taken from e mail forwarded by Sh Ramarao
By
Hamid Hussain
East India Company (EIC) army in India
consisted of Indian soldiers known as sepoys and British officers. This
arrangement continued when the Crown took direct control of Indian affairs in
1858. An intermediate cadre of Indian officers later known as Viceroy’s
Commissioned Officers (VCOs) were a link between Indian soldiers and British
officers, however even the senior most VCO was subordinate to the junior most
British officer. First World War opened the doors for Indians in the officer
corps of Indian army. However, only a small number of Indians were commissioned
as officers and this trend continued until Second World War when large numbers
of Indians were commissioned for an expanded Indian army to fulfill Imperial
defence responsibilities all over the globe.
One the eve of First World War,
the bulk of Indian army was recruited from northern India. This recruitment
policy was based on then prevalent ‘Martial Race Theory’ suggesting that only
certain races were good soldiers. Sikhs, Punjabi Muslims, Jats, Rajputs, Dogras,
Gurkhas and Pathans were elevated to the martial races while inhabitants of
South India and Bengal were considered Non-Martial.
Soldiers were mainly from rural
background with very little or no education. When it was decided to open Indian
army officer corps to Indians, British were faced with a dilemma. The more
educated Indians from Bengal and south India had not been recruited for decades
as they were considered ‘non-martial’. The preferred martial races were way
behind in education and therefore not suitable for officer cadre. Now that
officer ranks were grudgingly opened for India, the door was opened for
non-martial Indians as they had the essential qualification of
education.
Several factors contributed to
grooming of those young Indian men from different religious and ethnic
communities who decided to join Indian army as officers. The first Indians to be
commissioned as officers belonged to Native Indian Land Forces (NILF) and
Imperial Cadet Corps (ICC): an exclusive club for only scions of princely and
aristocratic families. Majority of them faded away quickly and only a handful
later reached higher ranks. It is interesting to note that the first batch of
five Indians selected for training at Sandhurst in 1918 had only one candidate
Sardar Madanjit Singh from Punjab; the home of Indian army. Syed Iskander Ali
Mirza was from Bombay (he was descendent of Nawab family of Murshidabad in
Bengal but was brought up by his mother in Bombay to keep him away from the
court’s intrigues), Iqbal Ali Beg was from Madras while Tarun Kumar Sinha and
Lolit Kumar Roy were from Bengal. Only one candidate Mirza was commissioned from
this first batch. The batch of five commissioned in July 1921 consisted of two
from Bombay (Kumar Shri Himatsinhji and Kumar Shri Rajendrasinhji) one each from
Central India (Nawab Sarwar Ali Khan), Punjab (Daya Singh Bedi) and North West
Frontier Province (Sahibzada Faiz Muhammad Khan). In view of many handicaps
including a small number of vacancies allotted to Indians at Sandhurst, strict
selection criteria, living far away from home, cost of education at Sandhurst
and cultural adjustment resulted in a very small number of Indians graduating
from Sandhurst and continuing a successful career in Indian army.
Experiences of these pioneers
were quite diverse. Review of lives of few of these officers and their
subsequent military career gives insight into the life of this first generation
of Indian officers.
Some spent only a short career
in the army while others made army their home ending their careers as senior
officers in Indian and Pakistani armies. The first Indian graduate from
Sandhurst Syed Iskander Ali Mirza was commissioned on July 16, 1920. Officers
destined for Indian army spent their first year with a British battalion. Mirza
was posted to Second Battalion of Scottish Rifles. He was the first Indian
officer to serve with British on equal basis and this caused uproar in some
circles. The issue caused a prolonged struggle among Indian army brass,
Viceroy’s Army Council, War Office in London and Secretary of State of India.
This dragged on for six months and finally Mirza was able to join the British
battalion in January 1921. After a year with British battalion, Mirza joined his
parent regiment 17th Poona Horse (he joined 33rd Cavalry but around the same
time reorganization of Indian army was under way and 33rd Cavalry and 34th
Cavalry were amalgamated to form 17th Poona Horse). He only remained with his
regiment for four years and transferred to Indian Political Service (IPS) in
August 1926. He later became Governor General and President of
Pakistan.
Mirza Riaz Ali Baig had the
unique background of combination of family military service and high education.
