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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