Table of Contents
ToggleThe word bargi is referred to cavalrymen in Maratha and Mughal armies. The word comes from the Persian bargir. Its literal meaning is burden taker.
The term also signified a soldier who rode a horse furnished or provided by his employer in the Maratha cavalry. Any able person could enlist as a bargi if he had no means to buy a horse and military outfits. If any able person had military outfits, he could join as a shiledar in the Maratha cavalry. Both Bargi and Shiledar were under the overall control of the Sarnaubat. Sarnaubat means commander-in-chief.
The term bargi entered the Bengali language and literature in a course of time. The term is a reference to the several Maratha invasions of Bengal between 1741 and 1751. In Bengali literature, the term bargi is used as a casual reference to troublesome outsider forces. The Marathas army swept everything before them, burnt, looted, killed, raped in order to gain wealth and pursued the collection of chauth from Nawab Alivardi Khan.
To conclude, over the centuries, the historical memories of the invasion gradually seeped into modern Bengali language and literature.
