There is something profoundly poignant about the story of the Indian soldier under British rule. For nearly two centuries, he was trusted with the musket but denied the baton of command. He marched across continents, fought distant wars and helped build and defend an empire, yet the highest offices of the profession of arms remained beyond his reach. The journey from sepoy to commissioned officer was painfully slow, shaped by courage, prejudice and political necessity. Winston Churchill's reported remark to the British War Committee on 27 July 1942 captures the racial prejudice behind this system: "It will be abhorrent to oblige white men to suffer the humiliation of being ordered about by a brown man."

The military establishment that became the British Indian Army may be traced to the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The East India Company's victory transformed it from a trading corporation into a territorial power, with locally recruited sepoys becoming the principal instrument of expansion. The Bengal, Madras and Bombay Presidency Armies formed the military foundation of British rule.

The early history also proves that courage recognised neither religion nor race. Hindu and Muslim sepoys fought together, Gurkhas were recruited after the Anglo-Nepal War, and Sikhs who had fought the British were soon recruited into Company service. Military necessity proved stronger than old enmities.

Recognition for gallantry came slowly. In 1837, the British instituted the Indian Order of Merit, the first decoration for conspicuous bravery open to Indian soldiers of every faith, almost two decades before the Victoria Cross. Yet recognition stopped short of equality. Indian soldiers could........

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