The Ravi Lancers [antikvár]

FOREWORD In this book the reader will encounter a great many Indian names. It will help to remember, first, that Hindus do not use surnames, and second, that many of them share the same final honorific. In a name such as Himat Singh, for example, Himat is the man's real name; Singh means 'lion'—indeed all male Sikh names end with Singh. Thus there are innumerable Singhs, Dasses, and Rams, etc., who are not related to each other. Fathers and sons do not have the same names, thus a man called Puran Lall might be the son of one called Nathu Ram. When reading this book it might make it easier to ignore the final part of a man's name and think of him solely as Himat or Puran or Krishna. A second problem for the reader unfamiliar with the old Indian Army is the class of men known as Viceroy's Commissioned Officers. The ranks of King's Commissioned Officers were the same as in other armies, i.e., general, major, captain, etc. The ranks of non-commissioned officers can be directly translated. In the Indian cavalry and infantry, with which we will be dealing here, the equivalents were: Private, trooper Lance-corporal Corporal Sergeant Sergeant Major Cavalry Sowar Acting Lance-Dafadar Lance-Dafadar Dafadar Dafadar-Ma j or Infantry Sepoy Lance-Naik Naik Havildar Havildar-Major Between the true officers and the NCOs, however, there existed (and still exists) in the Indian Army a unique class of men who having come up through the non-commissioned ranks, received commissions not from the King but from the Viceroy of India. They wore swords, were addressed as 'sahib', received salutes, and had powers of command and punishment over all Indian soldiers; but they were subordinate to all officers holding the King's commission. In those days, when all the King's Commissioned Officers were British and all the enlisted men and NCOs were Indian they were the vital link between the two. Their grades, to which there are no equivalents in other armies, were: ), Í