The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c22.64

v4.c22.64

The detailed provisions in Aurangzīb's orders leave no room for doubt that in the opening decade of his reign the administration was already seriously concerned about the scarcity of peasants and their readiness to abscond, topics which do not emerge in the literature of Akbar's time. They thus confirm in the essential points the description of the agrarian situation given by the French physician, François Bernier, whose experience was gained during this period. His observations, made during eight years' residence at the Moghul court, led him to the conclusion that agriculture was declining in consequence of the "execrable tyranny" which the peasants were experiencing at the hands of officials, farmers, and assignees alike; and that many of them were either absconding to other regions, especially the domains of the chiefs, where conditions were more tolerable, or were abandoning the land in order to work as servants in the towns or with the army. It may be taken therefore as an established fact that by this time the danger foreseen by the early Islamic jurists had become a reality; that agricultural production was being diminished by the excessive burden laid upon the peasants' shoulders; and that the efforts of the administration to increase the revenue were in fact leading in the direction of a progressive decline.