The Ravi Lancers

January 1914. The Ravi Lancers, a cavalry regiment maintained by a semi-independent Indian princely state, still live by traditions of personal loyalty to their ruler and by the elaborate hierarchies of mounted service. When war begins in Europe, the regiment is sent to France as part of the Indian contribution to the British war effort.

On the Western Front, ceremonial ideals collide with trenches, artillery and industrialised killing. Masters follows Indian officers, sowars and their British connections as they confront combat far from home, using the regiment’s experience to explore loyalty, honour and the strains placed on princely India by a European war fought in the name of empire.