History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c84.s1.t1: § 1. Bengal: its natural wealth and recuperative power.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c84.s1.t1
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§ 1. Bengal: its natural wealth and recuperative power.
v5.c84.s1.t1.1
Among all the provinces of the Mughal empire, Bengal was most lavishly favoured by Nature. Its copious rainfall makes the labour of artificial irrigation unnecessary. The annual flood of its countless rivers not only waters its 'wet' crops, but also fertilises the fields by spreading over them every year a new layer of mud which dispenses with manuring. One may almost say of Bengal that here the peasant has merely to sow the seed, go away, and reappear on the scene only for reaping the harvest, while all the intervening agricultural processes are done for him by Nature. Its numberless rivers and tanks with their abundance of fish and its fruit-laden orchards spreading a green veil round its homesteads, richly supplement the corn-fields. The climate alone is vile and justifies Aurangzib's epigram that this province was "a hell full of bread."
v5.c84.s1.t1.2
Such a country only needed peace to be full of wealth and population. The most fearful ravages of war pestilence or natural calamity could be completely repaired in a single generation of orderly beneficent government and uninterrupted growth. Such peace and good government were supplied to Bengal by the Mughal empire throughout the 17th century.