Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/87

Rh Omrahs very circumspect of their actions and punctual in their payments .' The native chronicler, already quoted, has told us that the Emperor was a mild and painstaking judge, easy of approach, and gentle of manner; and the same character is given him by Dr. Careri, who saw him in the Deccan in 1695.

Generosity was not a salient virtue in the character of Aurangzíb, who was reputed to be avaricious and niggardly in matters of money and presents – though not in almsgiving: he could be generous to his poorer subjects. Soon after his accession to the throne he found that the late devastating movements of the contending armies, combined with a drought, had produced a famine in the land. He at once established houses for the distribution of free dinners, and ordered the remission of about eighty taxes, including the vexatious highway and ferry tolls, the ground cess on houses and shops, &c. Other taxes, such as those on Hindú and Muhammadan fairs, licences for spirits, gambling-hells, and houses of ill-fame, were probably abolished from religious motives: the Puritan King would not take toll for iniquity. But the rest could only have been remitted for the sake of helping a necessitous population. Aurangzíb had too strong an army at his back to be obliged to cultivate popularity at the cost of a serious loss to his exchequer. It is true the remission of many of these taxes was evaded by the local officials and landowners, who continued