Remonstrantie 12: [II.] THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE COUNTRY.
Jahangir's India (Moreland, Geyl) 12
- Language
- English
Contents
[II.] THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE COUNTRY.
12.1.1
[My description cannot be complete], because a full account of the peculiar rule of this King could not easily be given, or would require first of all a delineation of its origin, which would be too discursive for this report, and which I intend to write separately. The chief reason [of its distinctive features] is that Jahangir, disregarding his own person and position, has surrendered himself to a crafty wife of humble lineage, as the result either of her arts or of her persuasive tongue. She has taken, and still continues increasingly to take, such advantage of this opportunity, that she has gradually enriched herself with superabundant treasures, and has secured a more than royal position. Her former and present supporters have been well rewarded, so that now most of the men who are near the King owe their promotion to her, and are consequently under such obligations to her, that he [Jahangir] is King in name only, while she and her brother Asaf Khan hold the kingdom firmly in their hands. Many misunderstandings result, for the King's orders or grants of appointments, etc., are not certainties, being of no value until they have been approved by the Queen. They are impelled by a high and spirited temper, and although they have attained to the highest honour and rank, they still strive for an impossible advancement, for the world cannot sustain their eminence.
12.1.2
Meanwhile she erects very expensive buildings in all directions — sarais, or halting-places for travellers and merchants, and pleasure-gardens and palaces such as no one has ever made before — intending thereby to establish an enduring reputation. The King does not trouble himself with public affairs, but behaves as if they were no concern of his. If anyone with a request to make at Court obtains an audience or is allowed to speak, the King hears him indeed, but will give no definite answer of Yes or No, referring him promptly to Asaf Khan, who in the same way will dispose of no important matter without communicating with his sister, the Queen, and who regulates his attitude in such a way that the authority of neither of them may be diminished. Anyone then who obtains a favour must thank them for it, and not the King. The chief business that interests the King, and about which he asks questions, is in what places there is good hunting, sport being his greatest delight. He rides out to hunt in the afternoon when the sun's heat has diminished, or when he wakes up; then he dresses and mounts a horse, or takes his seat on an elephant, not considering whether there are many or few attendants, or none at all, disregarding rain or wind, and he will not return till he has caught something, whether with falcons, or with leopards. Hunting with leopards is a remarkable form of sport.
12.1.3
These brutes are so accustomed to men that they are as tame as cats, whether they are reared from cubs or tamed when full grown. They are very carefully fed, and each has two men to look after him, as well as a cart, in which they sit, or are driven out, daily. When they come to a place where they sight buck, the leopard is released from the cart, his keepers show him the direction, and he creeps on his four feet until he gets a view, taking cover behind trees, plants or thickets, until he sees that his first quick rush and spring will be successful, for that is his only chance. Most of the leopards are so well trained that they never, or very seldom, miss. Sometimes also, but very rarely, the King hunts buck with buck. For this form of sport, buck are so thoroughly tamed that when they have been set free, they will come back when called by their masters or keepers. When there is to be a hunt, a running noose, made of twisted sinews, is fastened on the tame buck's horns, and lies on his neck. When he sights a wild buck, he at once presents his horns to fight, and they push and struggle with their horns, until the tame buck feels that the noose has caught. Then he springs back and pulls so that they hold each other fast by the horns, until the men, who are standing or lying near, run up and capture the wild buck alive. These hunting pleasures surpass those of our country.
12.1.4
The fanciers of buck derive great enjoyment or pastime from them, for they set them constantly to fight for stakes; but some of the animals are so furious that they will not yield, though they struggle till they fall dead, and they understand how to attack with their horns as well as if they had learned the art of fencing. When the King was a young man, he preferred shooting to all other forms of sport, and he was a splendid shot. When forests or jungles which contained pig, lions, tigers and other dangerous beasts were pointed out to him, he went to the place, and killing lions and tigers was prohibited, unless information had previously been given to the King, who risked his life in such sport. A remarkable instance of this occurred in my time. The King was out lion-shooting at Rupbas near Agra. For some time a lion had been doing great harm, killing men and cattle, and the King went there for this special purpose, surrounding his lair with large numbers of men; but no one, even if he was attacked, was allowed to kill the lion with any weapon except a dagger, even though he might be wounded. The King was inside the circle with his gun, accompanied only by one soldier, all his lords being scattered to drive the lion towards him, when suddenly the lion jumped out of a thicket and sprang at him.
12.1.5
His companion, a Hindu or Rajput horseman named Anira, seeing that he could not safely use his gun, and that the King was in imminent danger of injury, caught the lion by the neck, and held on as if dead, and wrestled with him. Sometimes one was on top and sometimes the other, and in the struggle the lion tore all the flesh of his arms and legs, indeed nearly his whole body, so that the bare bones showed everywhere, although the King had wounded the lion several times with his sword. At last men ran up, attracted by the shouting, and rescued Anira still living. The King showed the greatest solicitude for his cure, and appointed him immediately to the rank of 500 horse, from which he has won promotion by his courage until he is now a noble of 3000 horse. There have doubtless been many similar stories or occurrences in other countries, but I want to emphasise the devotion displayed by such subordinates, who are ready to give their life for their master as if they were actuated by a passion of love. But matters such as these are irrelevant, and we must return to the task we have undertaken.
