Silladar Cavalry

The Silladar Cavalry was a cavalry force of some moment in Indian history traditionally composed of individuals who provide their own arms, as opposed to having them provided for them by any local or central group or command. Such men were usually relatively wealthy and prosperous high-caste landowning cultivators such as the Jats and Rajputs of all communities of the erstwhile undivided Punjab province and Rajputana. They were recruited from local dominant high-caste landowning clans who traditionally owned weapons and provided military service to local feudal chiefs. Thus most of the Silladar cavalry were recruited from Kshatriya origin.

The system was extended to the regular cavalry of the Bengal and Bombay Armies in 1861.