The Social Dynamics of the Mughal Empire: A Brief Introduction

Author(s): J. C. Heesterman
Source: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 47, No. 3, Between the
Flux and Facts of Indian History: Papers in Honor of Dirk Kolff (2004), pp. 292-297
Published by: BRILL
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25165051
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THE SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE:

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
BY
J.C. HEESTERMAN*

Abstract
It is only

since
that the study of Indian history
the Muslim
the
conquest,
recently
especially
has seen a fundamental
is this period
viewed
No
(1526-1857),
period
longer
change.
terms of 'oriental
static
the perennial
and the unchange
society,'
'village
community'
of caste
is now given
to the dynamics
able rigidities
and community.
Instead
full attention
work
to this change
of Indian
Dirk Kolff's
has significantly
contributed
of perspec
society.
on India's
tive. Focussing
attention
in its various
'armed peasantry'
of both
guises
sedentary

Mughal
in the

out the flexibility

and itinerant warriors,
Kolff
and dynamics
of the Mughal
brings
as the 'flourishing
to its European
that was
known
Even
Indies.'
contemporaries
traces may
in modern
still be found
the price
of modernity
has been
the loss
India,
though
of the flexible
of the ancien
dynamics
regime.

'ryots'
world

Ce

n'est

que

particulierement
transformee.
comme
teme

recemment
Au

lieu

la "societe
des

indienne.
attention

The

moderne,
de Vancien

flexible

armee",

of

the occasion

that I accepted

la conquete
a ete

depuis

(1526-1857)
des
suggerent

musulmane

conditions
inchangees
et l'immuable
de village,"
"sys
de la societe
aspects
dynamiques
son
incisive
contribue.
Focalisant

en evidence
"les
de

de l'lnde moghole
le dynamisme
que
encore
On en trouve
des
florissantes".
a ete la perte
la modernite
de la
irreparable
Indes

social

the above

dynamics,

armed

peasantry,

modernization

in honour of Dirk Kolff

for the symposium
the Chair of Indian History
appears to
The world of India's Muslim
rulers is closely related
theme

from

Sharing this interest

our convenor's,
Jos Gommans,

it was with
request

the greatest pleasure

briefly to introduce the

theme.

J.C.

Kern

Heesterman,

Institute:

Department

of

South

and

Central

Asian

PO Box 9515, 2300 Leiden, The Netherlands.

? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004
Also

available

online

et

essentiellement

regime.

of his retirement

be perfectly
appropriate.
to his scholarly interests.

il met

appelaient
mais
le prix

state-formation,

Mughals,

choice

l'lnde

moghol

des
qui
expressions
la sempiternelle
"communaute
examine
actuellement
les
a de maniere
M. Dirk Kolff

occidentaux

contemporains
traces dans
l'lnde

on

de

l'histoire
l'empire

d'utiliser

castes",
A ce changement
sur la "paysannerie

dynamique

de
de

orientale",
la recherche

les

Keywords:

que l'etude
la periode

durant

JESHO47,3

www.brill.nl

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Studies,

THE SOCIALDYNAMICS OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

Until

293

to view Mughal
it was customary
India in the static
fairly recently
'oriental society,'
the perennial
the rigidities of
'village community,'
in short as a pool of stagnation,
all
innovative
smothering
potential and

terms of
caste,

to be overthrown
rerum, in casu the British Raj. In this
waiting
by a mutatio
view there is hardly any room for dynamics.
was noted, it was mostly
or development
In so far as significant movement
seen in the metaphorical
terms of youthful
florescence
and
growth, mature
a
end
The
could
be
revolution,
decay.
inescapable
logical
only
breaking away
the cyclic rise-and-decline
pattern of the ancien regime. It is only then,
under the British aegis, that things really start to move. A new and rational dis
is brought about. In this per
the rectilinear progress of modernity,
pensation,
to
the
historian
has
when
decide
and
how the predestined
spective
only
phases
from

succeed

each other.

