How Horses Shaped the Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire became a dominant power in South Asia from the sixteenth through the eighteenth century thanks largely to its cavalry. And, as political scientist Deepti Kumari writes, the importance of horses influenced many aspects of how the empire developed.

Kumari writes that horses were both a source of military strength and a focus of pageantry for Mughal aristocratic leaders. Imperial officers had two ranks: zat, determined by their pay rate, and sawar, reflecting the number of horsemen under their command.