Martial race

Martial race was a designation which was created by army officials in British India after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, in which they classified each caste as belonging to one of two categories, the ‘martial’ caste and the ‘non-martial’ caste. The ostensible reason for this system of classification was the belief that a ‘martial race’ was typically brave and well-built for fighting, while the ‘non-martial races’ were those races which the British considered unfit for battle because of their sedentary lifestyles. However, the martial races were also considered politically subservient, intellectually inferior, lacking the initiative or leadership qualities to command large military formations. The British had a policy of recruiting the martial Indians from those who has less access to education as they were easier to control.

According to modern historian Jeffrey Greenhunt on military history, “The Martial Race theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward”. According to Amiya Samanta, the martial race was chosen from people of mercenary spirit (a soldier who fights for any group or country that will pay him/her), as these groups lacked nationalism as a trait. British-trained Indian soldiers were among those who had rebelled in 1857 and thereafter, the Bengal Army abandoned or diminished its recruitment of soldiers who came from the catchment area and enacted a new recruitment policy which favored castes whose members had remained loyal to the British Empire.

The concept already had a precedent in Indian culture as one of the four orders (varnas) in the Vedic social system of Hinduism is known as the Kshatriya, literally “warriors”. Rural Brahmins were described as ‘the oldest martial community’, and only the Brahmins solely in agricultural vocation were seen fit to be recruited, in the past having two of the oldest British Indian regiments, the 1st Brahmans and 3rd Brahmans.

Following Indian independence, the Indian government in February 1949 abolished the official application of “martial race” principles with regard to military recruitment.

Criteria

In their attempts to assert control after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British faced fierce resistance in some regions while easily conquering others. British officials sought ‘martial races’ accustomed to hunting, or from agricultural cultures from hilly or mountainous regions with a history of conflict. Others were excluded due to their ‘ease of living’ or branded as seditious agitators. The doctrine of ‘martial races’ postulated that the qualities that make a useful soldier are inherited and that the rest of most Indians, particularly mainstream Hindus, did not have the requisite traits that would make them warriors.

British general and scholar Lieutenant-General George MacMunn (1869–1952) noted in his writings “It is only necessary for a feeling to arise that it is impious and disgraceful to serve the British, for the whole of our fabric to tumble like a house of cards without a shot being fired or a sword unsheathed”. To this end, it became British policy to recruit only from those tribes whom they classified as members of the ‘martial races’, and the practice became an integral part of the recruitment manuals for the Army in the British Raj. According to historian Jeffrey Greenhut, “The Martial Race theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward.”. According to Amiya Samanta, the mercenery spirit was because the martial race recruits lacked nationalism as a trait.

The British regarded the ‘martial races’ as valiant and strong but also intellectually inferior, lacking the initiative or leadership qualities to command large military formations. They were also regarded as politically subservient or docile to authority. For these reasons, the martial races theory did not lead to officers being recruited from them; recruitment was based on social class and loyalty to the British Raj. One source calls this a “pseudo-ethnological” construction, which was popularised by Frederick Sleigh Roberts, and created serious deficiencies in troop levels during the World Wars, compelling them to recruit from ‘non-martial races’. Winston Churchill was reportedly concerned that the theory was abandoned during the war and wrote to the Commander-in-Chief, India that he must, “rely as much as possible on the martial races”.

Critics of the theory state that the Indian rebellion of 1857 may have played a role in reinforcing the British belief in it. During this event the troops from the Bengal Native Infantry led by sepoy Mangal Pandey mutinied against the British. However, the loyal Rajputs, Jats, Pashtuns, Punjabis, Gurkhas, Kumaunis and Garhwalis did not join the mutiny, and fought on the side of the British Army. From then on, this theory was used to the hilt to accelerate recruitment from among these ‘races’, whilst discouraging enlistment of ‘disloyal’ troops and high-caste Hindus who had sided with the rebel army during the war.

Some authors, such as Heather Streets, argue that the military authorities puffed up the images of the martial soldiers by writing regimental histories, and by extolling the kilted Scots, kukri-wielding Gurkhas and turbaned Sikhs in numerous paintings. Richard Schultz, an American author, has claimed the martial race concept as a supposedly clever British effort to divide and rule the people of India for their own political ends.

Tribes and groups designated as martial races

In British colonial times

British-declared martial races in the Indian subcontinent included some groups that were officially designated instead as “agricultural tribes” under the provisions of the Punjab Land Alienation Act of 1900. These terms were considered to be synonymous when the administration compiled a list in 1925. Among the communities listed as martial were:

• Ahir
• Arain
• Bhumihar
• Awan
• Baloch (Baluch)
• Dogra
• Gakhar
• Gujjars
• Janjua
• Jat
• Kamboh
• Khokhar
• Labana
• Manihar
• Mughal
• Koeri
• Pathan
• Rowther
• Qureshi
• Rajput
• Saini
• Sial
• Syed

Communities that were at various times classified as martial races include:

• Gaur Brahmin
• Gharwali
• Gurkhas
• Kumaoni
• Kurmi

• Mahar

• Marathas
• Mohyal Brahmin
• Naga people
• Mukkulathor
• Nairs
• Reddys

By the Pakistani military

Though seldom used in today’s context, it has been alleged that the Pakistan Military believed in the concept of martial races, and thought that they would easily defeat India in a war, especially prior to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Based on this belief in martial supremacy. and thus numerical superiority of the foe could be overcome.

The Pakistan Army was also accused of bias and racism by the Bengalis of East Pakistan who felt humiliated by this dubious theory that was being floated in West Pakistan, that they were not ‘martially inclined’ compared to the Punjabis and Pashtuns. Pakistani author Hasan-Askari Rizvi notes that the limited recruitment of Bengali personnel in the Pakistan Army was because the West Pakistanis “could not overcome the hangover of the martial race theory”.

Defence writers in Pakistan have noted that the 1971 defeat was partially attributable to the flawed ‘martial races’ theory which led to wishful thinking that it was possible to defeat the Indian Army based on the theory alone. Author Stephen P. Cohen notes that “Elevating the ‘martial races’ theory to the level of an absolute truth had domestic implications for Pakistani politics and contributed to the neglect of other aspects of security.”.