He was from a respectable Hyderabad family. His grandfather served as a
Rissaldar in Royal Deccan Horse. His father was an educated government servant
and rose to become the first Indian to become Vice President of Council of India
in London. He moved his family to London and Baig lived in England from 1910 to
1923 attending the prestigious Clifton school. He was selected for Sandhurst and
after commission joined elite 16th Light Cavalry in 1925. For the first time in
his life he experienced racial prejudice when he came close to British in
military setting. He along with two other Indian officers (Faiz Muhammad Khan
and Sheodat Singh) lived in a separate bungalow called ‘native quarters’. He
resigned his commission in 1930. He was more of an intellectual bent and felt
constrained by highly disciplined military life; however his personal unhappy
experience in the army due to racial bias probably was the main reason for his
resignation. Later, he served a long career in Indian diplomatic corps. Kumar
Shri Rajendrasinhji was from the princely Jadeja family of Nawannagar. He joined
the elite 2nd Lancers (Gardner’s Horse) and had a successful military career. He
was the first Indian officer to win Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in Second
World War. He ended his career as chief of Army Staff of Indian army.
One of the last batches of
Indians trained at Sandhurst in 1932 (commissioned in January 1934) consisted of
cadets selected from different backgrounds. Two were from princely states;
Nawabzada Sher Ali Khan from Pataudi and Nawabzada Saleem Khan from Sachin state
and three were representatives of traditional martial races; one Pushtun (Akbar
Khan) and two Sikhs (Ajit Singh and Ghanshiam Singh). B. M. Kaul, Pran Nath
Naranag, Rajendra Nath Nehra, Suryakant Kumar, Muhammad Abdul Latif Khan,
Muhammad Usman and Shahid Hamid were representatives of newly empowered middle
class in government service and no family history of military service.
British encouraged traditional
elites including landlords, members of civil service, police and army to educate
their children so that they could qualify for commission.
These classes were in service of
the government for a long time and in return prospered under Imperial patronage.
Members of these classes joining army as officers ensured continued loyalty of
the Indian officer corps. This also diminished chances of subversion by newly
emerging nationalist politics. In 1932, it was decided to start an Indian
Military Academy to train officers in India and in December 1932, first batch of
40 cadets started their training. British authorities maintained a careful
balance in the selection. Fifteen were selected by open competition, fifteen
were selected from army ranks and ten were from state forces. The first batches
of Indian Commissioned Officers (ICOs) faced discrimination even from fellow
Indian officers who attended Sandhurst and known as King Commissioned Indian
Officers (KCIOs).
In 1934, when two Sikh ICOs
joined 3rd Cavalry there was a debate whether they should be allowed to eat in
the mess. 3rd Cavalry was Indianized in 1932 and several KCIOs (Iftikhar Khan,
Shahid Hamid, K. P. Dhargalkar, P. C. Banerjee, P. S. Nair, K. K. Varma and
Nawabzada Agha Raza) were already serving in the regiment.
Indian officers own background
and most importantly conduct of the Commanding Officer (CO) determined how well
the Indian officer adjusted to his new role. A confident lad supported by a good
CO was able to move on smoothly while a hesitant young man landing in a regiment
with bad CO had lot of problems and that invariably affected his
career.
Koodendera Subayya Thimayya
(nick named Timmy) was a Coorg; a small tribal community in the hilly area of
South India. Coorgs were considered a ‘Martial Race’ by British. He was one of
the first Indian students educated at St. Joseph’s College at Coonoor and later
he studied at Bishop Cotton’s school in Bangalore. He attended Military College
at Dehra Dun to prepare for Sandhurst. Indian cadets at Sandhurst had set their
own rules to counter some of the handicaps and discriminations. The rules
included giving double tips, always using expensive balcony seats at the theatre
and not attending the grand ball at the academy just before commissioning (they
were either unable to dance or not able to bring a girl for the dance). Thimayya
broke the rule and became the first Indian to attend the ball. He spent his
first year with 2nd Battalion of Highland Light Infantry (HLI). He was the first
Indian with the Highlanders but they treated him with respect and his year with
them was very pleasant. British officers introduced him into the exclusively
British social circle and he interacted with British ladies. HLI officers didn’t
know that Bangalore United Services Club was only for British and Indians were
not allowed to be members. Timmy’s Commanding Officer Lt. Colonel Sir Robert
Seagraves took his case to the Club Committee but was voted down. HLI officers
decided to resign from the club but Timmy persuaded them not to do so. In fact,
Timmy fared much better in HLI than other two English subalterns. After
completing a year with HLI, Timmy was posted to his parent battalion 4/19
Hyderabad Regiment. Timmy’s CO Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton Britton was
especially kind to Timmy and once told him, “Timmy, you’re the son I might have
had’. Britton forced British exclusive Basra Club to allow membership to his
Indian officers. Timmy’s wife Nina spent part of her childhood in France. She
was pretty, educated, spoke fluent French and felt comfortable socializing with
British. Timmy and Nina were fully accepted in British society because of their
unique background and they in turn felt fully comfortable in British company.
