FIGHTING RACES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 237, 7 October 1933, Page 1 (Supplement)

FIGHTING RACES.

THE INDIAN ARMY,

HINDU, MUSLIM, SIKH, GURKHA

(By SAFDAR JANG.)

Anyone who has been at pains to read a history of India is compelled to admit that the very story of the rise and progress of the British power in the East, makes up many as lively and as improbable a romance as ever came from the pen of a Walter Scott. What can be more astonishing than that a handful of Europeans, impelled, not by the love of conquest, but by circumstances over which they had no control, should have risen, from the situation of mere adventurers, to the sovereignty of the greatest, tho most populous, and the most extensive empire, in the Orient? There is nothing of the career of Rome herself at all to be compared with that of the British in India.

Even to-day the British population in India is numerically insignificant; the native population is immense and more heterogeneous than in any part of the world, with its scores of races, languages and religions. "Worse still, from the military point of view, the bulk of the people is divided into two diametrically hostile camps. On one side stand 216,000,000 war-fearing Hindus, and on the other 70,000,000 war-loving Muslims. Diirerences of religion divide the whole land, which is inhabited by peoples in every stage of social development, some but emerging from the stone age. External and Internal Security. In the past and equally so to-day Great Britain's military responsibilities have been vast. In fact, the whole of her military organisation at home and abroad has been and is pivoted on the defence of India. This includes the safety of 6000 miles of coast line, the control and defence of the north-west frontier, the maintenance of internal security, which is mainly concerned in preventing Mohammedan-Hindu feuds, and the establishment of peaceful conditions between the Indian States and British India.

The military forces now stationed in the Indian Empire arc divided into two main categories —the British Army and tho Indian. The first comprises some 60.000 officers and men and the second 240,000. with 40,000 reservists. The second has no resemblance to a national force, because all its senior and most of its junior officers are British, and many of its men are recruited from outside India, such as the Gurkhas from Nepal and tlie Pathans from the northwest frontier. This military organisa-

tion can in no possible way be juggled into a foundation for a national army. Yet, though one cannot go the lengths., which many men who have served in India are accustomed to go, by speaking of the Indian troops' as if they were equal, or nearly equal, in any one respect, to British soldiers, it is a trutli selfapparent that as the Indian Empire was obtained chiefly through the instrumentality of the natives themselves, so must it be preserved chiefly by native agency. And such an agency can be only recruited from those provinces which are inhabited by fighting races. All of them lie in the north of India, and the bulk are not predominantly Hindu. Of tho total number of combatants in the Indian Army, 140,600 are drawn from the north-west frontier province, Kashmir, Punjab, Raj put an a, United Provinces and Nepal, with a total population of 91,000,000; while 15,400 come from Central India, Bihar and Orissa, Bengal, Assam, Burma, Central Provinces, Bombay, Hyderabad, Madras and Mysore, with a total population of 225,000,000. The Punjab and Nepal provide 62 per cent of tlie recruits of the whole army, while Bihar and Orissa, Central India and Central Provinces supply a total of 600, and Bengal none. In tlie war it was much the same; the Punja,b and the United Provinces, with a population of 70,000,000, enlisted 492,000 recruits, whilst Bengal and Orissa, with a population of 86,000,000, enlisted 14,000. More remarkable still, Bengal, with a population of 48,000,000, recruited 2000 men less than Ajmir, with a population of 500,000. In the four years of tho war the Sikhs, from a total population of 2,500,000, furnished 90,000 combatant recruits, that is, oneeighth of the Indian total. If a national army is to be raised it would consist of Punjabis, Pathans, Sikhs, Jats, Dogras, Rajputs, and Malirattas. Racial Characteristics. It may not be fully realised that, although the Indo-Afg'ian frontier was fixed by treaty as long ago as 1893, and the Amir Abdur Rahman took immediate steps to extend his sway up to the frontier on the Afghan side, large tracts of country on our side remain unadministered. This policy,, now regarded by many as a serious error, results in our having to keep about one-third of our Army on the North-west frontier to guard our territory against our own tribesmen.

Tho Indian soldier is, in general, easy to deal with, of good physique, a fine marcher, and fond of sports and games. The following is a brief sketch of the characteristics of tha principal races of the Indian Army taken in order of their numerical strength:—

The Punjabi Mussulmans are very fine soldiers, cheery, active, hardy, of good physique. The Gurkha troops, recruitcd from the independent State of Nepal,

have served in the Indian Army for over a century. They are mainly of Mongolian origin, although with an admixture cf Rajput blood. They are short in stature, but sturdy and strong. Gurkhas are born soldiers. The Sikhs are mostly of Jat origin, with their religious centre in Amritsar. They are recruited almost entirely in the Punjab. The principal Sikh class, i.e., the "Singhs," or followers of the Tenth Guru, are not allowed to smoke or cut their hair. So practically all Sikh soldiers wear beards. The Sikh religion is Hindu in tendency. They are a martial race of excellent physique and make fine soldiers.

The Dogras, also known as Hill Rajputs, inhabit, the Kangra Valley and the hilly country between the rivers Ravi and Sutlej. Dogras are higli-caste Hindus, of martial character, with fine soldierly qualities. The Rajputs are a warlike race, whose chief occupation for centuries has been fighting. They are mainly high-caste Hindus, but there are also Mussulman Rajputs, converted from Hinduism.

The Jats are also high-caste Hindus, inhabiting the s<ruth-east Punjab, the north portion of the United Provinces and Rajputana. They are mainly agriculturists of the yeoman type; big men of strong physique; good farmers and determined fighters.

The Pathans are Mussulmans from the North-West Frontier Province, whose clan and natural soldierly qualities make them good lighters. Enlistment from trans-frontier tribesmen, i.e., from those living in- the so-called "independent" zone between our administrative frontier and the Durand line, lias been almost abandoned as the result of unfortunate experiences in the Great War, when these men proved untrustworthy owing to religious influences.

The Mahrattas are Hindus from the hills of Western India, whose ancient reputation as gallant fighters and warlike raiders was renewed by their fine exploits during the Great War. Among the other fighting races it is impossible to omit the Garhwalis and Ivumaonis. They come from the mountainous country in the east of the United Provinces, and make excellent soldiers. India Largely Pacific. Though there are certain warlike races in India, the bulk of the people, are pacific and totally unfit for military work. The war casualties show this clearly. "The death casualties for all India with 320.000,000 of people," writes Sir Michael O'Dwyer, "were less than those of Canada with her 5,000,000, of Australia with only 5,000,000, and only double those of New Zealand with little over 1,000,000 people." These figures are, however, somewhat misleading, for more than half the Indian casualties must be debited to one province—the Punjab. Thus, from a lighting point of view, this province is worth the rest of India put together.