Concept of "Martial Race" is a deception. Rulers of Punjabis & Nepalis were most subservient to British Raj and they contributed the most to British army. Today they live under delusion that they are martial race.

[9 November 2018] It is funny that Pakistanis searching for self identity in this world have taken this concept of Martial race to another level which is hilarious and cringey. But since when Martial race concept came into existence in the context of Indian sub-continent ?

Martial race was a designation created by army officials of British India after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, where they classified each caste into one of two categories, 'martial' and 'non-martial'. The ostensible reason was that a 'martial race' was typically brave and well-built for fighting [source]

It is now well documented that British with their establishments sowed the seeds of division among Indians. They came up with Hindu XI, Muslim XI, Sikh XI during Cricket matches and gave communal color to Cricket in its early days in India. This is a different topic though.  But their master stroke in making Indians automatically becoming subservient was the introduction of the concept of Martial race.

We all know that Bengal Native regiment was instrumental in 1857 rebellion. This regiment recruited from Central India mainly Awadh. [source]

Can anyone recall any Sikh playing a major role in 1857 rebellion. No, at that time Punjabi rulers were very much in control of Brits, the relationship of a subservient Punjab & British was in its infancy. So there is hardly any Sikh name worth mentioning in either side of the rebellion- Indians or Brits. After 1857 rebellion British decided to recruit from the places which were less hostile for them, from the places where the resentments against them was non existent &  from the regions where they were out stretched, region where people already had bitter relation with immediate neighbors (Punjab - Muslims & Afghanis, Nepal - Tibet). This is why Punjab & Nepal became major source of recruitment in British Army.

I will first talk about Punjab (United one). This province had very fertile land and prosperity was better as compared to rest of India. So tax collection was not a problem which would have led to resentment among local peasants, secondly rulers were also not hostile.

During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, eighteen new regiments were raised from the Punjab which remained loyal to the East India Company throughout the crisis in the Punjab and United Provinces. 

In the aftermath of the rebellion, a thorough re-organisation of the army took place. Henceforth recruitment into the British Indian Army was restricted to loyal peoples and provinces. Punjabi Sikhs emerged as a particularly favored martial race to serve the army. [source]

This is why gradually Punjabis became "Martial race", while rest of India not so "Martial race". The biggest con game played by British was that they declared certain castes and communities as Martial races. [source]

While doing this rebellions of the tribals who were the actual true warrior remaining in the sub continent in late 19th and early 20th century were totally erased from the History. Now no one has true records of their struggles against British.

As mentioned in this as well, there were commissions and monetary rewards for recruitment agents.

Another related article - https://qz.com/india/1425486/british-indian-army-recruited-half-a-million-from-punjab-in-ww1/

Same thing happened with Nepali Gurkhas. They sided with British during 1857. Their rulers Ranas during most of the British rule in Sub continent were subservient to British. Occupation of Nepal or any war with them was going to be costly for Brits so they supported the Rana regime which gladly pushed Gurkhas as many as possible for British Army services. Same thing was done with them, glorification as a "marital race".

The complements given to Gurkhas might be genuine but giving them cult status was British strategy (cunning one)

During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Gurkhas fought on the British side and became part of the British Indian Army on its formation. The 8th (Sirmoor) Local Battalion made a particularly notable contribution during the conflict, and indeed 25 Indian Order of Merit awards were made to men from that regiment during the Siege of Delhi [source]

And:

Foreign secretary Durand was not in favour of interfering in the event of a war, but if Nepal did invade Tibet, he suggested that “as an exchange for the arms the Government of Nepal must allow freer recruitment of Gurkhas for the British Army and a definite arrangement should be provided for before arms are sent.” The British were also closely watching Tibet, where Russia was attempting to spread its influence. 

The military recruitment of Nepali men into the British army had been reluctantly agreed to by Jung Bahadur, albeit with stringent rules, after the rebellion. When the British asked Ranoddip Shumsher, Jung’s successor, for 1,000 troops in 1878, Ranoddip sent half the number, of whom not many were fit for service. But this would change under the rule of Chandra Shumsher, who used Gurkha recruitment as a quid pro quo to acquire arms from the British, and eventually, to recognise Nepal’s independence. The first batch of arms and ammunition was supplied in 1904, nearly 20 years after Nepal first requested Calcutta. Between 1906-08, 12,500 rifles were supplied to Chandra Shumsher. Similarly, between 1901-1913, 24,469 Nepali men were recruited into the Gurkha regiments. [source]

Interestingly one of the initial motivation behind recruiting locals (Punjabis & Nepalis) was to thwart any Russian advance in the region - Afghanistan in case of Punjabis and China-Tibet in case of Gurkha Nepalis.

Our people were fooled by the treachery and flattery of Brits and we fought their wars, died horrible deaths in foreign lands in front of strangers. And the very same people kept believing after all the mayhem that they are martial races. Pakistanis took this stupidity to a new height and paid dearly many times.

IMO the greatest military triumphs of sub continent belong to Gupta & Chola empire. They were true conquerors. Maurya Kingdom lost its prowess after Asoka.


Some interesting and relevant discussion going on and on in Twitter - [Tweet 1], [Tweet 2].




Clarification:
The post gives an impression that I am generalizing all the Punjabi. I am not. This is a post about those who believe in them being superior due to martial race. Secondly I am talking about Punjabis and Nepalis because they happened to be in servitude of British and had very close relation with them. That was because of their rulers. It just happened. My post is about the communities which were branded as Martial races and has nothing to do with religion.

Gurkhas are Hindus (Kali Maa Bhakt)

By Punjabis I refer to all the three predominant religions in the Punjab region i.e. Hindu, Sikh and Muslim.

Refer to below:

British-declared martial races in the Indian subcontinent included some groups that were officially designated instead as "agricultural tribes" under the provisions of the Punjab Land Alienation Act of 1900. These terms were considered to be synonymous when the administration compiled a list in 1925. Among the communities listed as martial were:

• Ahir - Hindu

• Arain

• Awan

• Baloch (Baluch) _ Muslim

• Gakhar

• Gurjar - Hindu, Muslim, Sikh all

• Hindu Jat

• Jat Sikh

• Janjua - Muslim

• Kamboh

• Khattar - Hindu

• Khokhar

• Labana

• Mahton

• Mughal - Muslim

• Muslim Jat - Muslim

• Pathan - Muslim

• Qureshi - Muslim

• Rajput - hindu

• Ranghar

• Saini - Hindu, Sikh

• Syed  - Muslim [source]

British have played this con of Martial race with poor Irish people also: https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4627&context=etd

Original post by user ranjan_zehereela2014 on indianews.reddit.com