History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c85.s1.3

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.