XVII. Economic and Social Developments under
the Mughals
*Trade and Industry* ==
*Urban
Life* == *Rural Conditions* == *Health
and Medical Facilities* == *Social Customs*
==
*The Position of the Hindus*
[[223]]
IT WAS the
normal policy of the Timurid rulers, both in their original Central
Asian
homelands and in India, to encourage trade. As in much else, Sher Shah
Suri during his brief reign (1538–1545) set a pattern that was followed
by the later Mughals, especially Akbar, when he encouraged trade by
linking
together various parts of the country through an efficient system of
roads
and abolishing many inland tolls and duties. The Mughals maintained
this
general policy, but their rule was distinguished by the importance
which
foreign trade attained by the end of the sixteenth century. This was
partly
the result of the discovery of the new sea-route to India; but even so,
progress would have been limited if conditions within the country had
not
been favorable.
Trade and Industry
Both Akbar and
Jahangir interested
themselves in the foreign seaborne trade, and Akbar himself took part
in
commercial activities for a time. The Mughals welcomed the foreign
trader,
provided ample protection and security for his transactions, and levied
a very low custom duty (usually no more than 2½ percent ad
valorem).
Furthermore, the expansion of local handicrafts and industry resulted
in
a reservoir of exportable goods. Indian exports consisted mainly of
manufactured
articles, with cotton cloth in great demand in Europe and elsewhere.
Indigo,
saltpeter, spices, opium, sugar, woolen and silk cloth of various
kinds,
yarn, asafoetida, salt, beads, borax, turmeric, lac, sealing wax, and
drugs
of various kinds, were also exported. The principal imports were
bullion,
horses, and a certain quantity of luxury goods for the upper classes,
like
raw silk, coral, [[224]] amber, precious stones, superior
textiles
(silk, velvet, brocade, broadcloth), perfumes, drugs, china goods, and
European wines. By and large, however, in return for their goods Indian
merchants insisted on payment in gold or silver. Naturally this was not
popular in England and the rest of Europe, and writers on economic
affairs
in the seventeenth century frequently complained, as did Sir Thomas
Roe,
that "Europe bleedeth to enrich Asia." The demand for articles supplied
by India was so great, however, and her requirements of European goods
so limited, that Europe was obliged to trade on India's own terms until
the eighteenth century, when special measures were taken in England and
elsewhere to discourage the demand for Indian goods.
The manufacture
of cotton
goods had assumed such extensive proportions that in addition to
satisfying
her own needs, India sent cloth to almost half the world: the east
coast
of Africa, Arabia, Egypt, Southeast Asia, as well as Europe. The
textile
industry, well established in Akbar's day, continued to flourish under
his successors, and soon the operations of Dutch and English traders
brought
India into direct touch with Western markets. This resulted in great
demand
for Indian cotton goods from Europe, which naturally increased
production
at home. Even the silk industry—especially in Bengal—was in flourishing
condition. Bernier wrote: "There is in Bengal such a quantity of cotton
and silk, that the kingdom may be called the common storehouse for
these
two kinds of merchandise, not of Hindoustan or the Empire of the Great
Mogol only, but of all the neighbouring kingdoms, and even of Europe."/1/
Apart from silk
and cotton
textiles, other industries were shawl and carpet weaving, woolen goods,
pottery, leather goods, and articles made of wood. Owing to its
proximity
to sources of suitable timbers, Chittagong specialized in shipbuilding,
and at one time supplied ships to distant Istanbul. The commercial side
of the industry was in the hands of middlemen, but the Mughal
government,
like the earlier sultans, made its own contribution. The emperor
controlled
a large number of royal workshops, busily turning out articles for his
own [[225]] use, for his household, for the court, and for the
imperial
army. Akbar took a special interest in the development of indigenous
industry.
He was directly responsible for the expansion of silk weaving at
Lahore,
Agra, Fathpur-Sikri, and in Gujarat. He opened a large number of
factories
at important centers, importing master weavers from Persia, Kashmir,
and
Turkistan. Akbar frequently visited the workshops near the palace to
watch
the artisans at work, which encouraged the craftsmen and raised their
status.
