Question

Read the following source carefully and answer the questions that follow:

A warning for Europe Bernier warned that if European kings followed the Mughal model: Their kingdoms would be very far from being well-cultivated and peopled, so well built, so rich, so polite and flourishing as we see them. Our kings are otherwise rich and powerful, and we must avow that they are much better and more royally served. They would soon be kings of deserts and solitudes, of beggars and barbarians, such as those whom I have been representing. (the Mughals) .... We should find the great Cities and the great Burroughs (boroughs) rendered uninhabitable because of ill air, and to fall to ruine (ruin) without anybodies (anybody) taking care of repairing them; the hillocks abandon’d, and the fields overspread with bushes, or fill’d with pestilential marishes (marshes), as hath been already intimated.

1. Mention any one prominent contribution of Bernier. (1)
2. How did Bernier describe the difference between the European kingdom and the Mughal territories? (1)
3. Explain Bernier’s views on the socio-economic status of people under Mughal rule. (2)

Answer 1

1. One of Bernier’s major contributions was his detailed description of Mughal India, in which he critically compared Indian society with European standards. His accounts offered early European readers insights into Indian administration, economy, and social life, and played a role in shaping Western views of the East.
2. Bernier considered European kingdoms to be more advanced, wealthy, and efficiently governed than Mughal domains. He claimed that Mughal territories were badly administered, sparsely populated, and in decline, whereas Europe had well-planned cities, efficient public services, and prosperous societies ruled by strong monarchs.
3. He portrayed the social and economic conditions of people under Mughal rule as miserable. According to him, the population lived like beggars and barbarians in decaying towns and swampy areas, suffered due to poor administration, and showed little initiative in developing or maintaining urban infrastructure.