On the battlefield, he has been portrayed as a terrifying leader of a private army of dreadlocked, nude warriors with cannons.
Anupgiri Gosain, however, was also a respected holy man of India known as a Naga sadhu or ascetic, devoted to the Hindu god Shiva. At the Kumbh Mela, the greatest religious celebration in the world, these ash-covered ascetics with matted hair are a major sect.
According to William R. Pinch, the author of Warrior Ascetics and Indian Empires, Gosain was a "warrior ascetic." Sure, the Nagas had that "fearsome and unruly" rep. Mr. Pinch, a historian at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, pointed out to me that the 18th century Nagas were "extremely well-armed and disciplined," and were reputed to be "excellent cavalry and infantry troops."
An East India Company official named James Skinner commissioned a painting of a Naga soldier in the early 19th century. It shows a man who has stripped down to little more than his underwear, sabre, and leather belt with pouches holding gunpowder, ammunition, and flint. His hair is so matted and thick that it forms a sort of helmet over his head. A vermilion tilak, a religious sign, is prominently displayed on his forehead as he holds a long-barreled gun in his left hand.
The Nagas were well-known for their skill as shock troops and in hand-to-hand combat. Anupgiri led them to become a formidable military force, with both infantry and cavalry, capable of taking on the greatest, as Mr. Pinch put it. In the latter half of the 1700s, Anupgiri and his brother Umraogiri oversaw a force of almost 20,000 soldiers. The use of cannon and rockets by austere soldiers rose drastically during the late 18th century.
Anupgiri was a "fearsome Naga commander" and was granted the Mughal title Himmat Bahadur, which translates to "Great of Courage," according to author and historian William Dalrymple.
The "dreadlocked Nagas of Anupgiri Gosain" arrived with 6,000 of his naked warriors and 40 cannon, joining the army of Mughal commander Mirza Najaf Khan, as described by author William Dalrymple in his book The Anarchy, which details the rise of the East India Company to power in India.
A army of "10,000 gosain [generic term for ascetic] on horse and foot, as well as five cannon, numerous bullock carts full of supplies, tents, and 12 lakh rupees [almost £16m in 2019] in money" were provided by Anupgiri.
While his true identity remains unknown, Anupgiri has been called the most successful "military entrepreneur" (mercenary) of the late 18th century. It's a fitting moniker, seeing as how most private troops hired by kings back then were mercenaries. Thomas Brooke, a judge in the city of Banaras (now called Varanasi), remarked that a local story about Anupgiri was like this: "He was like a man who in crossing a river kept a foot in two boats, ready to abandon the one that was sinking."
It was predictable that the charismatic warrior ascetic would be present everywhere. "Anupgiri was all over the place since he was a staple in any group. He was despised because he represented everything that no one wanted: dependence. According to Mr. Pinch, "he was the inside operator people turned to when they wanted troops, an ear to the ground, a deft negotiator, or a dirty job done quietly."
Anupgiri engaged his enemies from every angle. He fought for the Mughal emperor and the Afghans against the Marathas in the 1761 battle of Panipat. Three years later, he participated in the Battle of Buxar alongside the Mughal army against the British. Anupgiri was also instrumental in the growth of the Persian explorer Najaf Khan in Delhi.
Later on, he abandoned the Marathas and sided with the British. According to Mr. Pinch, the East India Company became the preeminent force in southern Asia and the world because of his death in 1803, which facilitated the British defeat of the Marathas and the British occupation of Delhi.
"The more one examines the succession of events that marked the Mughal and Maratha decline in the late 18th century and the concomitant rise of British power, the more one sees the outline of Anupgiri Gosain in the background," said Mr. Pinch.
After the death of their father, Anupgiri's mother, a poor widow, sent him and his older brother to a warlord in the northern Indian state of Bundelkhand, where they were born in 1734. Possibly exaggerated tales claim that as a kid he spent hours upon hours building armies out of clay.
According to legend, men like Anupgiri were allowed to arm themselves in the 16th century to protect themselves from Muslim raids. Mr. Pinch discovered, however, that Anupgiri had worked for Muslim masters like the Mughal emperor Shah Alam and fought alongside the Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali in the Battle of Panipat in 1761. His Muslim bodyguard is mentioned in the poems written about his life.
The real brilliance of Anupgiri was in how he used his indispensable status to rise to the top. "He wasn't from a privileged background, but he knew when to fight and when to run," Mr. Pinch recalled. To paraphrase an old saying, "He knew how to convince opponents and allies alike that he had nothing to lose." Ascetics with firearms would be "held or feared for what they to be: humans who had conquered death" in a society that gave them free latitude to do as they pleased.
Anupgiri, mortally wounded in the thigh, convinces Mughal emperor Shuja-ud-Daula to flee the battlefield in Mr. Dalrymple's dramatic retelling of the pivotal Battle of Buxar that cemented British dominance over Bengal and Bihar. He responds, "This is not the time for a fruitless death." In other words, "We will easily win and take revenge another day." They escape through a floating bridge in boats, which Anupgiri then destroys. It looks like the austere warrior will live to battle another day.