The 105th Mahratta Light Infantry were an infantry regiment of the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

. The regiment traces their origins to 1768, when they were raised as the 3rd Battalion, Bombay Sepoys. The regiment's first action was during the Mysore Campaign in the

Third Anglo-Mysore War The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Empire, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Anglo- ...

. This campaign was followed by the

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore against the British East India Company and the Hyderabad Deccan in 1798–99. This was the final conflict of the four Anglo-Mysore Wars. The British captured ...

, during which the regiment fought in both the major battles the

Battle of Seedaseer The Battle of Seedaseer was a battle of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War on 6 March 1799 at Seedaseer (near present-day Siddapura, Karnataka), a hill and pass on the border of the Coorg and Mysore country seven miles from Piriyapatna and with a view ...

and the

Battle of Seringapatam A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. They were then used in the

punitive expedition A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a political entity or any group of people outside the borders of the punishing state or union. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavio ...

in the Beni Boo Ali campaign in 1821, against the

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

in Eastern

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

. The regiment was involved in the

Siege of Kahun The siege of Kahun was a siege of the isolated fort-town of Kahun, Balochistan, that lasted from 16 May until 28 September 1840, during the First Anglo-Afghan War. The outpost was defended by a battalion of 140 men in extremely hot, inhospitab ...

next during the

First Afghan War The First Anglo-Afghan War ( fa, جنگ اول افغان و انگلیس) was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession di ...

. A detachment of 140 men held off the besieging force from May to September, before being forced to surrender. China was the regiments next destination during the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...

. They were then part of the force used in the annexation of

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

during the

Second Burmese War The Second Anglo-Burmese War or the Second Burma War ( my, ဒုတိယ အင်္ဂလိပ် မြန်မာ စစ် ; 5 April 185220 January 1853) was the second of the three wars fought between the Burmese Empire and British Em ...

, this being their final action in the 19th century. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. In 1922, the 105th Mahratta Light Infantry became the 2nd Battalion 5th Mahratta Light Infantry. After independence they were one of the regiments allocated to the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

Predecessor names

*3rd Battalion, Bombay Sepoys - 1768 *1st Battalion, 3rd Bombay Native Infantry - 1796 *5th Bombay Native Infantry - 1824 *5th Bombay Native (Light) Infantry - 1841 *5th Bombay (Light) Infantry - 1885 *5th Bombay Light Infantry - 1901 *105th Mahratta Light Infantry - 1903 *2nd Battalion the Maratha Light Infantry

References

Sources

* * * *Moberly, F.J. (1923). ''Official History of the War: Mesopotamia Campaign'', Imperial War Museum. British Indian Army infantry regiments Military units and formations established in 1788 Bombay Presidency Military units and formations disestablished in 1922 1788 establishments in British India {{UK-mil-unit-stub