Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c28.s12.4

v2.c28.s12.4

Even on the most troublesome occasions, Suraj Mal displayed an instinctive sagacity of political management in which he surpassed all the great men of the time except Najib. "He made himself great amidst the general decay of the empire; none else in Hindustan had such good fortune." He attended so admirably to the business of a landlord, in increasing the value of the country he had subjugated, that he greatly augmented his revenue, and at the same time he controlled his expenditure so well that after some years he used to save at least half the annual yield of his dominions, in spite of the large sums spent on his forts and palaces. "In one word, being prudent, politic, valiant and noble above his birth, he was able to make himself admired and at the same time feared by the outside Powers. He had found the Jats rich already but mere zamindars and unknown except for their plundering; but he left them powerful and highly reputed throughout Hindustan." The only defect noticed in his character by this Jesuit observer was a low greed, which made him keep in his employ, even after he had been raised to the highest fortune, bands of robbers for conveying their booty to him, and induced a miserliness in his expenditure which left his family and troops frequently to languish in poverty by withholding their dues for years together.