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

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter VII. The outlying regions

Collection:: Economics Books

THE OUTLYING REGIONS 185 practised in the Deccan. The old-established unit of assessment was the plough; ‘each headman or peasant who, with one plough and team, cultivated what area he could, and sowed what crop he chose, paid a small sum for each plough”; the amount demanded for a plough differed ac- cording to the pargana, and no enquiry was made as to the yield. It may be questioned whether this statement is precisely applicable to the entire region, because uniformity over so large an area is somewhat improbable, while it is at variance with the traditional accounts of Malik Ambar’s reforms in Ahmadnagar; but we may reasonably infer that plough-rents, the existence of which can be traced into the British period, were at this time the prevailing system in a large part of the Deccan! Murshid Quli Khan did not abolish plough-rents altogether, but he introduced Sharing and Measurement as alternatives, so that he had three methods in all, applied doubtless in accordance with local conditions—the backward tracts assessed on the plough, the more developed villages by one of the new alternatives, but with a definite preference for Measurement. The system of Sharing now introduced was that which I have described in Chapter I as ““ differential,” that is to say, the share claimed was not uniform for all crops, but differed with circumstances. For crops depending on rain, the State took one-half the produce; for crops irrigated from wells, the claim was one-third for grain, while high-grade crops, such as sugarcane or poppy, were charged at varying rates from one-fourth downwards to one-ninth according to variations in the cost of production; and lastly, for crops irrigated from canals the rates varied somewhat from those for wells, but are not stated in figures. [n Measurement, on the other hand, all crops were charged at cash-rates, on the basis of one-fourth of the produce valued at local prices. In the conditions prevailing in this region, where rains-crops cover most of the area, a marked inducement was thus offered to accept Measurement {1 have not traced independent evidence to show that plough-rents orevailed in Khindesh or Berir, but, if they did, the fact would not be inconsistent with the statement that assessment by masaq was the rule in these provinces under Akbar; the headmen, or farmers, might agree to pay a lump sum for the village, and distribute it over the peasants on the basis of ploughs, instead of cultivated area, or gathered produce.

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