It is said that he took such an interest in the industry that to foster
demand he "ordered people of certain ranks to wear particular kinds of
locally woven coverings … an order which resulted in the establishment
of a large number of shawl manufactories in Lahore; and inducements
were
offered to foreign carpet-weavers to settle in Agra, Fathepur Sikri,
and
Lahore, and manufacture carpets to compete with those imported from
Persia."/2/
In the course of time, the foreign traders established close contracts
with important markets in India, and new articles which were more in
demand
in Western Europe began to be produced in increasing quantities. Among
the foreign inventions that excited Akbar's interest was an organ, "one
of the wonders of creation," that had been brought from Europe./3/
Urban Life
All foreign
travelers speak
of the wealth and prosperity of Mughal cities and large towns.
Monserrate
stated that Lahore in 1581 was "not second to any city in Europe or
Asia."
Finch, who traveled in the early days of Jahangir, found both Agra and
Lahore to be much larger than London, and his testimony is supported by
others. Other cities like Surat ("A city of good quantity, with many
fair
merchants and houses therein"), Ahmadabad, Allahabad, Benares, and
Patna
similarly excited the admiration of visitors./4/
The new port towns of [[226]] Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, and
Karachi
developed under British rule, but they had their predecessors in
Satgaon,
Surat, Cambay, Lari Bunder, and other ports.
The efficient
system of city
government under the Mughals encouraged trade. The pivot of urban
administration
was the kotwal, the city governor. In addition to his executive and
judicial
powers, it was his duty to prevent and detect crime, to perform many of
the functions now assigned to the municipal boards, to regulate prices,
and in general, to be responsible for the peace and prosperity of the
city.
The efficient discharge of these duties depended on the personality of
the individual city governor, but the Mughals tried to ensure high
standards
by making the kotwal personally responsible for the property and the
security
of the citizens. Akbar had decreed (probably following Sher Shah Suri's
example of fixing the responsibility on village chiefs for highway
robberies
in their territory) that the kotwal was to either recover stolen goods
or be held responsible for their loss. That this was not only a pious
hope
is borne out by the testimony of several foreign travelers who state
that
the kotwal was personally liable to make good the value of any stolen
property
which he was unable to recover. The kotwals often found pretexts to
evade
the ultimate responsibility, but in general they took elaborate
measures
to prevent thefts.
Most of this
flourishing
commerce was in the hands of the traditional Hindu merchant classes,
whose
business acumen was proverbial. Their caste guilds added to the skills
in trade and commerce that they had learned through the centuries. Not
only were their disputes settled by their panchayats, but they would
frequently
impose pressure on the government by organized action. Foreign visitors
record that the governors and kotwals were very sensitive to this, and
in spite of hardships inseparable from a despotic system of
administration,
the business communities had their own means of obtaining redress.
Bernier,
writing during Aurangzeb's time, declared that the Hindus possessed
"almost
exclusively the trade and wealth of the country."/5/
If Muslims enjoyed advantages in higher administrative posts and in the
army, Hindu merchants maintained the monopoly in trade and [[227]]
finance that they had had during the sultanate. A Dutch traveler in the
early seventeenth century was struck by the fact that few Muslims
engaged
in handicraft industries, and that even when a Muslim merchant did have
a large business, he employed Hindu bookkeepers and agents./6/
Banking was almost exclusively in Hindu hands. In the years of the
decline
of the Mughals, a rich Hindu banker would finance his favorite rival
claimant
for the throne. The role of Jagat Seth of Murshidabad in the history of
Bengal is well known. Even the "war of succession" out of which
Aurangzeb
emerged victorious was financed by a loan of five and a half lakhs of
rupees
from the Jain bankers of Ahmadabad./7/
Here one sees a contrast with British rule, when the British not only
monopolized
the higher civil service posts but also controlled most of the major
industries
as well as the great banks and trading agencies.
Rural Conditions
Conditions in the
rural areas
during the Mughal period were much the same as at present, with one
important
difference—the Muslim rulers had scarcely disturbed the old
organization
of the villages. The panchayats continued to settle most disputes, with
the state impinging very little on village life, except for the
collection
of land revenue, and even this was very often done on a village basis
rather
than through individuals, with the age-old arrangements being
preserved.
