Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c13.s4.5

v1.c13.s4.5

Small as is the proportion of the Shias to Indian Islam, Safdar Jang could rally round himself only a fraction of this fraction. Most of the Indian Shias stood aloof from him in unconcern. They resented the superior and scornful airs which the Persians assume towards other races even of their own creed. The mocking tongue and mordant wit of the native Persians are unrivalled elsewhere in Asia, as many anecdotes of Aurangzib illustrate. They scoffed at the Indian Muhammadans as clownish and their Persian idiom as barbarous. Hence, Safdar Jang's clientele formed only a very small minority of Muslim India.