This painting is titled ‘An Engagement on the Banks of the Hyphasis’. This is a reference to the river Indus which was called Hyphasis at the time when the troops of Alexander the Great refused to go further into India. It is a questionable view of an attack by the Bengal Light Cavalry. The artwork has the look of an amateur, probably an officer of the regiment. This would give credence to the uniforms shown in the painting. The French grey jackets were authorised in 1809 but the material wasn’t available until 1811. Thus the year 1810 would allow the officers to provide themselves with their fine quality jackets while the Indian ranks would have been supplied later. Thus the British officers are shown wearing the first pattern jackets with red facings (later changed to orange) and the Indian ranks are wearing the former red jackets. Two types of headdress are visible. blue and red. It is probable that the Indian officers wore red and the ORs blue. The British officers have red flowing manes on their helmets. The regulations stipulated a black bearskin crest with white over red plume on the left side, and a leopard skin band around the black helmet. It is probable that the regiment preferred the red mane, which had been worn prior to 1802, and retained it in defiance of the regulation.
