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

80 THE AGRARIAN SYSTEM OF MOSLEM INDIA change in system, and we may fairly treat the accession of Akbar as the opening of a new period. Akbar succeeded to the throne in 1556, when he was only 14 years old; the period of his personal rule began in 1562, and lasted until his death in 1605. For the present purpose this Jong reign falls into two divisions; up to the 24th regnal year (1579-80) the revenue administration may be described as a series of experiments, while thenceforward the authori- ties indicate that stability of system had been attained, though adjustment of details was still required. Materials for the study of the earlier period are fuller than for any previous reign, and throw light on both the past and the future; but the texts are by no means easy to interpret, and the account which I give in this chapter will be found to differ in some important matters from those which have been furnished by previous writers. The main authorities for the period are the Akbarnima and its concluding section, the Ain-i Akbari, which must be regarded as a distinct, though not unrelated, work. These authorities are official, and in addition to them we have various unofficial chronicles, the most notable of which bear the names of Nizamuddin Ahmad and Badaiini. The unofficial records are indispensable to a correct appreciation of the environment, but they throw little direct light on the details of the agrarian system; a few passages from them will require our attention, but the main lines of the story must be drawn from the official documents. The Akbarnama is a formal chronicle of the reign, pre- pared under the Emperor's orders by Shaikh Abul Fazl, one of the foremost writers of the age, and a man absolutely devoted to his Imperial master; it is characterised by a strongly individual style, and, generally, by a due sense of proportion in regard to subject-matter; and as a piece of literature it must be given a high rank. To the historian, its chief defect is an economy, or, according to some students, an occasional perversion, of the truth, in matters where the naked facts might have been unpleasant to recall; it requires therefore to be read critically in the light of other accounts, but for our purposes this defect is not a very serious matter. The Ain-i Akbari, which in point of form is the

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