The incidence of land revenue was substantially higher under the
Mughals
and in Hindu states like Vijayanagar than in British India, but the
administration
was more flexible, both in theory and in practice, in its assessment
and
collection. Apart from the remission of land revenue when crops failed,
there was reduction in government demand even when bumper crops caused
prices to fall. For example, between 1585 and 1590 very large sums had
to be written off because a series of exceptionally good harvests had
resulted
in a surplus, and peasants could not sell their crops. The state also
advanced
loans to the cultivators, [[228]] and occasionally provided
seed
as well as implements for digging wells. Loans advanced to the
cultivators
for seeds, implements, bullocks, or digging of wells were called taqavi—an
expression which has continued in modern land revenue administration.
Health and Medical Facilities
A feature noticed
by many
foreign travelers was the good health of the local inhabitants. Fryer,
writing of the mortality among the English at Bombay and the adjacent
parts,
says that "the country people lived to a good old age, supposed to be
the
reward of their temperance." Bernier also speaks of "general habits of
sobriety among the people," though this did not apply to a few cases
among
the upper classes or the royal family. The European travelers found
"less
vigour among the people than in the colder climates, but greater
enjoyment
of health." From their accounts, even the climate would appear to have
been healthy. "Gout, stone complaints in the kidneys, catarrh … are
nearly
unknown; and persons who arrive in the country afflicted with any of
these
disorders soon experience a complete cure." The Mughal emphasis on
physical
fitness and encouragement of out-of-door manly games also raised the
general
standard of health. The ideal was that everyone was to be trained to be
a soldier, a good rider, a keen shikari, and able to distinguish
himself
in games. Ovington found that the English at Surat were "much less
vigorous
and athletic in their bodies than Indians." It is possible that the
drinking
habits of the Europeans made them an easy prey to ill-health in the
tropics./8/
Public hospitals
had been
provided in Muslim India, at least since the days of Firuz Tughluq
(1351–1388),
and though it would be ridiculous to compare them with the arrangements
introduced by the British, the system seems to have been extended
during
the Mughal period. Jahangir states in his autobiography that on his
accession
to the throne he ordered the establishment, at government expense, of
hospitals
in large cities. That this order was actually made effective [[229]]
is shown by the records of salaries paid by the government
and of grants
for the distribution of medicine./9/
The supply of
local physicians
was not plentiful; and judged by the demand for European doctors,
particularly
surgeons, they were apparently not equal to all demands. The general
health
of the inhabitants suggests, however, that the medical services were
not
completely inadequate, and the local physicians were able to deal with
normal problems. As early as 1616 they knew the important
characteristics
of the bubonic plague and suggested suitable preventive measures.
According
to an account in Iqbal Nama, which was written in Jahangir's
reign:
"When the disease was about to break out, a mouse would rush out of its
hole, as if mad, and striking itself against the door and the walls of
the house, would expire. If immediately after this signal the occupants
left the house and went away to the jungle, their lives were safe. If
otherwise,
the inhabitants of the village would be spirited away by the hands of
death."/10/
As modern scholars have pointed out, this observation includes two
facts
about the plague whose significance has been corroborated by modern
science:
the association of the death of rodents with the disease, and the
necessity
of evacuating the infected quarter./11/
A crude form of
vaccination
against smallpox seems to have been employed by Eastern doctors, for it
was vaguely realized that the introduction of a mild form of cowpox
prevented
the virulent form of smallpox. An article in the Asiatic Register of
London
for 1804 contained a translation of a memorandum by Nawab Mirza Mehdi
Ali
Khan describing from personal observations the method adopted by a
Hindu
medical practitioner of Benares. A thread drenched in "the matter of a
pustule on the cow" was placed on the arms of a child to cause an easy
irruption, thus avoiding a virulent attack of smallpox.
In ancient times,
the use
of medicines had been well developed among the Hindus, but dissection
was
considered to be irreligious. The Muslims, who did not have this
restriction,
performed a number of operations. As Elphinstone pointed out: "Their
surgery
is as remarkable [[230]] as their medicine especially when we
recollect
their ignorance of anatomy. They cut for the stone, couched for the
cataract,
and extracted the feotus from the womb, and in their early works
enunciate
no less than one hundred and twenty-seven surgical works."/12/
According to Manucci, Muslim surgeons could provide artificial limbs.
