Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 4.5
Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable) 4.5
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4.5.1
But I have not enumerated all the expenses incurred by the Great Mogol. He keeps in Dehly and Agra from two to three thousand fine horses, always at hand in case of emergency: eight or nine hundred elephants, and a large number of baggage horses, mules, and porters, intended to carry the numerous and capacious tents, with their fittings, his wives and women, furniture, kitchen apparatus, Ganges'-water, and all the other articles necessary for the camp, which the Mogol has always about him, as in his capital, things which are not considered necessary in our kingdoms in Europe. Add to this, if you will, the enormous expenses of the Seraglio, where the consumption of fine cloths of gold, and brocades, silks, embroideries, pearls, musk, amber and sweet essences, is greater than can be conceived.
4.5.2
Thus, although the Great Mogol be in the receipt of an immense revenue, his expenditure being much in the same proportion, he cannot possess the vast surplus of wealth that most people seem to imagine. I admit that his income exceeds probably the joint revenues of the Grand Seignior and of the King of Persia ; but if I were to call him a wealthy monarch, it would be in the sense that a treasurer is to be considered wealthy who pays with one hand the large sums which he receives with the other. I should call that King effectively rich who, without oppressing or impoverishing his people, possessed revenues sufficient to support the expenses of a numerous and magnificent court — to erect grand and useful edifices — to indulge a liberal and kind disposition — to maintain a military force for the defence of his dominions — and, besides all this, to reserve an accumulating fund that would provide against any unforeseen rupture with his neighbours, although it should prove of some years' duration. The Sovereign of the Indies is doubtless possessed of many of these advantages, but not to the degree generally supposed. What I have said on the subject of the great expenses to which he is unavoidably exposed, has perhaps inclined you to this opinion ; and the two facts I am about to relate, of which I had an opportunity to ascertain the correctness, will convince your lordship that the pecuniary resources of the Great Mogol himself may be exaggerated.
4.5.3
First. — Toward the conclusion of the late war, Aureng-Zebe was perplexed how to pay and supply his armies, notwithstanding that the war had continued but five years, that the pay of the troops was less than usual, that, with the exception of Bengale where Sultan Sujah still held out, a profound tranquillity reigned in every part of Hindoustan, and that he had so lately appropriated to himself a large portion of the treasures of his father Chah-Jehan.
4.5.4
Second. — Chah-Jehan, who was a great economist, and reigned more than forty years without being involved in any great wars, never amassed six kourours of roupies. But I do not include in this sum a great abundance of gold and silver articles, of various descriptions, curiously wrought, and covered with precious stones; or a prodigious quantity of pearls and gems of all kinds, of great size and value. I doubt whether any other Monarch possesses more of this species of wealth; a throne of the great Mogol, covered with pearls and diamonds, being alone valued, if my memory be correct, at three kourours of roupies. But all these precious stones, and valuable articles, are the spoils of ancient princes, Patans and Rajas, collected during a long course of years, and, increasing regularly under every reign, by presents which the Omrahs are compelled to make on certain annual festivals. The whole of this treasure is considered the property of the crown, which it is criminal to touch, and upon the security of which the King, in a time of pressing necessity, would find it extremely difficult to raise the smallest sum. Before I conclude, I wish to explain how it happens that, although this Empire of the Mogol is such an abyss for gold and silver, as I said before, these precious metals are not in greater plenty here than elsewhere; on the contrary, the inhabitants have less the appearance of a moneyed people than those of many other parts of the globe.
4.5.5
In the first place, a large quantity is melted, re-melted, and wasted, in fabricating women's bracelets, both for the hands and feet, chains, ear-rings, nose and finger rings, and a still larger quantity is consumed in manufacturing embroideries; alachas, or striped silken stuffs; touras, or fringes of gold lace, worn on turbans; gold and silver cloths; scarfs, turbans, and brocades. The quantity of these articles made in India is incredible. All the troops, from the Omrah to the man in the ranks, will wear gilt ornaments ; nor will a private soldier refuse them to his wife and children, though the whole family should die of hunger ; which indeed is a common occurrence. In the second place, the King, as proprietor of the land, makes over a certain quantity to military men, as an equivalent for their pay; and this grant is called jah-ghir, or, as in Turkey, timar ; the word jah-ghir signifying the spot from which to draw, or the place of salary. Similar grants are made to governors, in lieu of their salary, and also for the support of their troops, on condition that they pay a certain sum annually to the King out of any surplus revenue that the land may yield. The lands not so granted are retained by the King as the peculiar domains of his house, and are seldom, if ever, given in the way of jah-ghir; and upon these domains he keeps contractors, who are also bound to pay him an annual rent.
