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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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter VII. The outlying regions

Collection:: Economics Books

THE OUTLYING REGIONS 199 me much more probable that this peculiar feature of Bengal developed gradually under the pressure of exceptional circumstances, until figures which were originally prepared for use in granting Assignments became eventually a stan- dard of the recurring Demand on the Intermediaries, not liable to alteration, but liable to be supplemented by cesses in the way that Grant describes. There is no doubt that the fixed ideas which Grant brought with him from Hydera- bad to Bengal coloured the whole of his work in the latter province, and, as I have said above, I have had no oppor- tunity of checking his interpretation of the statistics by the documents which he used; what I have attempted is to offer an hypothesis of his account, which may perhaps be of assistance to students of any local records of the period that may still survive. On this hypothesis, we may say provisionally that, when Bengal was annexed by Akbar, there were some Chiefs, and some old-established Farmers, how many we cannot say, both classes paying fixed sums by way of Demand; and that, apart from the areas so held, the officials or assignees dealt with the villages either through Farmers or through the headmen. The Valuation of the province, made primarily for administrative use, came, in the absence of any other data, to set the standard of the Demand made by the State, and the officials came, as Shore stated, to occupy the position of Farmers, paying the amount of the Valuation, and making what they could. As time went on, the distinction between Chiefs, Farmers, and officials disappeared, because there was in fact no difference in the incidents of the various positions, and all alike came to be known as zamindars. The English records already quoted suggest that this transition may have been complete by the end of the seventeenth century, but their application is litnited to so small an area that further evidence is required for a conclusion on this point. While, however, the Demand on the Intermediaries was not formally varied, they were not allowed to retain the entire profits resulting from the restoration and development of commerce which occurred in the second half of the seventeenth century; the existing Demand was supplemented by cesses, which were increased

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