Timmy was the poster child of a successful Indian officer.
The experience of Captain Kunwar
Daulat Singh was totally opposite. Daulat was a Rajput from the royal house of
Kotah. He was commissioned in December 1919 from the Temporary School for Indian
Cadets (TSIC). In 1927, he was the senior most Indian officer with 4/19
Hyderabad Regiment at the rank of Captain. He was a good soldier and intelligent
man but had extreme negative views about British. British officers in turn were
not very fond of him. He was not hesitant to confront fellow British officers at
even the minor slight. He was conservative and religious and was observant of
all religious rituals. After the day’s routine, he would change to dhoti (loin
cloth) and always ate native food. His wife was with him in the cantonment but
she was kept in purdah (not appearing in public without covering the face). He
soon left the army or more correctly hounded out.
Experience of Shahid Hamid with
3rd Cavalry in 1934 is another example of how early experience set the stage.
Shahid’s one year stint with British Regiment (Prince of Wales Volunteers) was
very good. He got along with officers very well, played polo and on completion
of his one year, his CO wrote in his report that if allowed he would like to
keep this officer permanently. It was a British officer of 3rd Cavalry Harold
Watkis who asked Shahid to join his regiment. In 1922 reorganization, 5th
Cavalry and 8th Cavalry were amalgamated to form 3rd Cavalry. Officers of old
regiments (all British) didn’t like each other and even a decade after
amalgamation they sat on opposite sides of the table in mess. 3rd Cavalry was
Indianized in 1932 and all British officers thought that this had diminished the
prestige of the regiment thus creating a gulf between British and Indian
officers. In the process of Indianization, several Indian officers from other
regiments were posted to 3rd Cavalry (Iftikhar Khan from 7th Cavalry, K. K.
Varma from 16th Cavalry and K. P. Dhargalkar from an infantry 4/12 Frontier
Force Regiment). These Indian officers were not happy to leave their parent
regiments. CO Colonel Julian D Wilton was not popular with all the officers.
There was no camaraderie among officers and regimental bond was not strong.
Shahid had not only problems with his CO but also with fellow British as well
Indian officers. This was the main reason that he decided to transfer to Royal
Indian Army Service Corps (RIASC).
Demands of Second World War
opened the doors of Indian army wide for Indians. In five short years, nine
thousand Indians were given emergency commission and these officers were called
Indian Emergency Commissioned Officers (IECOs). In 1945, over seven thousand
Indian officers were serving in combat arms while over eight thousand were
serving in non-combat arms. Most of IECOs would have ended their careers at the
end of the war but imminent departure of British and need for native officer
corps for successor Indian and Pakistani states resulted in retention of many
IECOs.
By the end of Second World War,
there were three main categories of Indian officers; KCIOs, ICOs and IECOs.
KCIOs considered themselves as elite and a select lot and some ridiculed ICOs as
‘Dehra Dun pansies’. Those officers who started their careers in the ranks were
considered at the bottom of the social class of officers and even ridiculed by
their brother ICOs. IECOs were also not considered equals by KCIOs and ICOs and
generally viewed as being able to get into the army due to relaxation of all
standards. IECOs only had six months of training before getting their
commission. This was due to the necessity of rapid expansion of officer corps
during Second World War.
Indian officer corps was not
monolithic. Socially, Indian officers on the eve of independence can be
subdivided into several categories:
1- Scions of Princely families
i.e. General Rajendra Sinhji, Major General Nawabzada Sher Ali Khan Pataudi,
Lieutenant General Sahibzada Yaqub Khan.
2- Young men from urban middle
class families entering through open competition with no tradition of military
service, i.e. General Yahya Khan.
3- Educated young men from
mainly rural backgrounds with long tradition of military service. Most were sons
of VCOs but they got their education before entering military academy, i.e.
Field Marshal Ayub Khan, Lieutenant General Azam Khan, Major General Iftikhar
Khan.
4- Men who served several years
in the ranks before becoming officers. These men also had long family tradition
of military service but had little education and were much older when they
joined military academy. They were groomed at Kitchener College at Nowgong
before entering Dehra Dun. This preparation helped them both in terms of
education as well as refined them socially to ease their transition from
soldiers to officers, i.e. General Musa Khan, General Tikka Khan.
