Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s4.t4.26

c5.s4.t4.26

The reactions of the institution of slavery on the manners and the outlook of the age were, however, very different, and of a far reaching character. In a slave holding society, as Nieboer finds, the ruling classes, having learned to command and domineer over their slaves, get used to highly undemocratic ways of life, which is prejudicial to the social well being of a society. It creates in the long run an offensive and brutal upper class on the one hand, and a bitter and vindictive lower class on the other. Similarly a long tradition of slavery creates a set of persons born to work that others may not work, and another set of persons to think so that others may not think. Another obvious inference from this unhealthy division of classes is that manual labour becomes identified with slave labour and, therefore, discredited. Among other effects Nieboer finds that slavery often engenders cruelty or at least harshness, that slaves are demoralized because of the lack of proper education, and because of want of normal family relations, and that slavery prevents the development of the sense of human dignity which lies at the foundation of morals.³ All this gives to a slave-holding society the stamp of unprogressiveness and a socially unhealthy character. These social consequences, though not so pronounced, are fairly well marked in the social development of mediaeval Indian society.