I don't know what you mean by rich; maybe people in India had it better than most Europeans back in the day. India is huge and has a long history. Heck, I don't know my own history that well!
But most Europeans struggled even during the medieval period because of ongoing wars between feudal lords. This is what Europeans suffered under, and it seems as if nothing has changed. Even here in America our contract with the government has been broken, and we are now back to this:
" fief (/fiːf/; Latin: feudum) was the central element of feudalism. It consisted of heritable property or rights granted by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty (or "in fee") in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the personal ceremonies of homage and fealty. The fees were often lands or revenue-producing real property held in feudal land tenure: these are typically known as fiefs or fiefdoms. However, not only land but anything of value could be held in fee, including governmental office, rights of exploitation such as hunting or fishing, monopolies in trade, and tax farms.(wiki)