How to feed an Indian army?

Jens Nordlunde · 5th November 2018, 09:21 PM

Fernando, yes it is true that the preparations took months. Sometimes up to three months.
This was not all about foot, but to gather an army took time, as you had to write to all your 'friends' and ask them to send whatever of armed men they had - wait for their answer or their arrival - sometimes without any luck.
Part of the army were veterans, but a lot of it did not have a clue about fighting, they turned up to get whatever money they could.

What I find frightening is, that the night before a battle, part of the army could either go home or go over to the enemy, which could also happen during a battle - so you could never be sure of how big your army was. Bribes were, of course, part of this, and a number of other things were also used like jealousy between the different parts of, especial the Mughal court, but also at other courts under Mughal control, as at least four groups tried to get control.

shayde78 · 6th November 2018, 03:15 AM

Interesting conversation!

Here's an overview of how the dietary needs of soldiers were met over the ages. Very focused on the west, but some applicable practices to armies anywhere.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/p...ng-the-troops/

fernando · 6th November 2018, 02:59 PM

Great link, shaide !
... and a critical condition to bear in mind; the number of men to be fed.
If you have a real (huge) army you will hard manage (or even intend) to serve them gourmet dishes as a diet. Besides, i don't think it is easy to cook and serve food to (several) thousands with a set point flavour. Not to think that nourishment Intendents could pocket their share when fixing with suppliers the (mediocre) quality of raw materials. Also cooks could be driven to not through into the pots the required quantity of ingredients;a few barley corns (period measure) less per portion would make them rich in a glimpse. Both these schemes and cooks very ofen being drafted and not complying with the minimum requirements, would make the men have on the table (when there was one) some 'washed out' stuff their superiors would hypocritically call food; Napoleon was only a follower.

Jens Nordlunde · 6th November 2018, 03:52 PM

Yes it is an interesting link Shayde. When I was in the army, a 'century' ago, I remember the C-rations, I dont remember any A or B-rations.
Without knowing it, I would think each Indian soldier, at the time, cooked for himself, or they did it in groups, or their wifes did it.
Must have taken a lot of wood to cook for so many people. Yes there were a lot of woods in India, but in some places there were big deserts - no water, no wood, no foot - no nothing, but a big army and a lot of sand.
If you found a well you could drink the water - and hope it was not poisoned.

fernando · 6th November 2018, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde

Yes it is an interesting link Shayde. When I was in the army, a 'century' ago, I remember the C-rations, I dont remember any A or B-rations....

In my army time 'half century' ago, when we were out in the field we were given ration 20, which was miserable, and later on they introduced ration 30, rather more decent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde

...Without knowing it, I would think each Indian soldier, at the time, cooked for himself ...

Speaking of which ...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3550905/

Jens Nordlunde · 7th November 2018, 04:55 PM

Fernando - I may not be remembering correctly, as it could be half a century ago since I was in the Army.
Interesting article, although I think that the logistic then made it a bit different - the foot as well.

bhushan_lawate · 9th November 2018, 04:21 AM

Hi All,

A rather interesting topic for discussion and we can only "try" to guess the situations of the times in which these wars happened.

I can cite the information from the 1660's when ShahistaKhan who was the uncle of Aurangzeb marched to the Deccan to vanquish Shivaji.

It is documented that he had two sets of his tents etc. and while he was staying at one place the other would be on march and set up at the next point of staying.

Apparently his army marched a mere 10 miles odd a day and took months together to reach from Delhi to Pune where he established his base. Also, on his way the local rulers/feudal Lords joined his army on the instructions/directions from the Mughal court as they were also the subsidiaries of the Mughal Emperor and had to do the bidding of the Emperor.

Large cooking pots (Hundis) were set up on camel drawn carriages in which "Biryani" was cooked while on the move and soldiers were fed. in fact, Biryani was preferred as it was easy to cook and could last for days.

Also, the villages and chiefs enroute had instructions of providing all the necessary materials and food grains etc. to the marching armies.

This army was about 100,000 strong and had heavy cannons, elephants, camels, horses and lot of non-combat individuals like family members, cooks, dancers etc.

on the contrary the Maratha armies had only horsemen and infantry and carried dry rations to make flat breads and rice and ate it with assorted meat or vegetables.