5- Men from communities that had
no tradition of military service and soldiers were not recruited from these
communities. Major General Ishfakul Majid (an Assamese Muslim), Major General
Shahid Hamid (a Muslim from Lucknow), Major General O.A. Mitha (member of Memon
business community), Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw (member of Parsee business
community).
All Indian officers were
westernized to a certain extent due to the very nature of their profession as
well as close association with British officers. It invariably had impact on the
personal life as well as religious outlook of the officers. However, there were
several shades of this westernization. Officers from rural and culturally
conservative areas were westernized up to the limits of cantonments. They
generally had simpler life style. On the other hand more Anglicized officers
were as good as any British in their personal life in manners, dress and
food.
Many religious and cultural
taboos were broken by majority of officers. Thimayya was assigned to Muslim Ahir
company of 4/19 Hyderabad Regiment. He learned Hindustani from his sepoys and
ate their food. Mitha was assigned to Hindu Jat company of 2/4 Bombay
Grenadiers. He mixed freely with his soldiers and ate their meals. In case of
Muslims, some enjoyed their gin and soda in private and more discreetly (i.e.
Ayub Khan) while others felt comfortable drinking publicly (i.e. Yahya Khan).
Many Hindu officers broke the centuries old tradition of prohibition of
consumption of meat. Musa Khan (6/13 Frontier Force Rifles) and B. M. Kaul (5/6
Rajputana Rifles) were friends from their subalterns days right up to
independence in 1947. Both shared meals, something that could have horrified
their parents. A deeply religious Muslim Musa sharing meal with a high caste
Brahmin Kaul was not earth shattering in concept but was not common among
general population of India. Many Hindu officers had Muslim batmen while Muslim
officers had Hindu batmen cooking and serving meals that was almost unheard
among general population. Decades after partition, a senior retired Pakistan
army officer had some of his old Dehra Dun Hindu officers of Indian army as his
guests in Pakistan. In deference to Hindu religious prohibitions, he had
vegetarian meals arranged in one room and meat dishes were in another room.
Looking at the all vegetarian dishes, his Hindu friends inquired about the meat
stating that they had not come all the way from India to eat vegetables. They
all went to the room where meat dishes were arranged and partook from the
‘forbidden’ to their heart’s content. A small percentage remained deeply
religious in personal life even in their 20s (i.e. General Musa Khan, Lieutenant
General Nathu Singh).
In case of female emancipation,
there were two main factors; one female education and second leaving the
segregation and participating in mixed gatherings. Majority of Indian army
officers were instrumental in educating their female family members. Females of
majority of Muslim households and Hindu Rajputs were restricted to homes. Some
officers despite being personally westernized still preferred to keep their
wives in ‘purdah’ (i.e. Nathu Singh, Ayub Khan). One reason may be that their
wives were not literate and from conservative rural backgrounds making
adjustment to a highly westernized military cantonment environment very
difficult if not impossible.
During the Raj and for several
decades after independence, army officers were high up on the social ladder and
most desirable candidates for marriage. This provided an opportunity of breaking
down of some social barriers and in some cases even religious barriers. Young
officers from humbler backgrounds such as sons of soldiers predominantly from
rural backgrounds and from urban lower middle class being the most desirable
bachelors were sought by traditional aristocracy of landlords, nascent
professional class and members of the Raj administration as well as princely
states. We see many examples of wealthy landlords, highly educated aristocratic
and professional families such as doctors marrying their daughters to young
officers from humbler backgrounds. This helped in breaking many social
especially caste taboos.
Some officers became thoroughly
Anglicized due to their peculiar background of early education at convent
schools in India (i.e. Thimayya) or education in England (Russi
Bilimoria,
J. N. Chaudhri). Most of them
were fully integrated in British company due to their manners and some like
Thimayya became excellent dancers on the ballroom floor. Some officers
completely identified with British and avoided anything ‘native’. They were
sometimes called ‘Brindian’. Iftikhar Khan, J. N. Chaudhri and K. P. Dhargalkar
were representatives of this class. Chaudhri when instructor at Staff College at
Quetta didn’t interact with Indian officers or students. His wife Kukoo also
kept a distance from natives. Their behavior was irritating for all other Indian
officers and students and they resorted to boycott the couple.
On the other end of the
spectrum, the world of officer corps was opened to the least educated and very
conservative class of India. One example will show the enormous adjustment
problem for both the Indian officers and their spouses of this class.
Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon enlisted
as soldier and spent three years in an infantry battalion (4/14 Punjab
Regiment). Light machine gun section of infantry battalions had mules for
transport and every soldier was rotated to take care of the mules. Gurbaksh on
his turn also performed this duty while his wife Basant helped him in polishing
the mule saddle. Gurbaksh qualified for Dehra Dun and after successfully
completing his training was commissioned as an officer in 1/14 Punjab Regiment.
One can easily imagine the psychological barrier that Gurbaksh and his wife had
to cross as the worlds of sepoy and officer were poles apart.
On the other hand, an officer
from a princely family had interaction with British on a different social level.
One example is of Nawabzada Sher Ali Khan Pataudi. As a child he visited
Governor House where his family was guest of the governor and played with
children of the governor. Such officers were more comfortable and had less
adjustment problems.
One can easily visualize
enormous adjustment problems for British officers. A British officer interacting
with the sepoy Gurbaksh taking care of the battalion’s mule is now asked to
accept him as brother officer and equal in the mess. The British officer was
much more comfortable with scions of princely families like Rajendra Sinhji,
Sher Ali Khan and Yaqub Khan as well as less blue blooded but more Anglicized
officers like Chaudhri, Thimayya and Atiq ur Rahman.
Relationship with officers
commissioned from the ranks such as Gurbaksh, Tikka Khan, Musa Khan was official
but not very close in view of huge social gulf. It is to the credit of British
officers that majority of them adjusted adequate enough for the Indian army to
come out of the cauldron of Second World War with good reputation. Despite
lingering racial prejudice in all other areas, army broke many racial barriers
first. In most cases, if Indian officer was confident and social enough, he was
generally well accepted by his British colleagues. On the other hand, sons of
VCOs had only professional interaction with British and due to inhibitions on
both Indian and British side had very little family interactions. However, it is
quite obvious that the simple fact of British being the rulers and Indians as
subjects was facing Indian officers of all classes at every corner.
Second World War was a catalyst
for both rapid Indianization as well as smooth integration of the officer corps.
Many factors such as large scale induction of British officers through emergency
commissions with no or much less pre-conceived prejudices against Indians,
British and Indian officers serving together in combat, good performance of many
Indian officers in war and lead role played by C-in-C Field Marshal Claude
Auchinleck in advancing Indian officers cause helped to integrate British and
Indian officers in the army with very little friction.
The problem of adjustment
persisted even after the departure of British and many struggled to bridge the
gap. Sam Manekshaw caused uproar when he was commanding National Defence
Services Staff College. He remarked that he will not allow any officer in the
academy whose wife looked like an ‘aya’ (female servant). In 1947, Pakistan
Military Academy was established at Kakul with a small staff. Two highly
educated sisters from an aristocratic family of Bhopal were married to Deputy
Commandant Colonel M. A. Latif (later Major General) and a company Commander
Major Abid Bilgrami (later Major General). Commandant of the Academy Brigadier
F. B. Ingall made sure that ladies club activities were all inclusive including
wives who remained in ‘purdah’.
In case of Pakistan, a certain
class difference existed even among second generation of officers. Sons of
officers who joined army were brought up in an urban environment and educated in
convent schools. Naturally they were comfortable speaking English and more
modern in their outlook. On the other hand officers who were sons of Junior
Commissioned Officers (JCOs) had their early education and grooming in a rural
environment. They were more conservative and not very outgoing. Sons of officers
tend to be alumni of Cadet Colleges at Hassan Abdal and Kohat while the alma
mater of sons of JCOs is Military College at Jehlum. There is some social gap
between these two groups that exists even today. Some officers complain that
present army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has disproportionately promoted
large number of officers to senior ranks that belong to his own alma mater
Military College Jehlum.
The first generation of Indian officers had to
cross many barriers but it also opened many doors that were closed to Indians of
previous generation. There is no doubt that Indian army provided a unique
opportunity to young Indian men from humbler backgrounds to break the social
barrier. In case of India, a native of Madras P. P. Kumaramangalam and a Parsi
Sam Manekshaw became army chiefs. Both belonged to the so called ‘Non-Martial
races’; communities that did not prefer army as a profession and were excluded
by British. In case of Pakistan, there is no way that Ayub Khan, son of
Rissaldar Major Mir Dad Khan of Hodson Horse could have become President, Musa
Khan, son of Subedar Yazdan Bakhsh of Hazara Pioneers and Azam Khan son of
Rissaldar Major Muhammad Akram Khan of Hodson Horse could have become governors
or Yahya Khan son of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sadat Khan could have
become army chief and President if it was not for the Indian army.
