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 195 According to Grant, the history of the Bengal was as follows. (x) About the year 1582, the revenue-Demand on the peasants was fixed in detail by Todar Mal at figures repre- senting one-fourth of the average produce. This set the standard of Demand; and collections were made according to it by zamindars, who were annual contracting farmers, with stated allowances by way of commission, and small estates, their entire legitimate receipts never exceeding ten per cent. of the Demand. (2) This Demand was revised by Shih Shuja in 1658, but its basis was not altered; some accrued increases (of unexplained nature) were incorporated in the figures, and also the Demand on territory annexed by conquest, or transferred to Bengal from other provinces. (3) A similar revision of the Demand was made by Murshid Quli, or Jafar Khan in 1722. (4) Thenceforward, successive levies were made on the zamindars in the form of cesses, the basic Demand re- maining unchanged. If this account is true, then the position which we know existed in the “three Towns” about the year 1700 was almost typical of the general position in Bengal from 1582 to 1722, that is to say, the State’s Demand for revenue was almost unchanged, the recorded increases representing mainly territorial adjustments. Excluding these, the un- explained enhancements were 15% per cent. in the 76 years between 1582 and 1658, and a further 13} per cent. in the next 64 years. If then Grant’s figures represent the De- mand, the enhancement made was almost negligible; and [ gather from his obscure explanation that he understood it to be local, not general, particular areas having been re- assessed for special reasons, so that the bulk of the province would have been paying a fixed Demand, increased only by any exactions made surreptitiously in excess of the authoritative figures. Whether Grant's presentation is correct is a question which I cannot answer with certainty. A definite verdict would have to be based on independent study of his authori- ties, the volumes of old Persian accounts and other documents assessment of

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