Watercolour with pen and ink of a Manipuri horseman (Kathe). The horseman in this portrait came from Manipur in the northeast of India and was known by the Burmese as Kath? In 1826; Manipur became a state within the British Raj.

Colesworthy Grant was unimpressed with the Burmese cavalry. He wrote that 'If the Infantry of the Burmese army disappointed expectation; the mounted portion yet more...for although there were many beautifully formed; powerful; and spirited [horses]; very many more were of sorry appearance; as though of inferior blood; or badly fed. The men; believed to be principally or exclusively Munnipooreans; were strong enough looking; but miserably set off by their dress and equipments. Their clothes were of the same coarse quality as those of the foot soldiers; and their arms consisted of a short spear; and the customary sword slung at their backs'. Pictures From History