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February 8, 2004
REVIEWS: How nations fall
This book is based on the writer’s PhD thesis submitted with the same title to the Aligarh University. It was first published in 1966 and this is a new edition. M. Athar Ali (1925-1998) was a leading scholar of mediaeval Indian history. To evaluate the performance of any government — be it a monarchy, dictatorship or democracy, it is essential to study the institutions that were or are responsible to carry out the day to day administration duties.
The book under review focuses only on the nobility of the last Indian Empire under its last great emperor, Aurangzeb, whose reign lasted from 1658 to 1707. The Mughal Empire began to disintegrate under Aurangzeb’s own eyes and the process picked up under his successors. At a time when the West was making progress in every field of life, Indian society was not only static but degenerating politically. Textbooks give the reasons for this stagnation as the personal degeneration of kings, the luxurious life at the court and the ineptitude of the administration.
But the reason is more than that and the object of the book is to provide an explanation for this degeneration. The author says among the elements that caused the downfall of the Mughal Empire, the key one was the role of the nobility. A creation of the empire itself, the nobility — which included the bureaucracy as well as the military hierarchy — held ‘Mansabs’ and comprised foreigners as well as Indians.
In the first part of Auranzeb’s reign, the position of Hindu nobles declined slightly, but in the last 29 years it improved appreciably with the result that there were more Hindus in service proportionately than earlier. The Mansabdari system was the nucleus of Mughal nobility. The mansabdars received their pay in cash or in the form of land, called jagirs. The jagirs by their nature were transferable except watan jagirs. The system of jagir transfer was necessary for the unity and cohesion of the empire, and for developing local relations because they continued to be a part of the empire and had to submit to the will of the Emperor.
The jagirdars were responsible for collecting the revenues, even from the zamindars. While the jagirs were transferable, the zamindari was permanent and hereditary.
The French traveller Bernier attributed the downfall of the Mughal empire to the system of the transfer of jagirs. The mindset of the jagirdars being “why should we spend more money and time to render it fruitful when ultimately it will neither benefit us nor our children”, they were not at all interested in improving the land or the condition of the peasants. They oppressed the peasantry to squeeze the maximum revenue from them.
The jagirdari system faced a crisis in the last years of the reign of Aurangzeb. The Deccan wars took a heavy toll and Aurangzeb granted mansabs to the Deccani nobles generously in order to win their loyalty and thus exhausted all the land. The Emperor then cancelled the existing assignments in order to make fresh allotments. This situation gave rise to intense factionalism.
Aurangzeb himself had come to the throne after killing his eldest and then his youngest brother. He had also imprisoned his own father. To justify his action, he undertook military conquests and adopted a very vigorous military policy. He remained in the Deccan for 25 years and declared war on the Marathas to be a ‘jihad’. But the prolonged military action created a profound political crisis to which the nobles did not remain indifferent. Their jealousies, rivalries and factionalism led to the creation of an independent principality in Deccan.
What was the role of the nobility in rendering public services? In the context of public service, there was no vision of national reconstruction. The real purpose of the state was to implement justice, maintain law and order and prevent crimes. The welfare of the people, though regarded as a laudable ideal, was limited to the establishment of charitable institutions, famine relief, and taqavi loans to the peasants. The main interest of the state lay in the organization of the army, the collection of revenue and the functioning of the judiciary.
The author concludes that even if the picture of the Mughal governing class appears to be exaggerated there is evidence that the Mughal nobility was an extremely short sighted ruling class. Their immediate personal gains blinded them to all future dangers to administration. So the civil administration was first to suffer.
The Mughal nobility’s economic life, unlike that of the European nobility, was not tied to the land, as their jagirs were transferable. The income of the jagirdars was mostly derived in cash and this was how they accumulated enormous wealth in cash. Desirous of increasing their wealth, they invested it in trade by making capital advances to merchants. The nobles were not very honest in their dealings and misused their powers; obstructed free flow of trade and took bribes to enhance their income.
Sometimes the nobles opened large kitchens during famines. However, works of irrigation, hospitals and academic institution lay beyond the vision of the nobility. They patronized fine art and men of letters, but to a limited extent. They had no concept that institutes of higher learning are required if art and literature are to flourish.
What was the status of women? As a rule, a noble had three or four wives. All lived together in the palace, which consisted of an enclosure surrounded by walls. Each wife had a separate apartment and numerous slave-girls and eunuchs. Freyer comments, “Toothless old women and beardless eunuchs spied on the wives of the nobles. Inside the palace luxury reigned. The ladies adorned themselves magnificently, perfumed their bodies, enjoyed comedy and dance, walked in the gardens.”
To conclude, Aurangzeb’s policy towards the various sections of the nobility, his involvement in the Deccan wars, the Rajput rebellion and the uprising of the Marathas caused a serious blow to his power and the stability of the empire. It led to a financial crisis. The jagirdari system itself was not without faults. The jagirdars were oppressors, often misused their administrative authority and compelled the merchants and the peasants to pay them illegal dues.
This research based book is an eye opener to the rulers and the institutions governing a country. If history provides a lesson to the future generation, then the book is a must to understand how nations degenerate.
The Mughal Nobility Under Aurangzeb
By M. Athar Ali
OUP, New Delhi. Available with Oxford University Press, Plot # 38, Sector 15, Korangi Industrial Area, Karachi. Tel: 111-693-673
Email:
ouppak@theoffice.net
Website: www.oup.com.pk
ISBN 019565599-0
294pp. Rs448.40
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