However, most invading armies from Delhi to Deccan resorted to plundering and forcefully taking things away on their way from the villages and cities they passed through.

Hopefully this will help get some insights on the way armies moved in those times.

5th November 2018, 09:21 PM	#1
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	Fernando, yes it is true that the preparations took months. Sometimes up to three months. This was not all about foot, but to gather an army took time, as you had to write to all your 'friends' and ask them to send whatever of armed men they had - wait for their answer or their arrival - sometimes without any luck. Part of the army were veterans, but a lot of it did not have a clue about fighting, they turned up to get whatever money they could. What I find frightening is, that the night before a battle, part of the army could either go home or go over to the enemy, which could also happen during a battle - so you could never be sure of how big your army was. Bribes were, of course, part of this, and a number of other things were also used like jealousy between the different parts of, especial the Mughal court, but also at other courts under Mughal control, as at least four groups tried to get control.

6th November 2018, 03:15 AM	#2
shayde78 Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 445	Interesting conversation! Here's an overview of how the dietary needs of soldiers were met over the ages. Very focused on the west, but some applicable practices to armies anywhere. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/p...ng-the-troops/

6th November 2018, 02:59 PM	#3
fernando (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portugal Posts: 9,694	Great link, shaide ! ... and a critical condition to bear in mind; the number of men to be fed. If you have a real (huge) army you will hard manage (or even intend) to serve them gourmet dishes as a diet. Besides, i don't think it is easy to cook and serve food to (several) thousands with a set point flavour. Not to think that nourishment Intendents could pocket their share when fixing with suppliers the (mediocre) quality of raw materials. Also cooks could be driven to not through into the pots the required quantity of ingredients;a few barley corns (period measure) less per portion would make them rich in a glimpse. Both these schemes and cooks very ofen being drafted and not complying with the minimum requirements, would make the men have on the table (when there was one) some 'washed out' stuff their superiors would hypocritically call food; Napoleon was only a follower.

6th November 2018, 03:52 PM	#4
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	Yes it is an interesting link Shayde. When I was in the army, a 'century' ago, I remember the C-rations, I dont remember any A or B-rations. Without knowing it, I would think each Indian soldier, at the time, cooked for himself, or they did it in groups, or their wifes did it. Must have taken a lot of wood to cook for so many people. Yes there were a lot of woods in India, but in some places there were big deserts - no water, no wood, no foot - no nothing, but a big army and a lot of sand. If you found a well you could drink the water - and hope it was not poisoned.

7th November 2018, 04:55 PM	#6
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	Fernando - I may not be remembering correctly, as it could be half a century ago since I was in the Army. Interesting article, although I think that the logistic then made it a bit different - the foot as well.

9th November 2018, 04:21 AM	#7
bhushan_lawate Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: India Posts: 77	Hi All, A rather interesting topic for discussion and we can only "try" to guess the situations of the times in which these wars happened. I can cite the information from the 1660's when ShahistaKhan who was the uncle of Aurangzeb marched to the Deccan to vanquish Shivaji. It is documented that he had two sets of his tents etc. and while he was staying at one place the other would be on march and set up at the next point of staying. Apparently his army marched a mere 10 miles odd a day and took months together to reach from Delhi to Pune where he established his base. Also, on his way the local rulers/feudal Lords joined his army on the instructions/directions from the Mughal court as they were also the subsidiaries of the Mughal Emperor and had to do the bidding of the Emperor. Large cooking pots (Hundis) were set up on camel drawn carriages in which "Biryani" was cooked while on the move and soldiers were fed. in fact, Biryani was preferred as it was easy to cook and could last for days. Also, the villages and chiefs enroute had instructions of providing all the necessary materials and food grains etc. to the marching armies. This army was about 100,000 strong and had heavy cannons, elephants, camels, horses and lot of non-combat individuals like family members, cooks, dancers etc. on the contrary the Maratha armies had only horsemen and infantry and carried dry rations to make flat breads and rice and ate it with assorted meat or vegetables. However, most invading armies from Delhi to Deccan resorted to plundering and forcefully taking things away on their way from the villages and cities they passed through. Hopefully this will help get some insights on the way armies moved in those times.