The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c6.12

c6.12

It may seem paradoxical to those who have been taught as schoolboys that the basis of Indian polity has always been what is called "oriental despotism," to speak of India as a land of freedom. "Oriental despotism" is one of those historical fallacies upon which British administrators of India are nurtured. Of despotism like that of Imperial Rome, or of the Greek Tyrants, there are very few recorded instances in Indian history, either before Muhammadan times or after. One was the Hun king, Mihiragula, but his tyranny was short-lived. His freedom-loving Aryan subjects rebelled and escorted him beyond the confines of India. Aurangzîb was a tyrant of the Western pattern. He threw India into chaos and shattered the Mogul Empire.