Foreign travelers described Indian masses in extreme poverty contrasting tiny elite luxury. Commoners lived in mud huts with thatched roofs and no furniture beyond pots. Peasants went naked except for loincloths and barefoot. Daily food was rice, millet, pulses, rarely meat or spices. Wages for diamond miners and unskilled workers barely subsistence or lower. GDP per capita in India substantially below England's by 1600 AD. Large population drove Malthusian decline in per-capita output before British rule. 80-85% of Indians dependent on agriculture versus under half in Europe by 1700. Agricultural productivity per capita declined from 1600 due to population growth. Famines and epidemics routinely devastated rural life. Slavery widespread in Mughal India like serfdom in medieval Europe. European accounts show English commoners with chimneys, glass windows, beds, pewter unlike Indians. Indian wages hovered at subsistence from 1600s per 7500+ data points. Economic divergence from Britain underway by 1600, mostly British growth. Maddison GDP shares mislead as they proxy population not prosperity. Elites' luxury misleads on masses' privations.