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 III. The Sayyid and Afghan dynasties

Collection:: Economics Books

THE REIGN OF AKBAR (1556-1605) 91 and consequently there would be no record of any special orders on the subject. In general terms, then, we may say that in practice the State continued to take some share in the benefits and the burdens which in theory had been entirely shifted to the peasant. Such is my reading of the history of assessment in the older provinces during this reign. A uniform set of grain- rates per bigha, valued first at uniform, and then at local, prices, gave way to local grain-rates valued at local prices; and, when commutation broke down, schedules of cash- rates were fixed on the basis of past experience, which lasted, so far as we know, for the remainder of the reign. The theoretical basis of the revenue-Demand, one-third of the average produce, remained intact; the changes made were matters of administration, determining only the methods by which the Demand was calculated. It should, however, be added that our knowledge of the last decade of Akbar’s reign is imperfect. The historical account in the Ain stops abruptly at the 24th year; the Akbarnama, which carries the story further, becomes less detailed after the 43rd, when its author was sent on service to the Deccan, and breaks off in the 46th year, when he was murdered ; while the ‘“com- pletion” of the work, prepared by a later writer, is very concise and pays no attention to agrarian topics It is possible then that definite changes may have been made during this period, or else, what I think is more probable, that a gradual evolution may have been in progress, but on these points speculation is useless. One important question remains: Did these assessment rates apply to the whole area of the provinces, Assigned as well as Reserved, or only to the portion administered directly by the Revenue Ministry? We have seen in the last chapter that under the Lodi dynasty assignees had in practice entire freedom in regard to assessment; I have found nothing to show whether this freedom lasted into Akbar’s reign, or had been curtailed under Sher Shah. It is clear, however, that the second, or ganiingo-rates, directly affected assignees, because their complaints about delay in commutation are specifically recorded (Ain, i. 348); and a passage in the Akbarnama (iii. 381) makes it quite

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