History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c23.24

v1.c23.24

To understand this phenomenon we must try to realise how conquering nations and peoples in later times have moved and fared. In the primitive stages of the human evolution no doubt, settling expeditions of men, women and children are found and these usually settle in vacant or almost vacant tracts. In later history, however, conquering peoples usually come into tracts already fully peopled and settle therein not as cultivators but as superimposed ruling peoples. The cultivation of land and other work of labour and art are left to the already settled people. The conquerors generally reside in capital cities and towns and disperse over the country not into each village but over large divisions as Jagirdars or barons. This is what happened for instance when the Norman conquest of England took place. This is what we see actually happening in India under the British conquest of the country. Even when the conquering people are one in religion with the people already settled, though not in race, the conquering people remain above the country's old population like a separate layer. Living examples of this are met with even in the India of to-day. The Marathas of Scindia. Holkar or Gaikwar or the Moguls of the Nizam have not mingled with the population of their territories and they still remain as distinct layers superimposed, living mostly at the capital and in the larger district towns, as officers or greater landlords. Now it will be clear to anybody that such a population does not by the very laws of nature thrive. When the land is vacant, the population increases by leaps and bounds and within a couple of centuries fills the land. But a superimposed population enjoying the luxuries of a ruling people does not increase For instance, the Maratha population of the Indore or Baroda State or the Mogul population of Hyderabad is practically stationary and has not increased though near two centuries have passed since their rule was established over their respective territories.