Pindari
The Pindari ( Hindi : पिंडारी or पिण्डारी , piṇḍārī ), also Pindara , were a small social group in the area of today's Indian state Maharashtra . They were known as wandering looters.
The Pindari were an irregular cavalry armed with spears and swords , mentioned from the beginning of the 18th century. Their relatives were able to cover distances faster than regular troops. The Pindari had different ethnic and religious backgrounds and were divided into different groups with their own leaders. They did not fight for pay, but plundered large areas.
Various Pindari groups followed the armies of the Marathas on their first campaigns in northern India and fought with them against, among others, Aurangzeb .
Some of their leaders grew rich and famous and tacitly appropriated land. They inherited this land, along with their followers, to their descendants.
After the influence of the Peshwas declined in the north, the Scindia and Holkar took over this role and the Pindari split into two groups, the Sindia Shahi and the Holkar Shahi.
In the course of the Third Marath War , the Pindari were finally defeated by the British and eliminated as a source of unrest. The leaders of the Marathas were either settled or were killed in the fighting.
The Bedar caste, numbering only 1500 people, is named as one of their descendants . A well-known leader of the Pindari was Amir Khan , the founder of Tonk .
literature
- Edward Balfour (Ed.): The Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia. Vol. 2. Graz 1967.
- Surjit Mansingh (Ed.): Historical Dictionary of India. Lanham (Maryland) 1996, ISBN 0-8108-3078-7 . (Asian Historical Dictionaries, No. 20)
- Robert Vane Russell: The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India. Volume 2, Macmillan and Co., London 1916. (Reprinted in BiblioBazaar, 2009)
- Wilfried Westphal : ruler between the Indus and Ganges. Bertelsmann, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-570-01255-7 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Robert Vane Russell, p. 291.