12.1.6
When the King comes home in the evening from hunting, he takes his seat in his Ghusalkhana, where all the lords come to present themselves, and where strangers who have requests to make are received in audience. He sits here till a quarter of the night or more has passed, and during this time he drinks his three piyala, or cups, of wine, taking them successively at regular intervals; and when he drinks, all the bystanders shout or cry out wishes that it may do him good, just as in our country when ‘the King drinks’ is played. Everyone leaves when the last cup has been drunk, and the King goes to bed. As soon as all the men have left, the Queen comes with the female slaves, and they undress him, chafing and fondling him as if he were a little child; for his three cups have made him so ‘happy’ that he is more disposed to rest than to keep awake. This is the time when his wife, who knows so well how to manage him that she obtains whatever she asks for or desires, gets always 'yes,' and hardly ever ‘no,' in reply.
12.1.7
The King's territories, cities, and villages, with the annual yield of each, are all entered in a register which is in charge of the Diwan, at present Khwaja Abdul Hasan. Everyone, whether prince, or mansabdar, is granted, in accordance with his rank (be it 100, or 1000, or 10,000 horse), the appropriate income, to be derived from the administration of certain chief places. Some of the grantees, who are in attendance on the King, send some of their employees to represent them, or else hand over their grants to farmers, or kawris [sub-collectors], who have to take the risk of good or bad harvests; but the provinces are so impoverished that a jagir [assignment of revenue] which is reckoned to be worth 50,000 rupees, may sometimes not yield even 25,000, although so much is wrung from the peasants, that even dry bread is scarcely left to fill their stomachs. For that reason, many of the lords who hold the rank of 5000 horse, do not keep even 1000 in their employ, but they spend great sums on an extravagant display of elephants, horses, and servants, so that they ride out more like kings than subjects, everyone shouting Phoos, that is to say, 'Out of the way!' or 'Make room!' People who do not make way are beaten, and the servants pay very little regard to whom they hit.
12.2.1
The most astonishing thing is that the avarice of the nobles has no solid basis, though they devote themselves entirely to gathering their treasures, without a thought of the cruelty or injustice involved. Immediately on the death of a lord who has enjoyed the King's jagir, be he great or small, without any exception — even before the breath is out of his body — the King's officers are ready on the spot, and make an inventory of the entire estate, recording everything down to the value of a single pice, even to the dresses and jewels of the ladies, provided they have not concealed them. The King takes back the whole estate absolutely for himself, except in a case where the deceased has done good service in his lifetime, when the women and children are given enough to live on, but no more. It might be supposed that wife, or children, or friends, could conceal during his [the lord's] lifetime enough for the family to live on, but this would be very difficult. As a rule all the possessions of the lords, and their transactions, are not secret, but perfectly well-known, for each has his diwan [steward], through whose hands everything passes; he has many subordinates, and for work that could be done by one man they have ten here; and each of them has some definite charge, for which he must account.
12.2.2
[When the lord dies,] all these subordinates are arrested, and compelled to show from their books and papers where all the cash or property is deposited, and how their master's income has been disposed of; and if there is any suspicion about their disclosures, they are tortured until they tell the truth. And so you may see a man whom you knew with his turban cocked on one side, and nearly as unapproachable as his master, now running about with a torn coat and a pinched face; for it is rarely that such men can obtain similar employment from other masters, and they go about like pictures of death in life, as I have known many of them to do.
12.2.3
I have often ventured to ask great lords what is their true object in being so eager to amass their treasures, when what they have gathered is of no use to them or to their family. Their answers have been based on the emptiest worldly vanity, for they say that it is a very great and imperishable reputation if it is generally known, or the official records show, that such a man has left an estate worth so much. In reply I have urged that it would be possible to win a greater reputation for time and eternity, if, seeing that their friends and relations could expect no enjoyment from their wealth, they would share it with the poor, who in this country are in hundreds of thousands, or indeed innumerable, and would banish outside their doors all oppression, injustice, excessive pomp, chicanery, and similar practices, whereby they have nothing to hope for in the future, but very much to fear. [When I have urged such arguments], they have closed the discussion by saying that it is just the custom of the country.
