Tempo:
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CHAP. Ill
SIKHISM UNDER GOBIND
67
of modern Europe. But the extensive empires of the i675-i708. East, as of semi-barbarism in the West, have never The chabeen based on the sober convictions of a numerous racter and people; they have been mere dynasties of single tribes, condition rendered triumphant by the rapid development of "^ ^'^^ warlike energy, and by the .comprehensive genius of ^^g^ai ememinent leaders. Race has succeeded race in dominion, Gobiiid reand what Cyrus did with his Persians and Charle- solved to magne with his Franks, Babar began and Akbar com- assaii it. pleted with a few Tartars their personal followers. The Mughals had even a less firm hold of empire than the Achaemenides or the Carlovingians; the devoted clansmen of Babar were not numerous, his son was driven from his throne, and Akbar became the master of Akbar. India as much by political sagacity, and the generous sympathy of his nature, as by military enterprise and the courage of his partisans. He perceived the want of the times, and his commanding genius enabled him to reconcile the conflicting interests and prejudices of Muhammadans and Hindus, of Rajputs, Turks, and Pathans. At the end of fifty years he left his heir a broad and well-regulated dominion; yet one son of Jahangir contested the empire with his father, and Shah Jahan first saw his children waging war with one another for the possession of the crown which he himself still wore, and at length became the prisoner of the ablest and most successful of the combatants. Aurangzeb ever feared the influence of his own exam- Aurangzeb. pie: his temper was cold; his policy towards Muhammadans was one of suspicion, while his bigotry and persecutions rendered him hateful to his Hindu subjects. In his old age his wearied spirit could find no solace; no tribe of brave and confiding men gathered round him: yet his vigorous intellect kept him an emperor to the last, and the hollowness of his sway was not apparent to the careless observer until he was laid in his grave. The empire of the Mughals wanted political fusion, and its fair degree of- administrative order and subordination was vitiated by the doubt which hung about the succession.^ It comprised a number of petty states which rendered an unwilling 1 Notwithstanding this defect, the English themselves have yet to do much before they can establish a system which shall last so long and work so well as Akbar's organization of Pargana Chaudris and Qanungos, who may be likened to hereditary county sheriffs, and registrars of landed property and holdings. The objectionable hereditary law was modified in practice by the adoption of the most able or the most upright as the representative of the family. [A somewhat pessimistic statement viewing the way in which modern administrators have dealt with the land questions. Ed.]
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^
CHAP. Ill
SIKHISM UNDER GOBIND
67
of modern Europe. But the extensive empires of the i675-i708. East, as of semi-barbarism in the West, have never The chabeen based on the sober convictions of a numerous racter and people; they have been mere dynasties of single tribes, condition rendered triumphant by the rapid development of "^ ^'^^ warlike energy, and by the .comprehensive genius of ^^g^ai ememinent leaders. Race has succeeded race in dominion, Gobiiid reand what Cyrus did with his Persians and Charle- solved to magne with his Franks, Babar began and Akbar com- assaii it. pleted with a few Tartars their personal followers. The Mughals had even a less firm hold of empire than the Achaemenides or the Carlovingians; the devoted clansmen of Babar were not numerous, his son was driven from his throne, and Akbar became the master of Akbar. India as much by political sagacity, and the generous sympathy of his nature, as by military enterprise and the courage of his partisans. He perceived the want of the times, and his commanding genius enabled him to reconcile the conflicting interests and prejudices of Muhammadans and Hindus, of Rajputs, Turks, and Pathans. At the end of fifty years he left his heir a broad and well-regulated dominion; yet one son of Jahangir contested the empire with his father, and Shah Jahan first saw his children waging war with one another for the possession of the crown which he himself still wore, and at length became the prisoner of the ablest and most successful of the combatants. Aurangzeb ever feared the influence of his own exam- Aurangzeb. pie: his temper was cold; his policy towards Muhammadans was one of suspicion, while his bigotry and persecutions rendered him hateful to his Hindu subjects. In his old age his wearied spirit could find no solace; no tribe of brave and confiding men gathered round him: yet his vigorous intellect kept him an emperor to the last, and the hollowness of his sway was not apparent to the careless observer until he was laid in his grave. The empire of the Mughals wanted political fusion, and its fair degree of- administrative order and subordination was vitiated by the doubt which hung about the succession.^ It comprised a number of petty states which rendered an unwilling 1 Notwithstanding this defect, the English themselves have yet to do much before they can establish a system which shall last so long and work so well as Akbar's organization of Pargana Chaudris and Qanungos, who may be likened to hereditary county sheriffs, and registrars of landed property and holdings. The objectionable hereditary law was modified in practice by the adoption of the most able or the most upright as the representative of the family. [A somewhat pessimistic statement viewing the way in which modern administrators have dealt with the land questions. Ed.]
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