Sowar
This article is about the Persian-Indian title. For the magazine, see Sowar (magazine).
A Mughal sowar hurries to the relief of Surat, after the devastation caused by the Marathas in the Battle of Surat.
A sowar of the 6th Madras Light Cavalry, serving the British East India Company, circa 1845.
Sowar (सवार, ਸਵਾਰ, also siwar in Kurdish, Hindi and Persian) meaning "the one who rides" in Kurdish and Persian, was originally a rank during the Mughal, Maratha period. Later during the British Raj it was the name in Anglo-Indian usage for a horse-soldier belonging to the cavalry troops of the native armies of British India and the feudal states. It is also used more specifically of a mounted orderly, escort or guard. It was also the rank held by ordinary cavalry troopers, equivalent to sepoy in the infantry - this rank has been inherited by the modern armies of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
The Sowar name has been used as the moniker for a line of wrist-watches by the Swiss West End Watch Co.
References
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "article name needed". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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