In the last two or three decades

cal pattern

has

fundamentally

of the previous
century, the historiographi
Instead of the Mughal
rise,
changed.
empire's
the focus of attention shifted to the working
and

and disintegration
vitality of its dynamics.

expansion

to the his
Gifted with a distinct sensitivity
Dirk
to the
and wary of essentialist
Kolff
'models,'
belongs
frontline of scholars who worked
this change. His study of India's 'armed peas
the empire's
its working,
roots and
illustrates
antry' impressively
dynamics,
arises
nature of
Here
the
the
(Kolff 1990).
consequences
question
concerning
this dynamic,
how it is structured and what
its results are. It is tempting to

enduring
torical realities

expect Europe's
able guidance.

studied historical

intensively

experience

to provide

us with

reli

is to a great extent determined

European historiography
by a preoccupation
with the development
of its national states. But how far can this be relevant for
in casu for India? Of course, some have attempted to
other parts of the world,
view India in terms of European
focus on empires
history and, consequently,
state
in
to
India has much
and
formation
India. Obviously,
offer the student of
the problems of state formation and empire building, but it is a different world.
Let me quote a simple example. The sound and fury of nationalist
rhetoric owed
to European nationalist
much
German
and Italian
thought, especially
regarding
was
an
unification.
India's actual historical experience,
of
however,
entirely dif
looking back at the end of his study of The Emergence
of
to liken the battles of the British
Anil Seal felt compelled
to
and the Indian National
known as the 'struggle for freedom,'
Congress,

ferent nature. Thus,

Indian Nationalism,
Raj
"a Dasehra
(Seal
Muslim

1968:

duel
351).

League

between

two hollow

Tragically,
broke away

only
from

locked in motionless
combat"
statues,
at the end, when
the equally nationalistic
the Indian National
that a real
Congress,

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294

J.C. HEESTERMAN

appeared, but then it was between Indian and Indian, leading to the cat
is not a roadmap followed
astrophe of the Partition.1 European
history
by all
and sundry, nor is Indian history, although
the tragic sequel to the struggle for
to contribute
to the understanding
freedom may have something
of the history
ferocity

of European nationalisms.
But it is time to return

to our question
the social dynamics
of
regarding
be clear by now that we should be wary of the pre-occupa
state and state formation. So when we discuss Mughal
India's social

India. It will

Mughal
tion with

dynamics, we
decessors?was

should be aware

state?or
that the Mughal
for that matter its pre
not the single or even themost important source of social dynamism.
view claims our attention.
It is at this point that Dirk Kolff's
In the centre he
a
warrior
the
itinerant
for
he
will
fol
peasant
patron
places
looking
faithfully
lit
low as his naukar. The naukar is not essentially
different from the Rajput,
erally 'raja's son,' seeking a father's patronage.
I should caution against thinking that we have here the nucleus of another
'model' or 'grand theory,' in casu Homo Hierarchicus
(Dumont
1966).2 For all
the respect and admiration
that is rightly due to the regretted Louis Dumont,
the
cannot explain
of hierarchy
the figure of the naukar or the Rajput.
Instead it should be noted that the naukar does not primarily refer to a hierar
chical relationship with his patron. Nor does caste have a place here. The true

notion

naukar
patron,

is a companion,
and wealth
rightfully
sharing in the success
a co-sharer in the realm and in the fortune of his patron.

There

another

is, moreover,

more

important

point.

One

that makes

of his
itiner

the

ant peasant warrior an unlikely candidate for the role of the central pillar in the
construction
of a hard and fast 'model' for explaining
the social dynamism
of
a
India.
The
'itinerant
warrior'
conveys
peasant
pre-modern
paraphrase
deftly
basic instability, an unresolved
antithesis. On the one hand, we have the settled
of rights and duties,
peasant,
caught up in an intricate web of relationships
connected

1 Seal

with

on

the aims

same

of the soil,

in other words

the typical

'ryot,'

ide

(1968) explains the initially surprising tepidity of the struggle by referring to the

uncertainties
time

the exploitation

of

both
the

sides
two

their
regarding
had much

parties
rhetoric

own

'troops
in common.

