Editing Sepoy (section)

===Mughal Empire 16th–18th centuries===

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
A Mughal Infantryman.jpg|A [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] sepoy, under the command of [[Mirza Najaf Khan]].
Bhavanidas. The Emperor Aurangzeb Carried on a Palanquin ca. 1705–20 Metripolitan Museum of Art..jpg|The [[Mughal Emperor]] [[Aurangzeb]] leads his final expedition (1705), (sepoy column visible in the lower right).
</gallery>

A ''Sipahi'' or a sepoy was an infantryman armed with a musket in the army of the [[Mughal Empire]].

The earliest sepoys were armed with daggers, [[talwar]]s and [[matchlocks]].<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Nicolle|page=[https://archive.org/details/mughulindia00nico/page/n12 12]|title=Mughul India 1504–1761|year=1993|publisher=Bloomsbury USA |url=https://archive.org/details/mughulindia00nico|url-access=limited|isbn=1-85532-344-3}}</ref> By the mid to late 17th century they began to utilize more upgraded forms of [[musket]]s and even [[rocket]]s. These sepoys also operated and mounted [[artillery]] pieces and sharpshooter upon [[war elephant]]s which were also used for transport, hauling artillery and in combat.<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Nicolle|page=[https://archive.org/details/mughulindia00nico/page/n15 15]|title=Mughul India 1504–1761|year=1993|publisher=Bloomsbury USA |url=https://archive.org/details/mughulindia00nico|url-access=limited|isbn=1-85532-344-3}}</ref>

By the 18th century individual Nawabs employed their own sepoy units as did the European merchant companies established in parts of India.

Sepoys became more visible when they gained European arms and fought for various fragmented polities of the Mughal Empire during the [[Carnatic Wars]] and the [[Bengal War]]. After which the importance of the local sepoy diminished and were replaced by the "European hired Sepoy".