The agrarian system of Moslem India

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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

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter III. The Sayyid and Afghan dynasties

Collection:: Economics Books

THE SAYYID AND AFGHAN DYNASTIES 69 would necessarily be hampered. At this time Delhi had been cut off from the coast for a century or more, and the cumulative effect of reduced supplies of treasure must have been important. How long the order remained in force is uncertain; we know, as will be seen in the next chapter, that cash collections were the rule in the beginning of Akbar’s reign, but I have found no indication of the date when they were reintroduced. In assessment, as distinguished from collection, the assignees appear to have had at this time a perfectly free hand, at least in practice; on no other theory is it possible to understand the proceedings of Farid Khan, the young Afghan who, some years later, was to drive the Moguls out of India, and ascend the throne with the title of Sher Shah. In the reign of one of the Lodi kings, that is, some time before the year 1526, Farid Khan was appointed to manage two parganas held by his father in Assignment, and he set to work to increase the prosperity of the holding by means of just administration! He found the land held partly by peasants and partly by Chiefs; the former he regarded as the true source of prosperity, the latter as dangerous nuisances. His first step was to give the peasants their choice as to the system on which the Demand should be assessed. It is significant that they were not unanimous on this question; some wished to pay by Measurement, others by Sharing, and Farid let them do as they chose. Having decided this, his next step was to protect the peasants from extortion on the part of the chaudhri, or pargana-headman, and the mugaddam, a term which had now become definitely specialised to denote the headman of a village. We have seen in the last chapter that Alauddin had aimed at 1 Farid’s proceedings are described in the Tarikh-i Sher Shahi (Elliot, iv. 312). The text of this chronicle is fluid, as explained by Dowson; the MSS. I have seen are an inferior lot, but they support Elliot's version of this passage. The precise date is uncertain: Farid lost the management in the reign of Ibrahim (1517-1526), but it is not clear how long he held it, and his initial proceedings may belong to the time of Sikandar. 2 We now meet new names for the different methods of assessment. Measurement is denoted by jarib, Sharing by ¢ismat-1 ghalla. The account in the text differs in some points from that given in Professor Qanungo’s Sher Shah (Calcutta, 1921); the differences are explained in J.R.A.S. 1926, p. 447 ff.

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