Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Life of a soldier in Tipu Sultan's army

We have enjoyed the wonderful depictions of history on television. Tipu Sultan was great TV serial that showed the politics, lifestyle, and struggle of the elite of princely India.
However, did you ever pay attention to a lay soldier in the army of mighty Tipu Sultan? Have you ever wondered how the life of actual soldiers would have been 300 years ago?

I think, like any of us, they too were unique. Each soldier a different and complete story. Each one having a parallel struggle going on in their life, along with struggles of the dynasties. This soldier would have joined the army as a profession, either by interest or by family pressure. This soldier would have wife, kids, kins, animals, and a home full or empty of pots, utensils, chulha (stove) etc. At home, he would not behave as a savage, as he does in the battlefield. He would be a simple man, with motivations and incentives like all of us today but perhaps in a different packaging (form).


At this point I must also acknowledge the fine work of the so-close-to-real TV series Game of Thrones. The show (perhaps) inadvertently tells the stories of happiness and agony of personal lives of common soldiers.
Each tiny component is important. Rome will not be build in one day and not without a multitude of tiny yet significant factors, such as people.

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