Storia do Mogor 238.4.6

238.4.6

It is quite true that if the common people here have four rupees, they are quite high and mighty and decline service. It is only when they have nothing to eat that they take service. They have no skill unless it is enforced on them by harsh treatment. It is for this reason that the Moguls call this population zolom parest (zulm-parast) — that is, 'tyranny adorers.' Sometimes these faujdārs commit excessive acts of oppression, which cause rebellion and bring on battles. If the villagers are defeated, everyone is killed that is met with, and their wives, sons, daughters, and cattle are carried off. The best-looking of these girls are presented to the king under the designation of rebels. Others they keep for themselves, and the rest are sold. At this time, when Aurangzeb is reigning, they do worse still. As the aged and wealthy officers and officials die off, he has sent, and still sends, younger leaders. These, in their eagerness to become rich, plunder and act wrongfully. They bribe the waqi'ah-navis (official reporter) and the khufiyah-navis (secret intelligencer), so that the king may never hear.