The Indian Frontier : Horse and Warband in the Making of Empires

"This omnibus brings together some old and some recent works by Jos Gommans on the warhorse and its impact on medieval and early modern state-formation in South Asia. These studies are based on Gommans' observation that Indian empires always had to deal with a highly dynamic inner frontier between semi-arid wilderness and settled agriculture. Such inner frontiers could only be bridged by the ongoing movements of Turkish, Afghan, Rajput and other warbands. Like the most spectacular examples of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empires, they all based their power on the exploitation of the most lethal weapon of that time: the warhorse. In discussing the breeding and trading of horses and their role in medieval and early modern South Asian warfare, Gommans also makes some thought-provoking comparisons with Europe and the Middle East. Since the Indian frontier is part of the much larger Eurasian Arid Zone that links the Indian subcontinent to West, Central and East Asia, the final essay explores the connected and entangled history of the Turko-Mongolian warband in the Ottoman and Timurid Empires, Russia and China."--Provided by publisher Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 List of Original Publications 12 Note on Transliteration 14 Introduction 16 1. The Horse Trade in Eighteenth-century South Asia 26 2. The Silent Frontier of South Asia, c. ad 1100-1800 52 3. The Eurasian Frontier after the First Millennium ad: Reflections Along the Fringe of Time and Space 79 4. Warhorse and Post-Nomadic Empire in Asia, c. 1000-1800 100 5. The Embarrassment of Political Violence in Europe and South Asia, c. 1100-1800 131 6. Indian Warfare and Afghan Innovation during the Eighteenth Century 158 7. Warhorse and Gunpowder in India, c. ad 1000-1850 184 8. Slavery and Naukari among the Bangash Nawabs of Farrukhabad 210 9. The Warband in the Making of Eurasian Empires 250 Index 332 Jos Gommans. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.