Economic and Social Life and Cultural Developments Under the Mughals

The Mughal Empire reached the zenith of its economic, social, and cultural development during the first half of the seventeenth century. However, to fully understand this period, we must trace developments from the advent of Akbar to the mid-seventeenth century, as no basic changes in economic or social spheres occurred during the intervening period. The defining feature of this era was a glaring disparity between the ostentatious life-style of the ruling classes and the acute poverty of the peasants, artisans, and labourers.

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Clothing and Basic Needs

Scanty clothing was conventional across South India and was observed by multiple European travellers. Babur noted that "peasants and people of low standing go about naked." Ralph Fitch (late 16th century) confirmed this, and Salbancke remarked that between Lahore and Agra, the poor mostly went naked. De Laet noted that labourers lacked sufficient clothing even in winter.

However, these observations must be treated with caution — European travellers came from colder climates and were unfamiliar with Indian traditions. Cotton production was widely distributed, but cloth was comparatively more expensive than food. The overall impression is one of insufficiency of clothing rather than complete nakedness.

Footwear was almost entirely absent among the poor. Nikitin observed the Deccan people went barefoot. Moreland notes that no shoes were found north of the Narmada, attributable to the high cost of leather.

Food

Rice, millets, and pulses (khicheri) formed the staple diet. Fish was common in Bengal and coastal regions; chapatis of wheat or coarse grains, pulses, and green vegetables were common in north India. The common people ate their main meal in the evening and chewed parched grain during the day. Ghee and oil were cheaper than foodgrains, while salt and sugar were more expensive.

On balance, the common people ate reasonably — more grazing land meant more cattle and dairy products. But famines reversed this position drastically, and there are many accounts of devastating famines where parents sold children and there are even reports of people eating their own kind.

Housing and Furniture

Mud houses in which villagers lived were not different from those at present. Furniture was minimal — cots, bamboo mats, earthen utensils made by village potters. Copper and bell-metal utensils were expensive and not used by the poor.

Income and Real Wages

The standard of living ultimately depends on income and wages. Money hardly entered into transactions in villages — village artisans were paid in commodities fixed by custom. The salary of the lowest-grade servant was less than two rupees a month. Menials and foot soldiers received less than three rupees a month. It has been calculated that a man could feed his family on two rupees a month.

Moreland (writing in the early 20th century) found little change in the real wages of Indian workers over time. He concluded that conditions had not worsened under British rule — but this must be seen in a wider context of overall stagnation compared to rising European real wages during the same period.

The Peasantry

The peasantry was the largest and most exploited class. There were two main types:

• Khudkasht: Peasants who owned the land they tilled; paid revenue at customary rates.
• Pahis: Peasants who did not own ploughs and bullocks, and often tilled the land of zamindars or upper castes, eking out a bare existence. Tulsidas (16th century Hindi poet) described this type of cultivation as "a source of misery."

Famines hit this class and village artisans the hardest. Population at the beginning of the 17th century was about 125 million, with abundant cultivable land. Peasant proprietors (khudkasht) were probably more numerous than pahis and village artisans.

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The Mughal Nobility

The nobility, along with the landed gentry (zamindars), formed the ruling class in medieval India. Theoretically, the doors of the Mughal nobility were open to everyone. In practice, aristocratic families had a decided advantage. The bulk of Mughal nobles were drawn from Turan, and its neighbouring areas — Tajikistan, Khorasan, Iran.

Although Babur was a Turk, the Mughals never followed a narrow racialist policy. From Jahangir's time, Afghans began to be recruited into the nobility. Indian Muslims (Shaikhzadas or Hindustanis) were also given service. From Akbar's time, Hindus — largely Rajputs — were recruited regularly. The Kachhwahas predominated among Rajput nobles. The proportion of Hindus in the nobility under Akbar in 1594 was about 16 percent.

Under Jahangir and Shah Jahan, the proportion of Afghans, Indian Muslims, and Hindus continued to rise. Under Shah Jahan, Hindus formed roughly 24 percent; by the second half of Aurangzeb's reign this rose to 33 percent (though their total number had doubled — Marathas formed more than half the Hindu nobles by then). Jahangir was the first monarch to realise that the Marathas were "the hub of affairs" in the Deccan and tried to win them over. Shahji, father of Shivaji, served Shah Jahan.

