History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c44.s3: §3. The Afghans as professional robbers, ever at war with Government.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c44.s3
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§3. The Afghans as professional robbers, ever at war with Government.
v3.c44.s3.1
The new comers proved themselves the most formidable enemies of the peace of the country and the safety of the roads ever seen in that unquiet region. Highway robbery was the hereditary profession of these hardy savages, as cunning as they were bold. The plains of Peshawar and the narrow valleys embosomed among the rugged hills, yielded too scanty a sustenance for their fast-growing numbers; and the peaceful gains of agriculture were too poor and slow a reward in comparison with the plunder of their more industrious neighbours and of the rich traders passing within easy reach of them. The right of the hillmen,—Afridis, Shinwaris, Yusufzais and Khataks,—to levy toll on the traffic between India and Kabul, had been practically admitted by the Mughal Government, which had found by long experience that it was cheaper to bribe the clansmen than to coerce them, as a means of preserving order in that region and keeping the roads open. But even political pensions were not always effective in securing their obedience. Every year this prolific race multiplied, and the growing population, “more numerous than ants or locusts,” and ignorant or contemptuous of peaceful industries, pined for some outlet for their martial instincts. A leader sprang up, pretending sanctity or princely descent, organized a band of young men by feeding them for some time at his own cost, and then swooped down upon the fields of rival clans or the imperial territory below, and recovered his expenses and rewarded his retainers by plunder. The gang held together so long as the stream of booty did not fail; but when it ran dry, or the least inequality in its division was suspected, these natural democrats turned their arms against one another, and the league broke up.*
v3.c44.s3.2
∗ Migrations of the Pathan clans: *A.N.* 1039; Bellew's *General Report on the Yusufzais* (1864), 64-67, 152-179; *Encyclopædia of Islam*, i. 149—154; *Peshawar District Gazetteer*, (1898), 49-58. Pathan character and government: Bellew, ch. v. *Peshawar Dist. Gaz.* 119-122, 129-134, Elphinstone's *Caubul* (1815), Bk. II. ch. 2, 6, 7, Bk. III. ch. 1.
v3.c44.s3.3
But the dissolution of a powerful band in this way gave no enduring peace to the plains; the units of Afghan society,—the families of fighting men under their grey beards,—remained intact, and soon formed a new combination and under a new leader returned to their occupation of plunder. The occasional victories of the guardians of law and order checked for a time, but could not finally remove this source of disturbance, as its economic causes remained unchanged. A strong Mughal emperor would resolve to enforce his authority and protect his subjects; armies would be poured into the valleys of the clansmen and after heavy losses their organized resistance would be beaten down, their houses demolished, the level country held by means of a chain of military posts, their crops cut down and the Afghan population thinned by the sword. But every now and then they would cut off a weak garrison; the Mughal outposts would have to be withdrawn in winter and the work of pacification renewed in spring.
v3.c44.s3.4
When the Government, firmly disregarding the huge expenditure of men and money in these hills, persisted in the policy of annual invasion and chastisement, the tribes would make peace, promise tribute and obedience, and the weary Mughal troops would gladly withdraw. But such promises were forgotten as soon as the sufferings of the late war became a shadowy memory. In a few years the growth of population would more than fill the void caused by the Mughal sword; and the hungry hordes would again begin to swarm into the neighbouring districts or plunder trade-caravans.
v3.c44.s3.5
∗ Bellew, 204, "A famous saint among the Yusufzais is said to have left his tribe a blessing and a curse, 'That they should always be free, but that they should never be united.'" (Elphinstone, 338.)
v3.c44.s3.6
The first serious attempt to enforce peace on the n. w. frontier was made by Akbar. Incautious Mughal commanders suffered losses, and the terrible disaster of February 1586, when an army of 8,000 men under Rajah Birbal was cut off in a Swat defile, created a terror of Afghan prowess and aversion to hill fighting throughout the imperial dominions. The defeat was, no doubt, soon avenged by Rajput valour and skill, but the Mughals had finally to patch up a peace by pensioning the tribal leaders and overlooking their depredations. Under Jahangir and Shah Jahan, the same state of things continued, varied by occasional risings of the clans, which cost the Mughals dear. The march of vast armies from India into Afghanistan for the wars in Balkh and Qandahar awed the frontiersmen into peace for a time in the middle of the 17th century. But there was a revival of trouble in the closing years of Shah Jahan's reign. With the accession of Aurangzib the evil grew worse.*