Question

Examine Bernier’s opinion on the question of land ownership in Mughal India and how Western economists were influenced by Bernier’s description.

Answer 1

Bernier’s Opinion on Land Ownership:

• Absence of Private Property: Bernier argued that Mughal India did not have private ownership of land. The emperor was considered the owner of all land and allotted it to nobles, who were not allowed to pass it on to their descendants.
• Negative Impact on Economy: According to Bernier, the lack of permanent land ownership reduced incentives for long-term investment in agriculture, resulting in stagnation of farming and overall economic decline.
• Peasant Misery: He described the severe suffering of peasants under oppressive governors and heavy taxation. Many peasants faced starvation, were forced to sell their children into slavery, or abandoned their fields out of desperation.
• Contrast with Europe: Bernier praised the European system of private land ownership, arguing that it created a class of landlords who invested in land improvements, thereby increasing productivity and prosperity.
• Warning for Europe: He cautioned European rulers against adopting the Mughal land system, warning that it would lead to ruined states marked by poverty and desolation.
• Influence on Western Economists – Montesquieu’s Oriental Despotism: Bernier’s ideas influenced Montesquieu’s theory of “oriental despotism,” which portrayed Asian rulers as exercising absolute power over a submissive population. The absence of private property was a key feature of this model.
• Karl Marx’s Asiatic Mode of Production: Bernier’s observations also shaped Marx’s concept of the “Asiatic mode of production.” Marx believed that in pre-colonial India, surplus was controlled by the state, and land was held communally within village communities under imperial authority.
• Perception of India: These interpretations presented Indian society as static and despotic, lacking the growth and dynamism associated with Western capitalist economies based on private land ownership.

Bernier’s depiction of land relations in Mughal India strongly influenced European thought. His criticism of royal land ownership reinforced European ideals of private property and contributed to long-lasting colonial stereotypes about India’s economic backwardness and political despotism.