The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c10.3

c10.3

In the medieval period, the luxurious life of the upper classes and the poverty of the exploited peasants and workers attracted the attention of all foreign and Indian writers. These two sections of society were so prominent that the presence of the small, self-respecting, friend-of-the-people middle class was not even noticed by some contemporary writers. Francois Bernier is one of them. Writing in the middle of the seventeenth century, this renowned French visitor to India, found that in Delhi there was no middle state. A man must be of the highest rank or live miserably.¹ Similar is the assertion of Tavernier about Burhanpur and Golkunda.²