These are Rajput horsemen. The Rajputs, from the harsh deserts of Rajasthan, were some of the fiercest warriors in India. Their armies were composed of almost all cavalry, both camels and horses. They were fanatical Hindus, and fought the Arabs and the Mughals for hundreds of years. The Rajputs were recklessly brave in battle, and never surrendered or fled. When they knew that defeat was imminent, they would put on saffron robes and charge into certain death.
The Greeks called them the bravest warriors they ever met.
The Arabs said Their character shines brightest in adversity. Their soldiers (Rajputs) know to what it is to flee from the fields of battle, but when the success of the combat becomes doubtful, they dismount from their horses and throw away their lives in payment of the debt of valor.
A European traveller to India said "The Rajputs embrace each other when on the battlefields as if resolved to die. The Spartans, as is well known, dressed their hair on such occasions. It is well known that when a Rajput becomes desperate, he puts on garments of saffron color, which act, in technical language, is called kesrian kasumal karna (donning saffron robes)."
The Rajputs would fight against all odds, but when there was no chance of victory, tradition demanded that jauhar or mass suicide take place. The women and children commited suicide by burning themselves to death on a massive funeral pyre. The warriors would don saffron robes and go fight to the death. On some occasions 20,000 Rajputs commited jauhar. But not a single warrior surrendered or fled.
