and disciplined Indian soldiery who formed the key to the success of European feats of arms in India and abroad.[3]

In 1858 following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the surviving East India Company regiments continued as the armies of the three presidencies until they were merged into a new Indian Army under the direct control of the British Crown in 1895. (The Company had come under the control of the Crown but in 1874 it was abolished.) The designation of "sepoy" was retained for Indian soldiers below the rank of lance naik, except in cavalry where the equivalent ranks were sowar or "trooper".

Presidency Monthly Salary In Rupees (1760s)
Bengal 6[8]
Bombay 7[8]
Madras 7[8]

Sepoys in French service

File:A Seik (archaic spelling of 'Sikh') and a seapoy (sepoy) in the French Service.jpg
c. 1822 illustration of a French sepoy (right)

Following the formation of the Company of the Indies (Script error: No such module "Lang".) in 1719, companies of Indian sepoys (Template:Wikt-lang) were raised to augment the French regulars and Swiss mercenaries in India. By 1720 the sepoys in French service numbered about 10,000.[9] Although much reduced in numbers after their decisive defeat in India at the Battle of Wandewash in 1760, France continued to maintain a Military Corps of Indian Sepoys (Script error: No such module "Lang".) in Pondicherry until it was disbanded and replaced by a locally recruited gendarmerie in 1898.[10] The 19th century diplomat Sir Justin Sheil commented about the British East India Company copying the French Indian army in raising an army of Indians: Template:Quote

Sepoys in Portuguese service

Sepoys were also recruited in Portuguese India. The term Script error: No such module "Lang". (sepoy) was also applied by the Portuguese to African soldiers in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea, plus African rural police officers. Script error: No such module "Lang". from Angola provided part of the garrison of Goa during the final years of Portuguese rule of that Indian territory.

Contemporary sepoys

The title of "sepoy" is still retained in the modern Nepali Army, Indian Army and Pakistan Army. In each of these it designates the rank of private.[11]

Other usages

The same Persian word reached English via another route in the forms of Script error: No such module "Lang". and Script error: No such module "Lang".. Script error: No such module "Lang"., the Basque version of the word (sometimes also used in its Spanish form, cipayo), is widely used by leftist Basque nationalists as an insult for members of the Basque Police,[12] the term implies that they are not truly a national police force of the Basque Country. It suggests that, despite being Basque citizens themselves, they act as a police force that follows or enforces the orders of the ‘foreign occupier’, namely the Spanish government.[13]

In Hispanic American countries, especially in Argentina, the word Script error: No such module "Lang". has historically been used as a pejorative colloquial expression referring to individuals considered as serving foreign interests, as opposed to serving their own country.[14]

See also

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gerald Bryant (1978). "Officers of the East India Company's army in the days of Clive and Hastings". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 6 (3): 203–227. doi:10.1080/03086537808582508. S2CID 159458449.
  2. ^ Presidency armies
  3. ^ a b c d Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mason, Philip (1974). A Matter of Honour. London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. ISBN 0-03-012911-7.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."India's Sepoy Mutiny". Fsmitha.com. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Nicolle, David (1993). Mughul India 1504–1761. Bloomsbury USA. p. 12. ISBN 1-85532-344-3.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Nicolle, David (1993). Mughul India 1504–1761. Bloomsbury USA. p. 15. ISBN 1-85532-344-3.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mason, Philip (1986). A Matter of Honour – An Account of the Indian Army, its Officers and Men. Macmillan. p. 125. ISBN 0-333-41837-9.
  8. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Pay, Allowances and Pension" (PDF).
  9. ^ Rene Chartrand, Louis XV's Army – Colonial and Naval Troops, Template:ISBN
  10. ^ Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:ISBN, pp. 50–51
  11. ^ John Keegan, Armies of the World, Template:ISBN, pp. 312, 545.
  12. ^ La AN condena a dos años de cárcel al autor de los destrozos en el "bosque de Oma"[permanent dead link], Deia, 12 January 2005. Quoting a sentence from the Script error: No such module "Lang".: Script error: No such module "Lang".
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Agirre Agirre, Joxean (2007). ¿Cipayos?: Policía vasca o brazo armado del PNV. ORREAGA. ISBN 9788481365009.
  14. ^ Qué significan cipayo, gorila fondos bruite y otras palabras que todos repiten y pocos conocen. Apertura.com
  • Page Template:Sister-inline/styles.css has no content.Script error: No such module "Sister project logo". Media related to Script error: No such module "Commons link". at Wikimedia Commons
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