Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/25

Rh We have a cloud of witnesses,—both professed histories and collections of letters,—for the beginning and the end of Aurangzib's reign; but the intervening period of nearly thirty years (1667-1696) is comparatively dark. I, however, believe that many other historical letters of these decades can still be discovered in India, especially in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, if my educated countrymen interest themselves in the quest and make it a point to examine the Persian MSS. in private possession with knowledge and care.

The European travellers, Tavernier, Bernier, and Manucci, who visited India in this reign, have left long accounts of the country. Their works are of undoubted value as throwing light on the condition of the people, the state of trade and industry, and the history of the Christian churches in India. Moreover, the criticism of Indian institutions by foreign observers has a freshness and weight all its own. But of the political history of India, apart from the few events in which they took part or which they personally witnessed, their report merely reproduced the bazar rumours and the stories current among the populace, and cannot be set against the evidence of contemporary histories and letters in Persian. Tavernier and Bernier