Social Customs
The marriage
customs of Hindus
and Muslims had many similarities. Early marriages were much in vogue
amongst
the Hindus, with seven considered the proper age for a girl to be
married.
To leave a daughter unmarried beyond twelve years of age was to risk
the
displeasure of one's caste. The Muslims also betrothed their children
between
the ages of six and eight, but the marriage was generally not
solemnized
before they had attained the age of puberty.
Among the
wealthier classes
polygamy and divorce are said to have been very common. The custom of
secluding
women, known as purdah, was very strictly observed. Marriage
negotiations
were undertaken by the professional broker or the friends of either
party.
The marriage ceremonies were more or less the same as they are at
present,
and the character of the average Indian or Pakistani home and the
socio-ethical
ideas which influence it have not undergone any fundamental change. The
son's duty to his parents and the wife's duty to her husband were
viewed
almost as religious obligations. "Superstitions played a prominent part
in the daily life of the people. Charms were used not merely to ensnare
a restive husband but also to secure such other ends as the birth of a
son or cure of a disease. The fear of the evil eye was ever present …
and
the young child was considered particularly susceptible. … People
believed
in all sorts of omens."/13/
Astrologers were very much in demand, even at the Mughal court.
The Muslim
aristocrats lived
in great houses decorated with rich [[231]] hangings and
carpets.
Their clothing was made of finest cotton or silk, decorated with gold;
and they carried beautiful scimitars. There was a considerable element
of ostentatious display involved in this, however, for their domestic
arrangements
did not match the outward splendor of their dress and equipment.
Manucci,
a keen observer, refers to Pathans who came to court "well-clad and
well-armed,
caracolling on fine horses richly caparisoned and followed by several
servants,"
but when they reached home, divested themselves of "all this finery,
and
tying a scanty cloth around their loins and wrapping a rag around their
head, they take their seat on a mat, and live on … rice and lentils or
badly cooked cow's flesh of low quality, which is very abundant in the
Mogul country and very cheap."/14/
The courtly
manners and the
elaborate etiquette of the Muslim upper classes impressed foreign
visitors.
In social gatherings they spoke "in a very low voice with much order,
moderation,
gravity, and sweetness. … Betel and betelnut were presented to the
visitors
and they were escorted with much civility at the time of departure.
Rigid
forms were observed at meals. … Dice was their favourite indoor game.
Polo
or chaugan—for which there was a special playground at
Dacca—elephant-fights,
hunting, excursions and picnics, were also very popular."/15/
The grandees rode in palkis, preceded by uniformed mounted servants.
Many
"drove in fine two-wheeled carts, carved with gilt and gold, covered in
silk, and drawn by two little bulls which could race with the fastest
horses."
The Position of the Hindus
The Hindu upper
classes undoubtedly
shared in the material culture of the Mughals, for, as already noted,
they
had a virtual monopoly of trade and finance. Furthermore, they had long
held many high posts in the government. The contrast between the
position
of Hindus under the Mughals and of Indians in general under the British
was often made by Indian historians during the period of the
nationalist
movement. Thus a Hindu historian writing in 1940 could argue that [[232]]
"under Shah Jahan Hindus occupied a higher status in the government
than
that occupied by the Indians today."/16/
The vitality of
the Hindus
was shown in more than their ability to maintain footholds within
administrative
and commercial life. Widespread religious movements, having, as we have
seen, their roots partly in the vivifying contacts of Hinduism with
Islam,
had produced a religious enthusiasm among the masses that was
transforming
the older Brahmanical religion.
Although Muslim
historians
ignore this religious revival among the Hindus, there is enough
evidence
to indicate its importance during Mughal rule. The new regional
literature
of Bengal and Maharashtra, which owed much to the new movement, is a
clear
mirror of what was taking place in Hindu society. In Bengal, there was
not only the rise of a new literature, but numerous temples were built
during the late seventeenth century./17/
The significance of this phenomenon becomes clear if it is remembered
that
practically throughout the second half of the seventeenth century,
Aurangzeb
was on the throne. His alleged ceaseless campaign of temple destruction
obviously could have been neither thoroughgoing nor universal.
