Mughal Administration c5.s5.5

c5.s5.5

But of the political and economic life of the people, especially in the villages, no account has survived, and for a sufficient reason. The State in those days, as I have already pointed out, contented itself with the police duties and revenue collection,[*] and did not undertake any socialistic work, nor interfere with the lives of the villagers, so long as there was no violent crime or defiance of royal authority in the locality. Every village was left free to continue the noiseless even tenor of its life along the old grooves, untroubled by the Government, if it did not trouble the Government. The State refused to take the initiative in social progress, or the economic development of the people (as distinct from the domains of the Crown or *khālsa sharifa*, where it was like a private landlord), or the promotion of literature or art (except for the Emperor's personal gratification), or the improvement of communication (except for military purposes). All these things, where done at all, were done by private enterprise. Where there was any organized village community the initiative in these matters was taken by the headman or council of village elders; in all other places, the centre of local life was the zamindar or petty Rajah.