12.2.4
It is the practice of the King, or rather of his wife, to give rapid advancement and promotion to any soldier, however low his rank, who has carried out orders with credit, or has displayed courage in the field. On the other hand, a very small fault, or a trifling mistake, may bring a man to the depths of misery or to the scaffold, and consequently everything in the kingdom is uncertain. Wealth, position, love, friendship, confidence, everything hangs by a thread. Nothing is permanent, yea, even the noble buildings — gardens, tombs, or palaces, — which, in and near every city, one cannot contemplate without pity or distress because of their ruined state. For in this they are to be despised above all the laziest nations of the world, because they build them with so many hundreds of thousands, and yet keep them in repair only so long as the owners live and have the means. Once the builder is dead, no one will care for the buildings; the son will neglect his father's work, the mother her son's, brothers and friends will take no care for each other's buildings; everyone tries, as far as possible, to erect a new building of his own, and establish his own reputation alongside that of his ancestors. Consequently, it may be said that if all these buildings and erections were attended to and repaired for a century, the lands of every city, and even village, would be adorned with monuments; but as a matter of fact the roads leading to the cities are strewn with fallen columns of stone.
12.2.5
As regards the laws, they are scarcely observed at all, for the administration is absolutely autocratic, but there are books of law, which are in charge of their lawyers, the Kazis. Their laws contain such provisions as hand for hand, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; but who will excommunicate the Pope? And who would dare to ask a Governor ‘Why do you rule us this way or that way? Our Law orders thus.’ The facts are very different, although in every city there is a kachhahri, or royal court of justice, where the Governor, the Diwan, the Bakhshi, the Kotwal, the Kazi, and other officers sit together daily, or four days in the week. Here all disputes are disposed of, but not until avarice has had its share. All capital cases, such as thefts, murders, or crimes are finally disposed of by the Governor, if the criminals are poor and unable to pay, and the sweepers drag them out to execution with very little ceremony. In the case of other offences the criminals are seldom or never executed; their property is merely confiscated for the Governor and Kotwal. Ordinary questions of divorce, quarrels, fights, threats, and the like, are in the hands of the Kotwal and the Kazi. One must indeed be sorry for the man who has to come to judgment before these godless ‘un-judges’; their eyes are bleared with greed, their mouths gape like wolves for covetousness, and their bellies hunger for the bread of the poor;
12.2.6
everyone stands with hands open to receive, for no mercy or compassion can be had except on payment of cash. This fault should not be attributed to judges or officers alone, for the evil is a universal plague; from the least to the greatest, right up to the King himself, everyone is infected with insatiable greed, so that if one has any business to transact with Governors or in palaces, he must not set about it without ‘the vision of angels,’ for without presents he need expect very little answer to his petitions. Our honourable employers need not deign to be surprised at this, for it is the custom of the country. The King's letters or farmans to the chief lords or princes are transmitted with incredible speed, because royal runners are posted in the villages 4 or 5 kos apart, taking their turns of duty throughout the day and the night, and they take over a letter immediately on its arrival, run with it to the next village in a breath, and hand it over to another messenger. So the letter goes steadily on, and will travel 80 kos between night and day. Further the King has pigeons kept everywhere, to carry letters in time of need or great urgency. No doubt this is done at home also in the case of sieges, but only for short distances, whereas this King possesses the largest area of all the kingdoms of the world. The length of it from Surat northwards to Kashmir is 1100 kos, or 800 [Holland] miles, taking kos to the mile. The stages are: Surat to Burhanpur, 150 kos;
12.2.7
thence to Agra, 350 k.; Agra to Lahore, 300 k.; and from Lahore to Kashmir 300 k. The route by Ahmadabad is 50 kos nearer. Towards the North-West, the distance from Lahore, by Multan, to Kandahar is 600 k. On the East, it is 1000 k. from Agra to the sea coast through Purop, Bengal, and Orissa. In the West, Kabul is 300 k. from Lahore; and in the South West, the kingdom extends to Tatta, Sind and Bakkar. If all these countries were justly or rationally governed, they would not only yield an incalculable income, but would enable him [Jahangir] to conquer all the neighbouring kingdoms. But it is important to recognise also that he is to be regarded as King of the plains or the open roads only; for in many places you can travel only with a strong body of men, or on payment of heavy tolls to rebels. The whole country is enclosed and broken up by many mountains, and the people who live in, on, or beyond, the mountains know nothing of any king, or of Jahangir; they recognise only their Rajas, who are very numerous, and to whom the country is apportioned in many small fragments by old tradition. Jahangir, whose name implies that he grasps the whole world, must therefore be regarded as ruling no more than half the dominions which he claims, since there are nearly as many rebels as subjects. Taking the chief cities for example, at Surat the forces of Raja Piepel come pillaging up to, or inside, the city, murdering the people, and burning the villages;
12.2.8
and in the same way, near Ahmadabad, Burhanpur, Agra, Delhi, Lahore, and many other cities, thieves, and robbers come in force by night or day like open enemies. The Governors are usually bribed by the thieves to remain inactive, for avarice dominates manly honour, and, instead of maintaining troops, they fill and adorn their mahals with beautiful women, and seem to have the pleasure-house of the whole world within their walls. I shall now try to describe them as far as is possible, as well as the poverty of the people at large.