ABSTRACT
The British kept detailed notes about the various types of non-combatants recruited by the Army in India. Attacking the logistics and the non-combatants constituted the crucial aspect of pre-modern guerrilla warfare in South Asia. Between the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization and the Later Vedic Age, chariots were the principal strike force of the Indian armies. In the medieval era, while low status non-combatants were paid in cash, the higher ranks of the combatant branches were paid by land grants because jagirs were considered more prestigious in precolonial India. The British period witnessed expansion and systematization of the organization of various types of non-combatant labourers in the military establishment of the colonial state. The postcolonial era of military establishment of India after the withdrawal of the British from the subcontinent utilized and expanded the institutional fabric of the colonial state. The civilian administration cooperated with the army during emergencies in procuring non-combatant manpower.