4.5.6
The persons thus put in possession of the land, whether as timariots, governors, or contractors, have an authority almost absolute over the peasantry, and nearly as much over the artisans and merchants of the towns and villages within their district; and nothing can be imagined more cruel and oppressive than the manner in which it is exercised. There is no one before whom the injured peasant, artisan, or tradesman can pour out his just complaints; no great lords, parliaments, or judges of local courts, exist, as in France, to restrain the wickedness of those merciless oppressors, and the Kadis, or judges, are not invested with sufficient power to redress the wrongs of these unhappy people. This sad abuse of the royal authority may not be felt in the same degree near capital cities such as Dehly and Agra, or in the vicinity of large towns and seaports, because in those places acts of gross injustice cannot easily be concealed from the court.
4.5.7
This debasing state of slavery obstructs the progress of trade and influences the manners and mode of life of every individual. There can be little encouragement to engage in commercial pursuits, when the success with which they may be attended, instead of adding to the enjoyments of life, provokes the cupidity of a neighbouring tyrant possessing both power and inclination to deprive any man of the fruits of his industry. When wealth is acquired, as must sometimes be the case, the possessor, so far from living with increased comfort and assuming an air of independence, studies the means by which he may appear indigent: his dress, lodging, and furniture, continue to be mean, and he is careful, above all things, never to indulge in the pleasures of the table. In the meantime, his gold and silver remain buried at a great depth in the ground; agreeable to the general practice among the peasantry, artisans and merchants, whether Mahometans or Gentiles, but especially among the latter, who possess almost exclusively the trade and wealth of the country, and who believe that the money concealed during life will prove beneficial to them after death. A few individuals alone who derive their income from the King or from the Omrahs, or who are protected by a powerful patron, are at no pains to counterfeit poverty, but partake of the comforts and luxuries of life.
4.5.8
I have no doubt that this habit of secretly burying the precious metals, and thus withdrawing them from circulation, is the principal cause of their apparent scarcity in Hindoustan. From what I have said, a question will naturally arise, whether it would not be more advantageous for the King as well as for the people, if the former ceased to be sole possessor of the land, and the right of private property were recognised in the Indies as it is with us? I have carefully compared the condition of European states, where that right is acknowledged, with the condition of those countries where it is not known, and am persuaded that the absence of it among the people is injurious to the best interests of the Sovereign himself.
4.5.9
We have seen how in the Indies the gold and silver disappear in consequence of the tyranny of Timariots, Governors, and Revenue contractors — a tyranny which even the monarch, if so disposed, has no means of controlling in provinces not contiguous to his capital — a tyranny often so excessive as to deprive the peasant and artisan of the necessaries of life, and leave them to die of misery and exhaustion — a tyranny owing to which those wretched people either have no children at all, or have them only to endure the agonies of starvation, and to die at a tender age — a tyranny, in fine, that drives the cultivator of the soil from his wretched home to some neighbouring state, in hopes of finding milder treatment, or to the army, where he becomes the servant of some trooper. As the ground is seldom tilled otherwise than by compulsion, and as no person is found willing and able to repair the ditches and canals for the conveyance of water, it happens that the whole country is badly cultivated, and a great part rendered unproductive from the want of irrigation. The houses, too, are left in a dilapidated condition, there being few people who will either build new ones, or repair those which are tumbling down. The peasant cannot avoid asking himself this question : ' Why should I toil for a tyrant who may come to-morrow and lay his rapacious hands upon all I possess and value, without leaving me, if such should be his humour, the means to drag on my miserable existence ?
4.5.10
' — The Timariots, Governors, and Revenue contractors, on their part reason in this manner : ' Why should the neglected state of this land create uneasiness in our minds? and why should we expend our own money and time to render it fruitful ? We may be deprived of it in a single moment, and our exertions would benefit neither ourselves nor our children. Let us draw from the soil all the money we can, though the peasant should starve or abscond, and we should leave it, when commanded to quit, a dreary wilderness.'