Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 26.2
A Translation of the Seir Mutaqherin (Haji Mustafa) 26.2
- Language
- English
26.2.1
Amidst the strange events which these revolutions have brought about, the introduction of European foreigners, in the heart of the land, is an important one. The wise men of Europe have been casting their eyes upon the conquest of India, and have contrived to achieve great part of that conquest, having already acquired an absolute dominion in several tracts. But such is the complete difference, and the total dissimilarity betwixt the manners of their own country, and the customs and usages of Hindostan, that all the endeavours of their chief Rulers, and all the resorts they have put in motion, have answered no purpose at all; nor has the face of regulation in the country, and of ease to the inhabitants, made its appearance as yet. But, over and above those considerations, it may be said with great truth, that such is the aversion which the English openly shew for the company of the natives, and such the disdain which they betray for them, that no love, and no coalition (two articles, which, by the bye, are the principle of all union and attachment, and the source of all regulation and settlement) can take root between the conquerors and the conquered; and as we see that the very reverse is actually taking place, so we may rest assured, that the distresses of the people, and the depopulation and desertion of the land, will go hand in hand, until they are come to their height, and the desolation is become complete and general.
26.2.2
Such a state of things may be deduced from several causes, which I hope to be able gradually to unfold. And the first is, that these new Rulers are quite alien to this country, both in customs and manners; and quite strangers to the methods of raising tribute, as well as to the maxims of estimating the revenues, or of comprehending the ways of tax-gathering; because in their country a Landlord or Zemindar paying Royal rent from year to year to the public treasury, is a being that has no existence. Taxes and imposts upon husbandry and land, Soobadaries, Foadjdaries, Qhalissas, and Djaghirs are not customary in that country. As much as I can trust to the information I have obtained from intelligent persons amongst them, it appears that they take something, by way of duty, from coaches, and from windows of houses, from plate and other vessels of gold and silver, and from merchandise; and that they differ widely from the customs of this Country, in the mode of giving salaries to the servants of Government, and to those that are at the head of affairs; as well as in punishing misdemeanours and trespasses. Insomuch that there are some trespasses that are finable in this country, and are not there; some more that are reputed slight here, and are accounted very high there, and some that are the very reverse. On the other hand, there are some other matters that are unnoticed here, and passed by, and are not so there;
26.2.3
some practices, which are become there of custom and obligation, and which here have never been heard of, or seen; as for instance, counting the inhabitants of every town and city, and examining how much they may have earned, and how much spent; how many are dead, and how many are their children, and how many their old men. In one word, it may be said in general, and indeed in almost every institution and custom, that there is a wide difference betwixt the two nations and Governments; and that it is of such a nature as cannot be remedied at all. Nor does it seem possible to bring the people of this country into such customs and usages; whereas the English being accustomed to them in their own country, want to introduce them here likewise, and think such an introduction easy, and of small moment. The second cause is, that what little these foreigners have gleaned of the institutions of this country, and which they have examined and committed to their registers, proves to be no more than what they have learned from their own servants. Hence they know nothing of either the reason or intent of them, but by the absurd report of their own servants, who being all beardless and unexperienced, have no view but that of their own benefit, and think only of pleasing their English masters. Those men never fail to shew a deal of revenue matter in every institution and custom;
26.2.4
and they are so firm in that opinion, that one would be inclined to believe, that the setting up this and that institution was for no other view, but that of scraping together a few pence; not that it could have any other intent, but that of hooking in some more; and in reality there is no other for men of such sordid dispositions. Nor is this opinion a novel one; it is of some standing, and has commenced so early as the times of Feroh-syur. No wonder then if these foreigners, that are lately come into this country, and know nothing in any such matters, should take for truth, and for useful advice, such crude explanations as are afforded by those that approach their persons, and should act according to what information they receive. Nevertheless, such is their natural genius, and such their innate penetration, that of their own accord they have set aside and abolished some institutions, which they thought oppressive; and here in an instance of this: The first Mussulmen Sovereigns disapproved of public women, and of their being of general use, especially on the eve of a Friday, which is a day particularly holy; nor would they suffer any one to defile himself with the crime of fornication; and therefore they denounced punition, and even a capital one, against any such as indulged in keeping in their houses slave-girls or concubines, without having them consecrated by the forms of law, and the rites of religion ;
