Mughal Administration c12.s1.1

c12.s1.1

Examples are numerous in Oriental history of sovereigns claiming the position of the spiritual leader of their people. It may have been due to the natural vanity of man or to the astute political design of securing to one's self the supreme authority in Church and State alike, and thereby making the sovereign's position unassailable, or to a combination of both these motives. The lord of half a million swords does not feel happy unless he can flatter himself that he has won the unforced love and spontaneous obedience of his subjects. He has a natural weakness for thinking that he is not as other men are, that he is akin to the gods, and that he rules by a divine right as a semi-divine being. Flatterers had instilled the same idea into the minds of the Roman Emperors and the Stuart kings of England.