How would you describe the behaviour of the Maharaja's minions towards him? Do you find them truly sincere towards him or are they driven by fear when they obey him? Do we find a similarity in today's political order?
The Maharaja's servants, like the servants of all rich and powerful men, have no real attachment for him. They neither love him nor do they respect him. Still, they never fail to carry out all his orders to the letter. This so because they are mortally afraid of him. Out of this fear, they always try to please him by catering to all his whims. The trick adopted by the dewan is a case in point. The king was in a terrible rage as he could not find the hundredth tiger to be shot by him. The dewan had an old tiger brought from the People's Park in Madras. He took it to the forest where the Maharaja was hunting so that the Maharaja could kill his hundredth tiger. The dewan took all this trouble to satisfy the Maharaja's whim. But he did this not out of any love or respect for him, but out of fear of being sacked or punished by the Maharaja. Today's political order appears to be based on the same relationship between the leaders and their blind, slavish follower.
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