Page:History of India Vol 8.djvu/84

54 his administration everywhere – these were the ordinary symptoms of debility, decay, and approximate dissolution in an Oriental dynasty.

PEASANTS DRAWING WATER.

In the northwest, the Persians and the rebellious Afghan tribes had now wrested from Aurangzib his border strongholds, and thus his grasp on that all-important frontier had become insecure, and the high-roads from Central Asia were again open to invaders. In the southwest, the Moghul, after putting down the kingdoms of Bijapur and Golkonda, had been unable to reconstruct an administration strong enough to repress the turbulent elements that his impolitic demolitions had set free. The disbanded soldiery, the plundered peasants, and the disaffected Hindu landholders all rallied round the standard of the Maratha captains,