How to feed an Indian army?

[fernando]

In context, some loose notes extracted from Mughals at War: Babur, Akbar and the Indian Military Revolution, 1500 - 1605 A Dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Andrew de la Garza.

... While at rest ... The soldiers were fed as units in large field canteens by a small army of cooks who were led by a mir bakawal, or Master of the Kitchen....
... A special supplementary tax was assessed on all agricultural holdings, and the proceeds from this fee, often including payments of foodstuffs in kind, were used to stock thanas, or supply depots distributed throughout the Empire. These supplies could be used in response to civilian disasters like droughts and floods, but they were most commonly used to provision armies encamped nearby or passing through en route to the frontier. Keeping all of the Emperor’s men fed required extensive planning and attention to detail. The “Master of the Kitchen” was not simply a ceremonial post...
... At the beginning of every quarter, they… collect whatever they think will be necessary… sukhdas rice from Bahraich, dewzirah rice from Gwaliar, jinjin rice from Rajori and Nímlah… ducks, water-fowls, and certain vegetables from Kashmir… The sheep, goats, fowls and ducks… are fattened by the cooks...
... A place is also told off as a kitchen garden, that there may be a continual supply of fresh greens...
... Of course the quality of fare enjoyed in peacetime and by the highest ranking officers was not always available to ordinary troops. During extended operations they often had to rely on much more basic iron rations. As one observer noted during adifficult campaign, “the horseman as well as the infantry soldier supports himself with a little flour kneaded with water and black sugar, of which they make small balls, and in the evening… they make khichari, which consists of rice cooked with grain… in water with a little salt.”...
...while the Mughal army may have been in some sense a “nomadic” institution, it had evolved far beyond its distant tribal origins or even the ad-hoc, patchwork organization of the early days under Babur. It was an army of “professional soldiers depending on the logistical and financial
assistance of professional transporters, bankers and merchants.” For this reason it rarely had to rely on foraging and plunder...

All this for a universe of more than 100,000 horse soldiers in their front line forces and as many as 400,000 with the inclusion of allies, local militias, and mercenaries.

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[Jens Nordlunde]

Fernando, thank you for the link, it looks very interesting, and I have, of course, had a look at chapter 6. Will read it closely when I have better time.
It is interesting to read that Babur and Akbar, even then knew how important it was to keep the soldiers well fet. The section about the medecine is also very interesting, and was one which I would have taken up later - but now we have the answer.

[Helleri]

Assembling and moving any army anywhere is't so much a matter of determining what supplies one needs to keep everyone and everything happy and healthy. Then supplying a little more than that.

It's more about figuring on the bare minimum and usually having a fair bit less than that. It's not about how much a healthy elephant usually eats and drinks per day so much as it is about how long you can march an elephant without that before it bucks and kills it's riders and goes feral. Or how far you can march a man on just enough food and water to keep him uncomfortably moving.

It's also going to be about when to move and when to rest. It might be better to get an early start in the morning while it's still cool, and bring everything to a halt an hour or so after dark. Taking the hottest part of the day to rest and the slimmest hours of the night to sleep.

It's not often that an army moves, fat and well fed. It's usually arduous and not at all good times. The promise of sacking a city and finally having a night wear one eats to their content can push a man that 10 more miles instead of turning back after 30 miles having already been covered.

That's another thing. You spend your supplies early if you can. Keep everyone happy until your too committed to turn back and survive. You get them past the mid point before you wrench down on the rations and they pretty much have to keep going. Just because it's easier to get there and get the thing done than to turn around once past the mid way point.

And places will get sacked as the army moves along. Even their own villages will dread an approaching army that is intended to defend their lands. Because there goes the family farm.

Deciding to mobilize is partly a decision about how much your own people can tolerate before you must call it quits. As well as what you can feasibly accomplish within that narrow window of time. And if those potential victories will return enough on your investment to leave everyone a little better off than they were before it all went down.