History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c86.s3.6

v5.c86.s3.6

The masses could not appreciate such lofty ideas as mystic pantheism and the universal brotherhood of man. Fanatics had greater sway over their hearts than philosophers. The lower classes, after some fighting between Hindus and Muslims or Shias and Sunnis, (the forces of Government being always on the side of the orthodox creed),—at last came to a settlement in every locality, recognising the boundaries rights and limitations of each creed on a basis which acquired the sacredness of custom with the passage of time. Thus they lived amicably within their own narrow limits. But this religious truce held good only so long as the local society was static. With the least change in the relative strength of the two sects or in their temper, with the visit of an active orthodox preacher from outside or the accession of a bigot to the throne, the sleeping volcano of mob-passions would again wake to fury. Examples of it are furnished by the massacre of the Shias at Srinagar in 1685, the destruction and pollution of Hindu temples by Aurangzib, the plucking of the jaziya-collector's beard by Rajputs in Malwa, and retaliation on mosques by some Rathor and Maratha princes of high spirit.* Indian society was, therefore, in a state of unstable equilibrium in every centre of mixed population in Aurangzib's reign.