The agrarian system of Moslem India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1804119261

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-188010

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Moreland, William Harrison http://d-nb.info/gnd/172263670

Title:: The agrarian system of Moslem India

Edition:: 2. ed. Reissue (d. Ausg. Cambridge) 1929; [Reprint]

Place of publication:: Delhi

Publisher:: Oriental Books, Munshiram Manoharlal

Year of publication:: 1968

Scope:: XVII, 296 S.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter I. Antecedents

Collection:: Economics Books

6 THE AGRARIAN SYSTEM OF MOSLEM INDIA of assessment and collection. This is precisely the ground- work of the system which we find in operation in Moslem [ndia from the thirteenth century onwards; but we find also various developments of practice, which in fact furnish the origin of nearly all the tenures existing in Northern India at the present day. In the next section I attempt to set out the logical relations of these developments to tLe fundamental structure. 2. DEVELOPMENTS OF THE FUNDAMENTAL RELATION THE primitive method of realising the King’s share by dividing the produce of each peasant persisted in Northern [ndia into modern times, as between landholder and tenant, on a scale which renders possible a precise appreciation of its advantages and drawbacks. It works best when the area. to be covered is so small that the claimant can transact his business in person: its efficiency falls rapidly with the increase in the area over which his claim extends. This result follows from certain physical causes which have operated more or less steadily throughout the historical period, and owing to which crops ripen simultaneously over large areas, while the produce may deteriorate very rapidly between ripening and storing. It is quite safe therefore to infer that a King with an extensive territory had to face substantially the same difficulty as would confront a large landholder at the present day, either to employ expensive and wasteful staff for the few harvest- weeks, or to lose a substantial portion of his claim owing to deterioration of the produce while it is waiting to be divided; and nearly all the variations in practice with which we are concerned may be attributed to endeavours to find a more satisfactory method. For the purposes of study it is convenient to classify the various developments into two groups. In the first, the direct relation between the State and the individual peasant is maintained, but the assessment of the State’s share is separated from the collection: in the second, the State ceases to deal directly with individual peasants, and operates through Intermediaries of various kinds.

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: The agrarian system of Moslem India

Monograph

Chapter

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

Chapter

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation