Twilight of the Sultanate c17.s8.60

c17.s8.60

Bābur's assertion that Hindustan abounded in "masses of gold and silver" is very interesting indeed, and calls for an explanation. This conqueror of the sixteenth century might have been impressed by the funds of these precious metals here because his own country lacked them. But the question arises how was it that although so many conquerors from Mahmūd of Ghaznī to Tīmūr had carried away so much wealth out of India and so many rulers used to send out the wealth of the country for distribution among their co-religionists in Muslim countries,¹⁷⁴ the fund of gold and silver was never on the decline even when these metals were not quarried in India in any large quantities.¹⁷⁵ Perhaps a very important reason for this was that much of what the invaders carried away in loot was brought back by Indian traders and merchants through trade from the very countries to which the wealth had been carried away.