Introduction

From the beginning of British rule until the end of the Raj in the subcontinent, the bulk of the soldiers of the British Indian Empire were Indian. They were recruited as sepoys (infantry and from the twentieth century known as jawans), sowars (cavalry) and golundazs (gunners). The land forces of British-India were collectively known as the Army in India. It was made up of British units and Indian units officered by the British. The Indian units officered by the British came under the Indian Army. Up to 1859, along with units of the British Army, the EIC also deployed its own private European units. This force was abolished after the White Mutiny in 1859. Until the 1890s, the land forces of British-India were divided into four armies: Bengal, Madras and Bombay armies and the Punjab Frontier Force (PFF, also known as the Punjab Irregular Force (PIF)). Each army included both British and Indian units. After 1859, selected contingents of the Indian princely troops equipped and officered by the British made up the Imperial Service Troops (IST), which also formed part of the Indian Army. The basic organizational structure of all these forces remained the regiment. General accounts of British-Indian military tend to focus on the role of sahibs (British officers) and to an extent on the sepoys and the sowars; Indian VCOs and the NCOs remain in limbo in such accounts. This chapter, by contextualizing the important roles played by the Indian VCOs and NCOs, attempts to redress the above-mentioned historiographical slip.