द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

INTRODUCTION 15
time in bringing a large portion of the country under one
rule in the fourteenth century but it was reserved for the
Moghul kings to unify the country and usher in a new era
of all-round progress. During the sixteenth and seventeenth
century under the rule of the Moghul emperors, India once
again reached the pinnacle of progress and prosperity. The
greatest of them was Akbar, who ruled in the latter half of
the sixteenth century. The great merit of Akbar was not only
the political unification of the country, but what was perhaps
more important, the working out of a new cultural synthesis
—in order to reconcile the new stream of culture with the old
—and evolve a new culture.¹ The state machinery which he
built up was also based on the whole-hearted co-operation of
the Hindu and Mohammedan communities. The last great
emperor among the Moghuls was Aurangzeb who died in
1707 and after his death the empire began slowly to break up.
From the above historical narrative it will be evident that
democratic republican forms of government existed in India
in the ancient times. They were usually based on a homo-
geneous tribe or caste. In the Mahabharata these tribal
democracies are known as Ganas.² Besides these full-fledged
republics, in monarchical states also, the people enjoyed a
large measure of liberty, as the king was virtually a con-
stitutional monarch. This fact, which has been consistently
ignored by British historians, has now been fully established
through the researches of Indian historians. Besides political
matters, in other matters also, the people enjoyed a large
measure of liberty.
Indian literature from the earliest times abounds in
references to public bodies called ‘Paura’ and ‘Jānapada.’
The former correspond to our modern municipalities—while
the latter probably mean non-urban public bodies of some
sort. Moreover, owing to the existence of caste, the people
were self-governing in social matters, through a system of
¹ Akbar even attempted to bring about a synthesis of religions. He
evolved a new religion on an eclectic basis and called it ‘Din Ilahi.’ He
had many supporters during his lifetime but after his death the new
religion lost all following.
² As late as 1927 the writer has personally seen such institutions flour-
ishing among the Khasi tribe in Assam in North-East India.