The Mughal nobility attained stability under Jahangir and Shah Jahan through careful organisation of the mansabdari system, orderly promotions, and discipline.

Lifestyle of the Nobles

Mughal nobles received extremely high salaries but had extremely high expenses. Each noble maintained:

• A large train of servants and attendants
• A large stable of horses, elephants, and transport of all types
• Large harems of women
• Fine houses with gardens, fruit trees, and running water

According to one account, 40 dishes were prepared for each meal for Akbar. The choicest fruits were imported from Samarqand and Bokhara. Ice was used year-round by the privileged classes. Jahangir introduced the fashion of men wearing costly jewels with ear-piercing.

Presents to the emperor had to be made twice a year, fixed according to the individual's status. Nobles received presents in return.

Despite enormous salaries, most nobles were deeply in debt due to extravagant living. There were no adequate outlets for profitable investment. Abul Fazl advised the nobles to invest a little in commercial speculation and engage in remunerative undertakings. The English factor at Surat noted in 1614 that "large and small are merchants" — members of the royal family, including princes and queen mothers, took keen interest in foreign trade. Akbar's widow, mother of Jahangir, owned ships. Mir Jumla (Aurangzeb's period) owned a fleet carrying on extensive commerce with Persia, Arabia, and South-East Asia.

Property of nobles: When a noble died, a careful inventory was made. The noble generally owed considerable sums to the central treasury, which had to be adjusted before property could be handed to heirs. The emperor reserved the right to distribute the property among the noble's surviving sons. Daughters did not receive a share. Aurangzeb made a rule that properties of nobles who did not owe money to the state were not to be attached.

Zamindars

Personal ownership of land was very old in India. The right of ownership depended mainly on succession, but new rights were being created all the time. The tradition held that whoever first brought land under cultivation was its owner.

The zamindar was not the "owner" of all lands comprising his zamindari. The peasants who actually cultivated could not be dispossessed as long as they paid the land revenue — both zamindars and peasants had their own hereditary rights in land.

For collecting land revenue, the zamindars received a share which could go up to 25 percent in some areas. This was called his talluqa or his zamindari.

Above the zamindars were rajas who dominated larger or smaller tracts and enjoyed varied degrees of internal autonomy. These rajas are also called zamindars by Persian writers to emphasise their subordinate status, but their position was superior to zamindars who merely collected land revenue.

The zamindars had their own armed forces and generally lived in forts or garhis. According to the Ain, in Akbar's reign they had 384,558 sawars, 4,277,057 foot soldiers, 1,863 elephants, and 4,260 cannons — but they were dispersed and could never field such large forces at one place.

Zamindars were generally a very numerous class found all over the country under different names: deshmukh, patil, nayak, etc.

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The Middle Classes: Merchants, Professionals, Officials

The middle classes consisted mainly of merchants, professional classes such as vaidyas and hakims, and officials.

There was a high degree of professionalism among Indian merchants:

• Seth or bohra: Wholesale traders
• Beoparis or banik: Retail traders
• Chettis: Trading community in South India
• Banjaras: Specialised in the carrying trade — moved with thousands of oxen, laden with foodgrains, salt, ghee, etc.
• Sarrafs (shroffs): Specialised in changing money, keeping deposits, lending, or transmitting money through hundis.

The hundi was a letter of credit payable after a certain period. Hundis were cashed at a discount which sometimes included insurance so that the cost of goods lost or destroyed in transit could be recovered. English and Dutch traders who came to Gujarat found the Indian financial system to be highly developed, and Indian merchants to be active and alert.

Factors Promoting Trade Growth

1. Political integration under Mughal rule — established law and order over extensive areas.
2. Uniform tax levied on goods at entry into the empire. Road cesses (rahdari) were declared illegal (though continued by some local rajas).
3. Mughals minted silver rupees of high purity — became a standard coin in India and abroad.
4. Commercialisation of the economy — salaries to standing army and administrative personnel paid in cash; land revenue assessed in cash under the zabti system; about 20% of rural produce was marketed, which was a high proportion.
5. Growth of towns — Agra and Fatehpur Sikri during Akbar's reign were each larger than London. Lahore was second to none in Asia. Ahmadabad was as large as London.

