Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/119

Rh troops, and were required to pay about a fifth of the revenue to the Emperor. All the land in the realm was thus parcelled out among a number of timariots, who were practically absolute in their own districts, and extorted the uttermost farthing from the wretched peasantry who tilled their lands. The only exceptions were the royal demesnes, and these were farmed out to contractors who had all the vices without the distinctions of the mansabdárs. As it was always the policy of the Mughals to frequently shift the vassal-lords from one estate to another, in order to prevent their acquiring a permanent local influence and prestige, the same disastrous results ensued as in the precarious appointments of Turkey. Each governor or feudatory sought to exact all he could possibly get out of his province or jágír, in order to have capital in hand when he should be transplanted or deprived of his estate. Their authority in the outlying districts was to all intents and purposes supreme, for no appeal from their tyranny and oppression existed except to the Emperor himself, and they took good care that their proceedings should not be reported at Court. The local kázís or judges were the tools of the governor, and the imperial inspectors doubtless had their price for silence. Near Delhi or Agra or any of the larger towns such oppression and corruption could scarcely be concealed, and Aurangzíb's well-known love of justice would have instantly inflicted condign punishment: but in