History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c85.s1: § 2. Internal peace the root cause of India's prosperity.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c85.s1
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§ 2. Internal peace the root cause of India's prosperity.
v5.c85.s1.1
In a warm moist and fertile country like India, where the lavish bounty of Nature speedily repairs the ravages of hostile man and beast, of inclement Sun and rain—order is the root of national life, in an even greater degree than in other lands. Given peace without and the spirit of progress within, the Indian people can advance in wealth, strength and civilization with a rapidity rivalled only by the marvellous growth of their vegetation after the first monsoon showers.
v5.c85.s1.2
A century of strong and wise government under Akbar and his son and grandson had given to the richer and more populous half of India such peace and impulse to improvement. A hundred victories since the second Panipat had taught the Indian world to believe that Mughal arms were invincible and Mughal territory inviolable. Shivaji broke this spell. And his destructive work was carried to undreamt-of lengths by his successors in the second half of Aurangzib's reign. Mughal peace—the sole justification of the Mughal empire—no longer existed in India at Aurangzib's death.
v5.c85.s1.3
In a predominantly agricultural country like India, the tillers of the soil are the only source of national wealth. They produce the food and raw materials of clothing for the entire population. Directly or indirectly, the land alone adds to the "annual national stock." Even the craftsmen depend on the peasants and on the men enriched with the land revenue, for the sale of their goods, and if the latter have not enough foodstuff to spare, they cannot buy any handicraft. Hence, the ruin of the peasants means in India the ruin of the non-agricultural classes too. *Pauvre paysans pauvre royaume*, is even truer of India than of France. Public peace and security of property are necessary not only for the peasant and the artisan, but also for the trader, who has to carry his goods over wide distances and give long credits before he can find a profitable market. Political unrest and insecure roads prevent the quick and cheap transport of grain from a district of bumper crops to one where the harvest has failed, and this circumstance makes famine relief slow and difficult.
v5.c85.s1.4
Wealth, in the last resort, can accumulate only from savings out of the peasant's production. Whatever lowers the peasant's productive power or destroys his spirit of thrift by creating insecurity about his property, thereby prevents the growth of national capital and impairs the economic staying power of the country. Such are the universal and lasting effects of disorder and public insecurity in India. And the failure of Aurangzib affords the most striking illustration of this truth.