The developments
in intellectual
life were even more marked. The rise of Navadipa as a great center of
Sanskritic
learning, and the vogue of navyanyaya (new logic) belong to this
period.
In relation to
Islam, Hinduism
exhibited a new vigor, greater self-confidence, and even a spirit of
defiance.
Hinduism is not generally thought of as a missionary religion, and it
is
often assumed that during Muslim rule conversions were only from
Hinduism
to Islam. This is, however, not true. Hinduism by now was very much on
the offensive and was absorbing a number of Muslims./18/
When Shah Jahan returned from Kashmir, in the sixth year of his reign,
he discovered that Hindus of Bhadauri and Bhimbar were forcibly
marrying
Muslim girls and converting them to the Hindu faith. At death these
women
were cremated according to the Hindu rites. Jahangir had tried to stop
this practice but with no success, and Shah Jahan also issued orders
declaring
[[233]] such marriages unlawful. Four thousand such
conversions
are said to have been discovered. Many cases were also found in Gujarat
and in parts of the Punjab. Partly to deal with such cases, and partly
to conform to his early notions of an orthodox Muslim king, Shah Jahan
established a special department to deal with conversions. After the
tenth
year of his reign, he seems to have ceased trying to prevent the
proselytizing
activities of the Hindus. There are several later cases of the
conversion
of Muslims, not recorded by the court historians. A number of
Muslims—including
at least two Muslim nobles, Mirza Salih and Mirza Haider—were converted
to Hinduism by the vairagis, the wandering ascetics of the Chaitanya
movement,
which had become a powerful religious force in Bengal. There were also
cases of conversions from Islam to Sikhism. When Guru Hargovind took up
his residence at Kiratpur in the Punjab some time before 1645, he is
said
to have succeeded in converting a large number of Muslims. It was
reported
that not a Muslim was left between the hills near Kiratpur and the
frontiers
of Tibet and Khotan. His predecessor, Guru Arjan, had proselytized so
actively
that he incurred Jahangir's anger, and, as Jahangir mentions in his
autobiography,
the Hindu shrines of Kangra and Mathura attracted a number of Muslim
pilgrims.
The Hindu
position was so
strong that in some places Aurangzeb's order for the collection of
jizya
was defied. On January 29, 1693, the officials in Malwa sent a soldier
to collect jizya from a zamindar called Devi Singh. When he reached the
place, Devi Singh's men fell upon him, pulled his beard and hair, and
sent
him back empty-handed. The emperor thereupon ordered a reduction in the
jagir of Devi Singh. Earlier, another official had fared much worse. He
himself proceeded to the jagir to collect the tax, but was killed by
the
Hindu mansabdar. Orders to destroy newly built temples met with similar
opposition. A Muslim officer who was sent in 1671 to destroy temples at
the ancient pilgrimage city of Ujjain was killed in a riot that broke
out
as he tried to carry out his orders.
Muslim
historians, in order
to show the extreme orthodoxy of Aurangzeb, have recorded many reports
of temple destruction. On a closer scrutiny, however, there seem to be
good grounds for believing [[234]] that all the reports were
not
correct, and that quite often no action was taken on imperial orders.
We
read, for example, about the destruction of a certain temple at Somnath
during the reign of Shah Jahan and again under Aurangzeb. It is likely
that in this and in many similar cases, the temple was not destroyed on
the first order. According to accounts by English merchants,
Aurangzeb's
officers would leave the temples standing on payment of large sums of
money
by the priests./19/
However,
new temples whose construction had not been authorized were often
closed.
If the situation
is closely
examined, it appears that the complaint of Shaikh Ahmad that under
Muslim
rule as it existed in India, Islam was in need of greater protection
than
other religions does not appear to have been completely unfounded.
Aurangzeb
tried, of course, to reverse this trend, and some other rulers also had
occasional spells of Islamic zeal, either from political or religious
causes.
But by and large, it is perhaps fair to say that during Muslim rule,
Islam
suffered from handicaps which almost outweighed the advantages it
enjoyed
as the religion of the ruling dynasty. This paradox becomes
understandable
if the basic Muslim political theory is kept in mind, under which the
non-Muslim
communities, so long as they paid certain taxes, were left to manage
their
own affairs. This local and communal autonomy severely circumscribed
the
sovereignty of the Muslim state, and in most matters the caste guilds
and
the village panchayats exercised real sovereignty, which they naturally
utilized to safeguard their creed and way of life. It was this power
which
enabled them to evade, or even defy, unwelcome orders from the capital.