in the

frontline,'

while

at

the

same

both on the
they were
it did not
behind
political
thought
were
conflicts
felt.
violently
Put

briefly,

side. The militant

and the European-based
as the actual
into the Indian
and
situation,
problems
2
one could
in the beginning
of the nineteenth
still speak of the 'mod
century
Remarkably,
ern' doctrine
of caste
In ancien
as Kolff
1990:
India caste hierarchy,
(Kolff
18Iff.).
regime
not yet?have
to it. "Peasant
did not?or
the overall
ascribed
shows,
importance
society was
of caste notions
have had to do, at least
maxims."
The
may
governed
by different
adoption
to restrict
in Northern
recruitment
to their own
officers
local com
India, with
sepoy
wishing

fit

munities

(Kolff 1990: 186ff.).

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THE SOCIALDYNAMICS OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

295

ally peaceful and tax-paying. On the other hand, we see this otherwise domes
life of a warrior who has
ticated creature breaking away to lead the wandering
on
his being in the uncultivated
the
wealth
of the settled zones
wilds, prying
life that is closely akin to that of the itinerant sddhu
and the fighting ascetic. Ambitious
rulers, large and small, eagerly sought after
their warbands. But there always remained the hope of peacefully
settling down
an
a respectable
to
It
in
the
old
with
is,
fact,
pattern
again
enjoy
gathered booty.
into
times
back
Vedic
1995:
641-4).
(Heesterman
pedigree,
reaching
and the trade routes?a

to is an expansive
and unstable pattern of two opposite
areas as against
the cultivated
the uncultivated
but complementary
spheres,
on kinship and mar
wilds, each with its own way of social organization?based
It is here, in the unresolved
ten
riage as against the freely recruiting warband.
it comes

What

sion between

down

these

two

spheres

the source

of

the social

this tension, the Mughals

Mughal
their impressive
but
success, which was not only their unprecedented
more
but
the
also
territorial
durable
of
the
cul
expansion
expansion
ephemeral
tivated area. Both are, in principle,
implied in the dialectic of labouring on the
land and soldiering
far away from home. But it does require a shrewd and

dynamics
achieved

utterly

that vitalized

that we may find

India. By managing

flexible

of powers.
balancing
the classical
Indian master

of political
offers
thought, Kautilya,
are
In
his
this balancing
twelve
scheme
there
game.
his
into four 'circles,'
divided
of the conqueror,
royal players,
respectively
enemy, the neutral and the remote outsider, each having his ally and ally's ally
The scheme does not reflect a configuration
of sta
1963: 6.2.24-28).
(Kautilya

an

Interestingly,
intricate analysis

of

on one's point of view and the changing situation, each

tic identities. Depending
of the twelve actors assumes a different
identity, be it conqueror, ally, enemy,
neutral or outsider.
So they continually
their identities.
In other
interchange
no
is only the everlasting
there is
end to the game. There
words,
play of
and

ambivalences

uncertainties.

The

players,

therefore,

are

engaged

in

per

petual game of conflict and alliance that might have gone on forever. Thus, we
as an age of
that India's eighteenth
may understand
century, usually viewed
into
chaos
and
also
decline with
the Mughal
dissolution,
empire
tottering
showed another face. European
travellers of the period reported enthusiastically
the title of an anthology of their observations
'les Indes florissantes'?as
it (Deleury
describes
that the Mughal
1991). What
happened,
though, was
own
success.
its
under
the
of
succumbed
empire
Agrarian
expansion
weight
and internal trade, fuelled by
together with the growth of artisanal production
the well-managed
resulted in a measure
of integration on a
influx of bullion,
about

sub-continental

level. But

at the same

time,

this meant

the economic

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growth

J.C.HEESTERMAN

296

and,

thereby,

cessor

independence

the centre of the regions

from

that became

the suc

states.