26.2.5
and for these reasons they discerned a variety of pains, which to sinners appeared as hard as death itself, or any other extreme misfortune. It was on that account they had appointed a Daroga, whose business was to be informed of any such women as had rendered themselves public, and had made profession of prostitution ; and this officer's business was to take from them a heavy fine every day, and, if found trespassing against the eve of Friday, a heavier one. The drum and hautboy players were also put under this officer's inspection, that they might not go to play anywhere without his knowledge and leave. He had also the authority of determining finally such differents as arose in that tribe amongst themselves, and a power to repress their excesses, and punish their misdemeanours. In this there was another intent and view ; namely, that in feasts and weddings, every one should send for as much music only as his means could afford, without casting, in his entertainment, an eye of jealousy upon the Nobles and his betters ; and without launching out into expenses of prodigality, or pretending to equal, still less, to surpass his superiors. But, as we have already remarked, people of sordid dispositions did not fail, this longwhile, to pervert this institution into a catch-penny, and an item of tax-gathering ; and, shutting their eyes upon the original intent of it, they have observed no other end in it, than the wretched one of scraping up a little money by such a pretence ;
26.2.6
so that even this pitiful article has been converted into an item of the tax-gathering business. This is so far true, that the English themselves conceiving it to be a shameful finesse, that drew after it the worst consequences, have forbidden that tax in their dominions, and totally abolished it. And so it is with every one institution besides. And indeed, if those strangers, who have naturally much penetration and much impartiality, were made acquainted with the infamous practices now in vogue, but concealed under the bark of institution and custom, it is highly probable that they would endeavour to correct them, as so many defects in administration. It is therefore to assist their efforts in that view, that I shall assume the task of explaining the reason and intent of some of those institutions and customs of Hindostan ; and I am in full hopes that my notions shall awaken the minds of men of sense upon subjects so misunderstood. The Cazy's or Judge's office, for instance, was to put in force the ordinances of the law, without partiality or pity, in every matter, and against any person whose case should require his animadversion; and as he had a salary from the treasury, and such a Djaghir besides from the Emperor's liberality as afforded amply to all his wants, he did not dare to take any fee or any bribe from any one;
26.2.7
and if peradventure any one was found capable of any such infamy, he became from that moment, an object of the Imperial resentment, was adjudged guilty of having dishonoured the law and the Mussulman religion, and became henceforward an object of taunt and reproach from every rank of men. Insomuch that finding himself pointed out with the finger, he pined away with shame and remorse, was for ever excluded from any office, and remained infamous and cursed in this world and the other. But now since from a length of time, it is become customary to put up everything to sale, the office of Cazy is leased out, and under-leased; and a practice which never was heard of in any nation, in any religion, or in any sect whatever, is become a matter of course; so that we see every day faithless Cazies, who, ignorant even of the principles of Musulmanism, and worse in their lives than so many Renegadoes and so many Atheists, take leases of what they call the Cazy's rights, and under-lease them openly to others, although these rights are no more than so many new inventions to torment the Mussulmen of this land, and to extort money from them, under a variety of pretences. No wonder then, if it is come to pass, that by the repeated efforts, and the serious approbation of those faithless wretches, those new-fangled practices have taken such deep root, as to become the current creed of those under-judges; insomuch, that to reclaim them from those practices, is become an absolute impossibility.
26.2.8
One would say that the holy sentence. Shew me, O Lord! those that have made me go astray, that I may trample them under my feet, has been revealed on purpose for them.