t Panipat where their
largest regular force took the field under Sadasheo Rao Bhao, he had
70,000 regular and irregular cavalry and only 15,000 infantry, of whom
9000 were hired sepoys under a Muhammadan leader. The Marathas were at
their best in attacking the slow-moving and effeminate Mughal armies,
while during their period of national ascendancy under the Peshwa
there was no strong military power in India which could oppose their
forays. When they were by the skill of their opponents at length
brought to a set battle, their fighting qualities usually proved
to be distinctly poor. At Panipat they lost the day by a sudden
panic and flight after Ibrahim Khan Gardi had obtained for them a
decided advantage; while at Argaon and Assaye their performances
were contemptible. After the recovery from Panipat and the rise of
the independent Maratha states, the assistance of European officers
was invoked to discipline and train the soldiery. [224]

Mehtar

[_Bibliography_: Mr. R. Greeven's _Knights of the Broom, Benares_
1894 (pamphlet); Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Bhangi; Sir
H. Risley's _Tribes and Castes_, art. Hari; Sir E. Maclagan's _Punjab
Census Report_, 1891 (Sweeper Sects); Sir D. Ibbetson's _Punjab Census
Report_, 1881 (art. Chuhra); _Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarat_,
Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam.]

List of Paragraphs

1. _Introductory notice_.
2. _Caste subdivisions_.
3. _Social organisation_.
4. _Caste punishments_.
5. _Admission of outsiders_.
6. _Marriage customs_.
7. _Disposal of the dead_.
8. _Devices for procuring children_.
9. _Divination of sex_.
10. _Childbirth_.
11. _Treatment of the mother_.
12. _Protecting the lives of children_.
13. _Infantile diseases_.
14. _Religion. Valmiki_.
15. _Lalbeg_.
16. _Adoption of foreign religions_.
17. _Social status_.
18. _Occupation_.
19. _Occupation_ (_continued_).

1. Introductory notice

_Mehtar, Bhangi, Hari, [225] Dom, Lalbegi._--The caste of sweepers and
scavengers. In 1911 persons returning themselves as Mehtar, Bhangi
and Dom were separately classified, and the total of all three was
only 30,000. In this Province they generally confine themselves to
their hereditary occupation of scavenging, and are rarely met with
outside the towns and large villages. In most localities the supply
of sweepers does not meet the demand. The case is quite different