A curious light on the situation is thrown by the penalties and
economic
losses which a Hindu had to suffer on the adoption of Islam.
Practically
until the end of Muslim rule, a Hindu who became a Muslim automatically
lost all claim to ancestral property./20/
This
extraordinary position
was a natural result of the application of Hindu law, which, according
to the Muslim legal system, governed Hindu society even under Muslim
government,
and under which apostacy resulted in disinheritance. Shah Jahan, who
began
as an [[235]] orthodox Muslim, tried to redress the balance by
issuing
orders that "family pressure should not prevent a Hindu from being
admitted
to Islam," and laid down that a convert should not be disinherited.
Whether
these orders could overcome the subtle but solid pressure of the joint
family system and the power of the caste panchayats must remain a
matter
of speculation. The question, however, of handicaps or advantages of
one
community against another is not of fundamental significance. The
important
fact is that during normal times conditions of tolerance prevailed.
This
was of special interest to European visitors, almost all of whom
commented
on the concessions enjoyed by non-Muslims under Muslim rule. The
Jesuits
were critical of this policy of tolerance, declaring the destruction of
Hindu temples by Muslims "a praiseworthy action," but noting their
"carelessness”
in allowing public performance of Hindu sacrifices and religious
practices.
When Akbar granted the followers of the Raushaniya sect the freedom to
follow their religion, Monserrate sadly commented that "He cared little
that in allowing everyone to follow his own religion he was in reality
violating all religions."/21/
Even in
Aurangzeb's reign
a cow could not be slaughtered in important places like Surat, and
attempts
made by some English merchants to obtain beef led to riots. According
to
one account: "In Surat the Hindus paid a fixed sum to the Mohammadans
in
return for sparing the cows. In 1608 a riot was caused at Surat by a
drunken
sailor Tom Tucker who killed a calf. Similar occurrences at Karwar and
Honavar led to outbreaks, in one of which the whole factory was
murdered."/22/
But nothing brings out the Mughal administration's respect for the
susceptibilities
of the Hindus as well as the experience of the Portuguese missionary
traveler,
Manrique. "In a village where he stopped for the night, one of his
followers,
a Musalman, killed two peacocks, birds sacred in the eyes of Hindus,
and
did his best to conceal the traces of his deed by burying their
feathers.
The sacrilege was, however, detected, the whole party arrested, and the
offender sentenced to have a hand amputated, though this punishment was
eventually commuted to a whipping by the local official, [[236]]
who explained that the emperor had taken an oath that he and his
successors
would let the Hindus live under their own laws and customs and tolerate
no breach of them."/23/
Although the
Mughals interfered
little with Hindu customs, there was one ancient practice which they
sought
to stop. This was sati, or the custom of widows, particularly those of
the higher classes, burning themselves on their husbands' funeral
pyres.
Akbar had issued general orders prohibiting sati, and in one noteworthy
case, personally intervened to save a Rajput princess from immolating
herself
on the bier of her husband. Similar efforts continued to be made in the
succeeding reigns. According to the European traveler Pelsaert,
governors
did their best to dissuade widows from immolating themselves, but by
Jahangir's
orders were not allowed to withhold their sanction if the woman
persisted./24/
Tavernier, writing in the reign of Shah Jahan, observed that widows
with
children were not allowed in any circumstances to burn, and that in
other
cases governors did not readily give permission, but could be bribed to
do so./25/ Aurangzeb was
most
forthright in his efforts to stop sati. According to Manucci, on his
return
from Kashmir in December, 1663, he "issued an order that in all lands
under
Mughal control, never again should the officials allow a woman to be
burnt."
Manucci adds that "This order endures to this day."/26/
This order, though not mentioned in the formal histories, is recorded
in
the official guidebooks of the reign./27/
Although the possibility of an evasion of government orders through
payment
of bribes existed, later European travelers record that sati was not
much
practiced by the end of Aurangzeb's reign. As Ovington says in his
Voyage
to Surat: "Since the Mahometans became Masters of the Indies, this
execrable
custom is much abated, and almost laid aside, by the orders which
nabobs
receive for suppressing and extinguishing it in all their provinces.
