History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c7.87

c7.87

و همدراں ایام سلطان محمد بر طریق شکار در ولایت برن رفت و فرمان داد تا تمامی ولایت برن را نهب و تاراج کردند و سرهای هندوان آوردند و در کنگره‌ها حصار برن بیاویختند - exonerates the Sultan from all blame and says that the sufferings of the people were more due to want of rain than to heavy taxation. Even if the taxation were light, considering the normal prosperity of the Doab, was it not the duty of the administration to restore the tax to its former level or to reduce it as soon as famine conditions were known? But famine was not officially declared or recognised, and no measures of relief were undertaken to cope with it, though much was done later by the Sultan, when a similar calamity befell the country. Famine doubtless aggravated the distress of the people, but in the beginning it was not so serious as to cause widespread disturbances in the empire. The work of resettling the empire proceeded apace, and the Sultan successfully planned expeditions against the rebels. How could this be possible, if the situation had been so serious as Barani represents it to be? Although it would be wrong to call this measure a freak of disordered fancy, it must be pronounced to be an ill-devised expedient, scarcely capable of being defended on political or economic grounds. That the people rebelled under a painful necessity cannot be doubted, and if political disturbances occurred in the Doab,—a most sensitive part of Hindustan,—the blame rests upon the administration and not upon the people. The Sultan lost all patience, when his cherished schemes failed. He became more and more self-centred and began to think of experiments, which tended to alienate from him the sympathies of his subjects, and which produced a great deal of unrest in the country.