One may

view

the rise of the successor

com
in terms of region-based
Alam do, who there
states (Alam and Subrahmanyam

states

identities, as Sanjay Subrahmanyam

munity
fore speak of 'ethnic' rather than regional

and Muzaffar

not to say arti

1998: 64). They do, however,
the composite,
clearly recognize
character of these identities, made up of "a complex mix of local patri
rhetoric and invented genealogies,"
otism, religious
promoted
by the regional
The
is
that
these
identities
interesting point, however,
dynasts.
"depended on the
same
a
at
time sought to define
the
distance from the Mughals,"
and,
Mughals
ficial,

as Subrahmanyam
and Alam put it. In other words, we see here again the old
the
in the
of
the Mughal,
and his truthful naukars, the co-sharers
ruler,
pattern
realm. The old game subtly analysed by Kautilya
still went on, only more vig
than before. But, then, the prizes in the arena had risen spectacularly.
orously
Even if one should want to view the rise of regional identities as the resurgence
of age-old
local traditions, they still owed their vigour to the social dynamics
of Mughal
India.
in Bengal by the
What
put an end to the ancien regime was the take-over
first and last traders was not so unusual. So had the
they were
elite in Bengal also been, except that socially and financially
they were
Mughal
servants were rather despicable
in whose
far greater people
eyes the Company
British.

That

small

fry. What

made

the difference

starting as an admittedly
in the name of the Mughal

although
its coins
government
fairly well

in accordance
into the context

with

was

that the East

somewhat

odd

India Company
state?still

successor

regime,
minting

turned into a European

type
it fitted
'modern.' Originally
empire and benefited not so much

pads hah?was
what
then was

of the Mughal
as from its social dynamics.
In fact, without
these
the empire's weaknesses
was
the
the
stud
British
The
could
have
dynamics
Raj
hardly
emerged.
problem
of the British regime, deviating
ied modernity
from the customary Mughal
type
of governance.
Unlike
the latter, the British regime was impersonal, bound by
from

that was the life-blood

impersonal rules and generally wary of all ambivalence
of the ancien regime. The peasant had to be just that and not also a warrior.
The soldier had to be a strictly disciplined
sepoy and not a freebooting warrior.
And the zamindar had to be only an economic
and juridical owner of land and
no longer a co-sharer in the realm. In the end, the peasantry was disarmed,
the
and
leaders
the
demilitarised,
countryside
depoliticised.
This process
took a long time. But its impact weighed
It destroyed
heavily.
from
the source of the social dynamics
considerable
turmoil, had also
that, apart
seem
it
that
les
Indes
ancien
would
the
Yet,
florissantes.
regime did
produced

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THE SOCIALDYNAMICS OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE 297

some

traces. For instance,

the ambivalence
of the battle
unsuspected
to Dasehra
statues
that we saw likened
the Raj and the Congress
locked in motionless
combat recalls the ancient pattern analysed by Kautilya.
in the first decades
after gaining
the ruling Congress
Similarly,
independence
leave

between

arena rather than a political party. But

in many respects a Kautilyan
if so, the difference was the irretrievable loss of the ancien regime's vital flex
ferocity of its sequel, the
ibility. The price of this loss was the uncontrollable
catastrophe of the Partition. But by now I am vastly exceeding my brief of sim
resembled

of India's ancien regime.

the theme of the social dynamics
ply introducing
in the muddles
of models
Instead I am entangling myself
and grand theory. So
let me return to Dirk Kolff's wise
counsel, warning
against such a deceptive
more
to
rostrum
those
enterprise and leave the
qualified to speak on the theme.

Bibliography
and
Alam, Muzaffar,
Oxford
University
Deleury,
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Heesterman,
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Kolff, Dirk
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the Later

Subrahmanyam,

eds.

1998.

The Mughal

State,

1526-1750.

Delhi:

Paris: Robert
Indes florissantes.
Laffont.
essai sur le systeme des castes. Paris: Edition Gallimard.
hierarchicus,
and Brahmin.
1995. Warrior,
Peasant
Modern
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637-654.
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1991.

Guy.
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Sanjay
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in