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Rh and consisted of Muhammadans, Bráhmans, Maráthás, Telingás, and Tamils. The Bombay Army was recruited mainly from its own Presidency, but contained some Hindustánis. Most of the Bombay Sepoys were Maráthás and Muhammadans; but the Bombay Light Cavalry were brought for the most part from Hindustán proper.

In the year preceding the Mutiny the Indian Army had reached its highest strength; amounting in numbers to no fewer than 39,000 Europeans of all arms, with 276 field guns and about 320,000 Native troops (including local and irregular forces), with 248 field guns; truly a magnificent establishment: 'outwardly worthy of the great Empire which England had created for herself in the East, but inwardly unsound and on the very eve of crumbling to pieces.'

We are now in a position to rightly appreciate the military reforms carried out subsequent to the Mutiny. The new organisation to which reference has already been made was promulgated in 1863. It entailed changes both in the recruitment and composition of the Indian Army. The Bengal Army is now chiefly composed of Muhammadans, Hindus, Rájputs, Punjabis, and Patháns; and while some regiments are entirely of one race, such as the Gúrkhas and a few Sikh corps, in others different races are mixed by companies or otherwise. There are no official restrictions on caste or race, but care is taken to prevent an undue preponderance of any one class. Enlistment remains purely voluntary. In the Bengal, as in the Madras and Bombay