History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c85.s6.36

v5.c85.s6.36

The educated middle class was composed entirely of officials, if we except the handful of physicians and superior priestly families. Among the traders and lesser land-owners there were many who ranked with the middle class in wealth, but not in education, nor did they ever cultivate literature. The Mughal administration, both civil and military, could be carried on only with the help of a vast army of clerks and accountants. Every department, every Government store or factory, every subah and even faujdari, every field-army, had a complete set of them. Their official pay was very low (like that of the East India Company's factory 'writers' in the early 17th century.)*