And
now it is [[237]] very rare, except it be some Rajah's wives,
that
the Indian women burn at all."/28/
Any
generalization about
Indian history is dangerous, but the impression one gains from looking
at social conditions during the Mughal period is of a society moving
towards
an integration of its manifold political regions, social systems, and
cultural
inheritances. The greatness of the Mughals consisted in part at least
in
the fact that the influence of their court and government permeated
society,
giving it a new measure of harmony. The common people suffered from
poverty,
disease, and the oppression of the powerful; court life was marked by
intrigue
and cruelty as well as by refinement of taste and elegant manners. Yet
the rulers and their officials had moral standards which gave coherence
to the administration and which they shared to some extent with most of
their subjects. Undeniably, there were ugly scars on the face of Mughal
society, but the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had a quality of
life
that lent them a peculiar charm. The clearest reflection of this is
seen
in the creative arts of the period.
N O T E S
/1/
François Bernier,
Travels in the Mogul Empire, A.D. 1656-1658, trans. by
A. Constable
(London, 1914), p. 439.
/2/ S. M. Edwardes
and
H. L. O. Garrett, Mughal Rule in India (Delhi, 1956), p. 265.
/3/ Abdul Qadir
Badauni,
Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh, trans. by G. S. A. Ranking, W. H.
Lowe, and
Sir Wolseley Haig (Calcutta, 1884–1925), II, 299.
/4/ The
Commentary of
Father Monserrate, S.J., trans. by J. S. Hoyland (London, 1922);
for
other travelers, see William Foster, ed., Early Travels in India
(London, 1921).
/5/ Bernier, p.
225.
/6/ Quoted in L. S.
S.
O'Malley, Modern India and the West (London, 1941), p. 5.
/7/ M. S.
Commissariat,
Studies in the History of Gujarat (Bombay, 1935), pp.
69–76.
/8/ In addition to
works
mentioned in footnotes 1 and 4, see John Fryer, A New Account of
East
India and Persia, ed. by William Crooke (3 vols.; London,
1909–1915);
Edward F. Oaten, European Travellers in India (London, 1909);
and
other works in the Hakluyt series.
/9/ Parmatma Saran,
The
Provincial Governments of the Mughals (Allahabad, 1941), pp.
419–40.
/10/ Mutamid Khan, Iqbal
Nama, quoted in Edwardes and Garrett, p. 279.
/11/ Edwardes and
Garrett,
p. 279.
/12/ Quoted in P.
N. Chopra,
Some Aspects of Society and Culture during the Mughal Age
(Agra,
1955), p. 152, n. 10.
/13/ T. K.
Raychaudhuri,
Bengal under Akbar and Jahangir (Calcutta, 1953), p.
189.
/14/ Nicolo
Manucci, Storia
do Mogor, trans. by William Irvine (London, 1906–1908), II, 453.
/15/ Raychaudhuri,
pp.
200–03.
/16/ S. R. Sharma, The
Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors (London, 1940), p. 101.
This
statement does not appear in the 1962 edition.
/17/ Raychaudhuri,
p. 155.
/18/ For a fuller
account,
see Sharma, pp. 90–92, 165–74.
/19/ Sharma, pp.
138–39.
/20/ M. L.
Roychoudhury,
The State and Religion in Mughal India (Calcutta, 1951),
p. 346.
/21/ Commentary
of Father
Monserrate, pp. 12, 27, and 142.
/22/ Philip
Anderson, The
English in Western India (London, 1956), pp. 107–8.
/23/ O'Malley, p.
22.
/24/ Francisco
Pelsaert,
Jahangir's India, trans. by W. H. Moreland and Peter
Geyl (Cambridge,
1925), p. 79.
/25/ Jean
Tavernier, Travels
in India, trans. by Valentine Ball (London, 1925), II, 163–64.
/26/ Manucci, II,
97.
/27/ Jadunath
Sarkar, History
of Aurangzib (Calcutta, 1916), III, 92.
/28/ John Ovington,
A
Voyage to Surat (London, 1929), p. 201.