European Trading Companies

The Portuguese power declined in the second half of the 16th century. By the first quarter of the 17th century, both the Dutch and the English had broken the Portuguese monopoly for ever.

Dutch:

• Established at Masulipatam, obtained a farman from Golconda ruler in 1606.
• By 1610 predominated in the spice trade.
• Joined English in exporting calico and indigo from the Coromandal.

English:

• Set up a factory at Surat in 1612 (confirmed by a farman from Jahangir in 1618, with help of Sir Thomas Roe).
• Initially came for the spice trade but were forced by Dutch competition to concentrate on India.
• Developed export of Indian textiles — especially calicoes from Gujarat and Coromandal.
• By 1640, export of cloth from Coromandal equalled that from Gujarat; by 1660 it was three times Gujarat's.
• Also explored Lehri Bandar (mouth of Indus), Bengal (Hoogly, Balasore by 1650), exporting raw silk, sugar, salt petre.
• Salt petre, best quality from Bihar, supplemented European sources for gunpowder.
• Indian textiles became a rage in England by the last quarter of the 17th century. Export of white Indian calicoes jumped from 2½ lakh pieces to 9½ lakh pieces in 1701 and to 20 lakhs in 1719.

The Indian link with world markets via European companies had negative factors too. Europe had little to supply India in return, forcing it to export gold and silver to India — which roughly doubled prices during the first half of the 17th century. Inflation hit the poor hardest.

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Architecture

The Mughals built magnificent forts, palaces, gates, mosques, baohs (water tanks/wells), and laid out formal gardens with running water — a special feature of their style.

Sher Shah gave a new impetus to architecture. His mausoleum at Sasaram (Bihar) and mosque in the old Delhi fort are architectural marvels — the climax of pre-Mughal style and the starting point for the new.

Akbar was the first Mughal ruler to build on a large scale:

• Fort at Agra — built in red sandstone
• Fatehpur Sikri (commenced 1572) — palace-cum-fort complex 36 km from Agra, completed in eight years. Built on a hill with a large artificial lake. Style incorporates Gujarat and Bengal styles — deep eaves, balconies, fanciful kiosks. Gujarati style most widely used in the palace, probably built for his Rajput wife. Persian or Central Asian influence seen in glazed blue tiles.
• Most magnificent structure at Fatehpur Sikri: the mosque and the gateway — Buland Darwaza (Lofty Gate), built to commemorate Akbar's victory in Gujarat. In the style of a half-dome portal — a device borrowed from Iran that became a common feature in Mughal buildings.

Towards the end of Jahangir's reign: Practice of putting up buildings entirely of marble and decorating walls with floral designs of semi-precious stones. This method of decoration — pietra dura — became even more popular under Shah Jahan.

Shah Jahan's architecture:

• Red Fort (Delhi) — climax of fort building.
• Taj Mahal — brings together in a pleasing manner all architectural forms developed by the Mughals. Humayun's tomb (Delhi) is considered a precursor — it had a massive dome of marble and used the double-dome device. The Taj's chief glory: the massive dome and four slender minarets linking the platform to the main building. Decorations kept to a minimum — delicate marble screens, pietra dura inlay work and kiosks (chhatris). The building gains by being placed in a formal garden.
• Moti Masjid (Agra Fort) — built entirely in marble like the Taj.
• Jama Masjid (Delhi) — built in red sandstone with tall, slender minarets and a series of domes.

Aurangzeb was economy-minded and built little, but Mughal architectural traditions (combination of Hindu and Turko-Iranian forms) continued without a break into the 18th and early 19th centuries, influencing palaces, forts, and local kingdoms. Even the Golden Temple at Amritsar, rebuilt several times during the period, was built on the arch-and-dome principle and incorporated Mughal architectural features.

Painting

The Mughals made a distinctive contribution by introducing new themes (court, battle scenes, the chase), new colours, and new forms.

Pre-Mughal tradition: No palm leaves older than the 12th century have survived, but the wall-paintings of Ajanta indicate the tradition's vigour. After the 8th century the tradition decayed, but palm-leaf manuscripts and illustrated Jain texts from the 13th century onwards show it had not died. Provincial kingdoms (Malwa, Gujarat) also extended patronage to painting in the 15th century.

