An irregular cavalry unit... sort of like the BSF of the early Raj.

This was before the advent of potato chips and video games in India. The soldiers look like they could be blown away by a wisp of air. ;-)

@Arun... interesting observation. When I was doing research on sepoy recruitment, I ran into numerous complaints from British officers, who said they just couldn't find robust, healthy men for the army. However, at the time this picture was made, North India had just gone through a series of very bad droughts and famines, and there were also other major economic changes: prices were rising while the value of money fell, taxes were increased significantly during the early stages of Company rule, and the craft sector in many inland towns suffered near collapse as their traditional markets faltered.

That explains the malnourished look. Thank you James Hoover.

Mr. James Hoover, Famine effected India badly in the later years of 18th century and then again in the later years of the 19th century. But there is no record of droughts hitting north India to lead into famine during the time as mentioned atop (and subsequent malnourishment and so on...). The sepoy recruits were mainly from the eastern parts of now UP, Bihar and Bengal. Many battalions who had fought the second Maratha war were also sent for the Nepal war. To fight in hilly and jungle conditions, the needs were not robust and strong, but buoyant and fleet-footed. Also the men from the Gorkha Rifles from the John Company days upto the Queen's Brigade till 1994, were men short heighted but in good health. In the picture above, note their strong shoulder and arm formation and strong and balanced lower abdomen.

Re "British officers, who said they couldn't find robust, healthy men for the army"...These robust men were recruited from the Gujjars and the Jat community to fight the wars with the Gurkha from the Punjab border. This has been well documented in the archives site.

@Arindam. I don't think what the British officers said in their reports should be taken literally, necessarily. As for the men depicted here, they actually look fairly healthy for the time period. I doubt if Fraser would have depicted a bunch of scrawny wrecks. The droughts, by the way, are well-documented, hitting hardest during the Maratha War, c. 1803, when the guys shown here would have been kids. That is when famine has the biggest impact, during the formative years. The physical effects of malnutrition carry on throughout one's life. Sepoys of the regular army were not usually drawn from the classes and castes who were likely to starve even during a famine. This was not always true of the irregular battalions, however.

As far as "robust" goes (from the late 18th and early 19th c. British point-of-view), a recent study of recruits for a British Army regiment of this same period shows an average height of 5'2", with 5'8" being much taller than average.

The famine was during the first Maratha war in the late 18th. The period above may have experienced crop failures but not serious enough to be declared famine.

Excellent set of posts James W Hoover, if I may be so bold rare to find some one so really perceptive.