Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s4.36

c7.s4.36

The reasons for these ethical and moral developments are not very far to seek. They are to be found in the economic basis of the social classes. There are a superfluity of wealth among the upper classes and a chronic poverty and need among the lower.³ We have illustrated the case in greater detail elsewhere. Here we have only to add that this relative economic position of the various classes was a social menace. The extreme poverty of the vast masses created a psychology of fear and nervousness among the rich. Generosity thus came to their aid as an insurance policy.⁴ There was no organized protection for private property or security through legal machinery as in modern States. There was no sense of the sacredness of private property. Wealth and fortune smiled on any fortunate adventurer who gathered the necessary force to be master of a situation. In such circumstances, as Amir Khusrau explains, it is much better to give away your wealth in generous gifts, than find yourself forcibly robbed of it. Generosity was the only alternative to expropriation or the destruction of property in some other form.⁵