Akbar's painting school:

• Humayun took into service two master painters from the Shah of Iran's court. Under their leadership, during Akbar's reign, painting was organised in the imperial establishments (karkhanas).
• A large number of painters from different parts of the country were invited — many from lowly castes. Both Hindus and Muslims joined from the beginning. Jaswant and Dasawan were two famous painters of Akbar's court.
• Painters were assigned to illustrate Persian books of fables, the Persian text of the Mahabharata, the Akbar Nama, and others. Indian themes and landscapes came into vogue and helped free the school from Persian influence.
• Indian colours (peacock blue, Indian red) began to be used. The somewhat flat effect of Persian style was replaced by the roundedness of the Indian brush, giving pictures a three-dimensional effect.
• European painting was introduced at court by Portuguese priests. Principles of foreshortening (near and distant people in perspective) were quietly adopted.

Jahangir's painting school:

• Mughal painting reached its climax under Jahangir, who had a very discriminating eye. It was a Mughal school fashion for faces, bodies, and feet of people in a single picture to be painted by different artists. Jahangir claimed he could distinguish the work of each artist.
• Special progress in portrait painting and paintings of animals. Mansur was the great name in animal painting.

Post-Jahangir: Tradition continued under Shah Jahan. Aurangzeb's lack of interest in painting led to dispersal of artists to different parts of the country — helping in the development of painting in states of Rajasthan and the Punjab hills.

• Rajasthan style of painting combined themes and earlier traditions of western India or Jain school with Mughal forms and styles. In addition to hunting, battle, and court scenes, it had paintings on mythological themes — the dalliance of Krishna with Radha, Barah-masa (the seasons), Ragas (melodies).
• Pahari school continued these traditions.

Language, Literature, and Music

Persian: Persian remained the language of government at the all-India level. Persian prose and poetry reached a climax under Akbar's reign. Abul Fazl — great scholar, stylist, and historian — set a style of prose-writing emulated for many generations. His brother Faizi was the leading poet of the age. Utbi and Naziri were two other leading Persian poets. By Akbar's time, knowledge of Persian was so widespread in north India that he dispensed with the tradition of keeping revenue records in the local language (Hindavi), though this continued in the Deccan states till the last quarter of the 17th century.

Hindi: Medieval Hindi in the Brij form (dialect of the Agra neighbourhood) was patronised by Mughal emperors and Hindu rulers. From the time of Akbar, Hindi poets began to be attached to the Mughal court. A leading Mughal noble, Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan, produced a fine blend of Bhakti poetry with Persian ideas of life and human relations. The most influential Hindi poet was Tulsidas — used a dialect of Hindi spoken in the eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh around Banaras. He pleaded for a modified caste system based on individual qualities, not on birth.

Regional Languages: Regional languages acquired maturity during this period. The finest lyrical poetry was produced in Bengali, Oriya, Hindi, Rajasthani, and Gujarati. Devotional hymns to Rama were composed. The Ramayana and Mahabharata were translated into regional languages. Both Hindus and Muslims contributed. Alaol composed in Bengali and translated from Hindi the Padmavat, written by a Muslim Sufi saint, Malik Muhammad Jaisi — using the attack of Alauddin Khalji on Chittor as an allegory to expound Sufi ideas on relations of soul with God, along with Hindu ideas about maya.

Sanskrit: Not much significant and original work was done, but the quantity was impressive, mostly in south and east India.

Marathi: Reached its apogee at the hands of Eknath and Tukaram. Eknath's famous assertion: "If Sanskrit was made by God, was Sanskrit born of thieves and knaves? God is no partisan of tongues. To Him Prakrit and Sanskrit are alike. My language Marathi is worthy of expressing the highest sentiments and is rich laden with the fruits of divine knowledge."

Malayalam started its literary career as a separate language in its own right during this period.

Music: Hindus and Muslims cooperated in music. Akbar patronised Tansen of Gwalior, credited with composing many new ragas. Jahangir and Shah Jahan, as well as many Mughal nobles, followed this example. Aurangzeb banished singing from his court (but not performance of musical instruments — he himself was an accomplished veena player). Music in all forms continued to be patronised by Aurangzeb's queens and by the nobles. The largest number of books on classical Indian music in Persian were written during Aurangzeb's reign.

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The Bhakti and Sikh Movements

The Bhakti movement continued apace during the 16th and 17th centuries. Among the new movements was the Sikh movement in Punjab and Maharashtra Dharma in Maharashtra.

