The medieval society of India was highly polarised and divided into two classes privileged and the common people. Those who belonged to the upper classes considered themselves superior and above the law. The feudal lords, within their jagirs, had full control over their subject and punished them on minor crimes or disobedience. They employed all sorts of terrorising methods to keep their subjects loyal and obedient, and considered it their right to torture, imprison or even hang them.Their subjects were at their mercy and had no voice to protest against their brutal behaviour. The following incident shows their callousness towards their subject Shuja'ud dola, the Nawab Wazir of Awadh was a powerful noble and had a large number of women in his harem. Once he kidnapped a beautiful khatri woman, raped her and then threw her out of the palace. The khatri community protested against this incident but in vain, as common people had no voice against the powerful.
The nobility, even in its own circle, committed crimes against each other. Those who were resourceful remained unpunished. During the rule of Ahmad Shah (1748-1754), his favourite eunuch, Jawed Khan, became very influential, which some of the nobles did not like. One of the nobles, Safdar Jang, one day invited him for dinner and killed him. The king was annoyed by this act but as he was weak he failed to take any action.
As the institutions collapsed and the king became weaker, the Mughal nobility relied on intrigues to undermine their rivals and strengthen their own position. They were intolerant of the idea of their rivals getting high posts and rewards and made attempts to subvert it by all means. For instance, Sa'adat Khan Burhanul Mulk was a candidate for the post of Amirul Umara during the period of Muhammad Shah (1719-1748), but when the post was given to Nizamul Mulk, he approach Nadir Shah, who was preparing to go back after making a peace deal with the Mughal king. Sa'adat Khan told him that the amount of two crore rupees which he got as a result of peace was not according to his status, and he, as a Mughal noble, could give him this humble amount from his treasury. He urged Nadir Shah to seize the city and plunder the royal treasury. Nadir Shah, following his advice, occupied Delhi and took away the centuries old Mughal treasure to Persia.
As the nobility morally became corrupt, their desire for high sounding titles increased — perhaps to hide their hollowness. The titles ended with Khan, Bahadur, Dola, Jang, and Mulk. Those nobles who were awarded these titles did not have the qualities which these titles signified. Those titled Bahdur (brave) or Jung (warrior) were not capable of leading armies in the battlefield or fight bravely. Those who had the titles of Amin or A'timad or 'trusted one' were ready to betray their sovereign for their personal benefits. Interestingly, as the Mughal state was becoming weaker, titles for nobility were becoming grander and more glorious. In reality they had lost the meaning and were merely decorative.
As the performance of the nobles declined, they lost respect in the society. However, they tried to earn respect by displaying their power and wealth in public. They took special care to wear dresses which were made of silk and expensive material. They wore glittering diamonds in their turbans to show their richness, and decorated their body with different ornaments to make it look attractive. Whenever they went out, they used either elephants or palki to travel. In front of their procession marched large number of servants who cleared the way for them, even though these poor fellows did not get their salaries regularly.
It shows that the nobility was very much conscious of their status and used all outward signs to impress the people. However, the opinion of the people was quite different. They were not impressed either by their titles or by their wealth, and looked down upon them as immoral, corrupt, lazy, and characterless people. Jafar Zattali, who was executed by Farrukhsayar (1713-1719) because of his sarcastic verses which he composed on Farrukh's coronation, criticised not only the king but also the nobility on their shameful character.
When we compare our times to the past, we find that our elite classes are behaving in the same manner as the Mughal nobility of the declining period. They consider themselves above the law, hide their weaknesses by showing their wealth, and keep the common people away by adopting VVIP culture, not realising that people have no respect but contempt for them
Our feudal lords' attitude and behaviour towards their peasants is similar to that of the medieval period's jagirdars; they treat them inhumanly by keeping them in private jails and torture them on minor offences.
