The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c10.13

c10.13

The life of the Hindu middle class was marked by moderation. Ostentatious living was as dangerous in their case as it was desirable in the case of Muslim merchants and courtiers. Nay, the Hindu rich men study to appear indigent, says Bernier, and although 'the profit be ever so great, the man by whom it has been made must still wear the garb of indigence. Terry wrote that there are very many private men in cities and towns, who are merchants or tradesmen that are very rich: but it is not safe for them that are so, so to appear, lest that they should be used as filled sponges.²⁴ Their traditional caution and the conditions of insecurity created by political conflict and the attitude of the administrators forced them to practice self-effacement. W.H. Moreland rightly observes that they help us to understand the thrifty or even parsimonious scale of living which characterises so many of the commercial classes at the present day.²⁵ Thus apart from some great monopolists and bankers who belonged to the upper class, the trades-people in general were denied due regard in society and are mentioned by Muslim chroniclers with a contempt which is conveyed in words like *Dallal*, *Bania*, *Baqqal* etc. The treatment meted out to the lower class of traders and retailers by the rulers during the medieval period shares this contempt. The harshness with which Alauddin Khalji treated the traders, wholesalers and retailers, and made their flesh sore, has become proverbial.²⁶ Pelsaert too says that the condition of shopkeepers was good if they were not made victims of bazar officials. They had gold and silver in their houses but made exhibition of poverty lest they should be squeezed of their wealth at Will.²⁷ In short, their style of living was unimpressive. This poor style of living was also an important factor in making the middle class of the medieval period invisible to foreign travellers like Bernier.