History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c85.s6.14

v5.c85.s6.14

The historians Bhimsen and Khafi Khan were struck by the hopeless change for the worse that had seized the Indian world and looked wistfully back at the virtues and glories of the men of the times of Akbar and Shah Jahan. [*Dil.* ii. 139a, 146a, esp. 157a; *K.K.* ii. 550.] We find the aged Aurangzib himself dolefully shaking his head over the prospect of the future and predicting a deluge after his death. [*Anecdotes* § 11.] It is true, as Sadullah remarked in reply to a pessimist, "No age is without men of ability. What is needed is a wise master to find them out, cherish them, get his work done by them, and never lend his ears to the whispers of selfish men against such officers." [*Ruq.* No. 46.] But this wise principle was not followed in Aurangzib's latter years, and it was altogether discarded by his successors. Career was not freely opened to talent. The public service was not looked upon as a sacred trust, but as a means of gratifying the apostate, the sycophant, the well-groomed dandy, the great man's kinsmen, and sons of old official families. Bigotry and narrowness of outlook under Aurangzib and vice and sloth under the later Mughals, ruined the administration of the empire and dragged down the Indian people along with the falling empire.