The Sikh movement had its origin in the preachings of Nanak, but its development is closely linked to the institution of Guruship. The first four Gurus continued the tradition of quiet meditation and scholarship. The Fifth Guru, Arjun Das, completed the compilation of the Sikh scriptures — the Adi Granth or Granth Sahib. He began to live in an aristocratic style, collected offerings from Sikhs at the rate of one-tenth of their income, and started lofty buildings at Amritsar.

Akbar had been deeply impressed with the Sikh Gurus. A clash began with the imprisonment and death of Guru Arjun by Jahangir on a charge of helping rebel prince Khusrau. His successor, Guru Har Govind, was also imprisoned for some time but was soon set free, and developed good relations with Jahangir. He came into clash with Shah Jahan on a hunting incident. By this time the Guru had a sizeable following including a Pathan contingent. He retired to the Punjab foothills where he was not interfered with.

Thus there was no atmosphere of confrontation between the Sikhs and the Mughal rulers during this period. The occasional conflict between the Gurus and the Mughal rulers was personal and political rather than religious. Despite some display of orthodoxy by Shah Jahan at the beginning of his reign and a few acts of intolerance, he was not narrow in his outlook, which was further tempered towards the end of his reign by the influence of his liberal son, Dara — a scholar and Sufi who got the Gita translated into Persian and whose most significant work was an anthology of the Vedas, in the introduction to which he declared the Vedas to be "heavenly books in point of time" and "in conformity with the holy Quran".

Tukaram of Maharashtra, supreme exponent of Bhakti at Pandharpur, was born a sudra and used to do puja to God with his own hand. Dadu of Gujarat preached a non-sectarian (nipakh) path, refusing to identify with either Hindus or Muslims or to bother with revealed scriptures.

Orthodox Reaction

Raghunandan of Navadwipa (Nadia), Bengal — most influential writer on the Dharamshastras during the medieval period. He asserted the privileges of the brahmanas, stating that none except brahmanas had the right to read the scriptures or preach. He argued that in the Kali age there were only two varnas — brahmanas and sudras.

Ramanand of Maharashtra — while putting forward a philosophy of activism, was equally vehement in asserting the privileges of the brahmanas.

Among Muslims, while the trend of tauhid (unity of God) continued and was supported by many leading Sufi saints, a small group of orthodox ulama reacted against it. The most renowned figure in the Muslim orthodox and revivalist movement was Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi — a follower of the orthodox Naqshbandi school of Sufis. He opposed the concept of pantheistic mysticism (tauhid) and beliefs due to Hindu influence (use of music in religious gatherings sama, excessive meditation, visiting tombs of saints). He demanded reimposition of jizya and a stern attitude towards Hindus.

Jahangir imprisoned him for claiming a status beyond that of the Prophet. His ideas had little impact in his own time. Nor did Aurangzeb pay any special attention to his son and successor.

Assessment

The recurrent cycles of liberalism and orthodoxy in Indian history should be seen against the structure of Indian society — one aspect of the struggle between entrenched privilege and power on the one hand, and the egalitarian and humanistic aspirations of the mass of the people on the other. The liberal thinkers made their appeal to the broad masses; the orthodox elements relied on those who held positions of wealth and power. The prestige and influence of the narrow orthodox elements and their re-assertion of narrow ideas was a barrier to the growing process of rapprochement and tolerance among the votaries of the two dominant religions — a hindrance to cultural integration. The clash between the two trends came to the surface during Aurangzeb's reign.

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• GS Paper I — Social History: The Mughal period illustrates the complexity of Indian social structure — zamindars, khudkasht, pahis, artisans, nobles — relevant to questions on agrarian structure and peasant conditions.
• Continuity vs Change: The Mughal cultural synthesis (Turko-Iranian traditions fused with Indian) represents a defining instance of cultural integration in Indian history — directly relevant to GS Paper I themes on art, culture, and syncretic traditions.
• Role of European Companies: The arrival of the Dutch and English broke the Portuguese monopoly and integrated India into world trade networks — a precursor to colonialism. This is a key interlink between medieval and modern Indian history.
• Women in History: Akbar's widow owned ships; queen mothers took keen interest in trade — evidence of female participation in commerce at the highest levels.
• Bhakti-Sufi and Integration: The tension between liberal Bhakti/Sufi thought and orthodox reaction is directly relevant to questions on communal harmony, cultural synthesis, and its limits.
• Interlinks: Mughal Architecture ↔ Synthesis of Hindu-Turko-Iranian forms | Bhakti Movement ↔ Social Reform | European Companies ↔ Colonial foundations | Zamindars ↔ Agrarian Structure ↔ Mughal Decline

