CHAP. IX. Hospital for sick and maimed animals. An Oriental garden. unpaved, and the dust was insufferable. Each street had gates of its own, which were shut up in times of turbulence; and disturbances were as common at Surat as at Cairo. The population was estimated by Niebuhr to number 300,000 souls.. There was no hospital for human beings at Surat, but a very large asylum for sick or maimed animals. Whenever a European turned out an old horse or any other domestic animal, the Hindus took charge of it and placed it in this building, which was full of infirm decrepit cows, sheep, rabbits, hens, pigeons, and other similar creatures. Niebuhr saw a great tortoise, blind and helpless, which he was told was a hundred and thirty-five years of age. The charitable Hindus kept a physician to attend on these animals. There were numerous gardens in the environs of Surat. Niebuhr describes one which had been formed by one of the later Nawabs of Surat at a cost of fifty thousand pounds sterling. It was very extensive, but there was no regularity in the design, and nothing in the fashion of a European garden except a few ponds and fountains; the rest was a confused medley of buildings and small orchards. There was one large mansion, having baths and saloons, which was adorned with all the magnificence of India. The other buildings were harems for the Nawab's wives; each lady having her own little court entirely separated from those of the others. Every harem had one good apartment for the lady, and a number of very narrow chambers for her slaves. Niebuhr was particularly struck by the passages running between the different suites of rooms; they were so narrow, so winding, and so blocked up by doors, as to reveal the distrust with which all great people in despotic countries regarded every one about them. CHAP. IX. merits of Moghul The foregoing evidence of European travellers Comparative enables us to realise the condition of India before and Hindu rule. the rise of the British empire, but it will not permit a close comparison to be drawn of the relative merits of Moghul and Hindu rule. One traveller alone ventures to offer an opinion upon this vexed question, and his conclusions are entitled to respect; for his experiences were large and varied, and his judgment was unbiassed by any personal considerations. Captain Hamilton roundly asserts that the Hindu people were better contented to live under the Moghul dominion than under their own princes. "The Moghul," he says, taxes the people gently, and every one knows what he has to pay; but the Hindu Rajas tax at discretion, making their own avarice the standard of equity. Moreover, the Rajas used to pick quarrels with one another on frivolous occasions; and before they could be made friends again, their subjects were forced to open both their veins and purses to gratify ambition and folly." 66 CHAP. X. Importance of the history of Bengal. Moghul rule in CHAPTER X. PROVINCIAL HISTORY: BENGAL. A.D. 1700 TO 1756. THE history of the provinces during the decline of the Moghul empire is singularly obscure. With the exception of Bengal, the information supplied by European residents or travellers is extremely scanty. Those at Madras knew little or nothing of what was going on at Arcot or Hyderabad; whilst those at Bombay were shut out from the Moghul provinces by the military empire of the Mahrattas. More, however, is known of Bengal than of any other part of India. The Muhammadan author of the "Siyár-ulMutaqherin," or" Review of Modern Times," was well acquainted with Bengal, and tells its history at great length from the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 down to the administration of Warren Hastings; whilst Mr. Holwell, who served in Bengal during a greater part of the same period, has published a narrative of events in Bengal as they appeared to the eyes of European contemporaries.' Bengal was conquered by the Moghuls under Akbar towards the end of the sixteenth century. Before 1 The principal authorities for the history of Bengal are as follows :— The Siyár-ul-Mutaqherin, by Gholam Hussin Khan, translated into English by a French renegade. Three volumes quarto. Calcutta: 1785. Interesting Historical Events relative to the Province of Bengal, by J. L. Holwell. Second edition in octavo. London: 1766. History of Bengal, by Major Charles Stewart. Quarto. London : 1813. that period it had long been a bone of contention between black Abyssinians and tawny Afghans. One barbarous adventurer after another ascended the throne by the murder of his predecessor, and, after a short career of unbridled license, was murdered in his turn, whilst the timid Bengalis looked helplessly on. The Moghul conquest introduced a settled government, and was so far a blessing to all classes. The administration of the province was intrusted to a Moghul prince of the blood; and for nearly a century the land had rest under the tolerant rule of the Moghul. Sometimes the country was the theatre of rebellion; the prince at the head of the province broke out in revolt against his imperial father; and villages were plundered and ravaged by lawless mercenaries. But the people were ignorant and superstitious, and blindly submissive to their fate; and consequently they were perhaps as contented and happy as the birds of the air or the beasts of the field. CHAP. X. secutions of Towards the latter end of the seventeenth century Religious perthe Hindus were harassed by the religious persecutions Aurangzeb. of Aurangzeb. A Nawab was appointed, who carried out his orders without scruple or remorse. Idols were destroyed, temples were broken down, festivals prohibited, and the worship of the gods suppressed with a strong hand. Many Bengalis became Muhammadans; but many broke out in rebellion. At last the disturbances grew serious, and Aurangzeb recalled the hated Nawab, and placed the government into new hands. He appointed his grandson Azim to be Subahdar or Nawab of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa; and a converted Brahman, named Mir Jafir Khan, to be Dewan, or superintendent of the finances of Bengal. Azim has left no mark in history. He was a son СНАР. Х. Viceroyalty of Rise of Mir Jafir Distinction between the Viceroy of Shah Alam, who afterwards succeeded Aurangzeb on the throne of Hindustan under the name of Bahadur Shah. He held his court at Dacca, surrounded by favourites and parasites, and indulging in all the pleasures which were common to Moghul princes in the olden time.2 Mir Jafir Khan, better known by his later name of Murshed Kuli Khan, was an official of a very different stamp. His fanatical zeal as a convert to Islam recommended him at an early period to the notice of Aurangzeb, whilst his talent for increasing the revenue and cutting down the expenditure secured his rapid elevation. Accordingly he appears to have risen from a small appointment in the revenue department of Berar to the post of Dewan of Hyderabad, and finally to the still more important post of Dewan of Bengal. During the reign of Aurangzeb the office of Nawab Dewany and the was always kept distinct from that of Dewan. The Nawab was the military governor of the province, who enforced a strict obedience to the laws as administered by the Kází and Kotwal.3 The Dewan superintended the collection of the revenue and checked the expenditure in salaries and establishments. Accordingly there was sometimes a clashing between the two offices. The Nawab and his courtiers wanted money for their pleasures, but could draw nothing for their personal use beyond their allotted salaries. The Dewan, on the other hand, was zealous 2 According to current scandal, Azim was very fastidious about his harem, which was constantly supplied by fresh inmates from all parts of his government. 3 Nawab or Subahdar were often convertible terms, both signifying the military and civil government, but Subahdar was perhaps the higher title. In Bengal the governor was known as the Nawab, or Nawab Nazim; the term Nawab denoting his military command, whilst that of Nazim referred to the administration of justice and other civil duties. |