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1. Aurangzeb and music: UPSC loves this trap. Aurangzeb banned singing from his court but NOT performance of musical instruments. He was himself an accomplished veena player. The largest number of books on classical Indian music in Persian were written during Aurangzeb's reign.
2. Composition of Mughal nobility — percentages: Hindus were 16% under Akbar (1594); 24% under Shah Jahan; 33% under Aurangzeb (second half). Do not confuse these figures or attribute them to the wrong emperor.
3. Jahangir vs Akbar on the Marathas: It was Jahangir (not Akbar) who first realised that the Marathas were "the hub of affairs" in the Deccan. Shahji (father of Shivaji) served Shah Jahan.
4. Pietra dura: The practice of decorating walls with floral designs of semi-precious stones began towards the end of Jahangir's reign but became most famous under Shah Jahan (Taj Mahal).
5. Buland Darwaza: Built to commemorate Akbar's victory in Gujarat (not any other campaign). It is the gateway of the mosque at Fatehpur Sikri.
6. Mansur: Famous painter under Jahangir, specialising in animal paintings and portrait paintings — not Akbar or Shah Jahan.
7. Precursor of the Taj: Humayun's tomb is considered the precursor — not Akbar's fort or any structure at Fatehpur Sikri.
8. Guru Arjun — Adi Granth: It was the Fifth Guru Arjun Das who compiled the Adi Granth. Guru Nanak started the movement but did not compile the Granth.
9. Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi: Imprisoned by , not Aurangzeb. His ideas had little impact in his own time. Aurangzeb did NOT follow his son and successor.

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• Glaring disparity: opulent nobles vs impoverished masses — defining feature of Mughal social structure
• Khudkasht (own land) vs Pahis (no land/ploughs) — two types of peasants
• Population at start of 17th century: ~125 million
• Zamindars: NOT owners of all land; had hereditary right to collect revenue (up to 25% in some areas); lived in garhis; had own armed forces
• According to Ain: 384,558 sawars + 4,277,057 foot + 1,863 elephants + 4,260 cannons under Akbar-era zamindars
• Nobility composition: Hindus = 16% (Akbar), 24% (Shah Jahan), 33% (Aurangzeb's 2nd half)
• Jahangir: first to recognise Marathas as "hub of affairs" in Deccan
• Hundi: letter of credit with insurance features; enabled pan-India and international trade
• Banjaras: carrying trade (oxen-based); Sarrafs/Shroffs: banking/money transmission
• Portuguese monopoly broken by Dutch and English by early 17th century
• English factory at Surat: 1612 (Jahangir's farman 1618 via Sir Thomas Roe)
• Calicoe exports: 2.5 lakh (1701) → 9.5 lakh (1701) → 20 lakhs (1719) pieces
• Agra/Fatehpur Sikri under Akbar: each larger than London
• Sher Shah's mausoleum at Sasaram: climax of pre-Mughal style
• Fatehpur Sikri: commenced 1572; Buland Darwaza = Gujarat victory; pietra dura = started by end of Jahangir's reign
• Taj Mahal: pietra dura + double dome + four minarets + formal garden; Humayun's tomb = precursor
• Painting climax: Jahangir's reign; Mansur = animal paintings; foreshortening from Portuguese/European influence
• Aurangzeb: banned singing NOT music; veena player himself; largest number of Persian books on Indian music written in his reign
• Fifth Guru Arjun Das: compiled Adi Granth; started one-tenth offering system
• Guru Arjun: imprisoned and died under Jahangir (charged with helping Khusrau)
• Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi: Naqshbandi Sufi; opposed tauhid; imprisoned by Jahangir; little impact in own time
• Dara Shikoh: Vedas = "heavenly books in conformity with holy Quran"; got Gita translated into Persian
• Tulsidas: Awadhi dialect; caste based on individual qualities not birth; devotion to Rama open to all