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 I. Antecedents

Collection:: Economics Books

ANTECEDENTS I7 early attempt was made to introduce such differential scales in the Moslem kingdom of Delhi is a question which I cannot answer, because I have found no record of the scales of Demand before the year 1300; but Alauddin Khalji about that year followed what I take to be the Hindu practice in demanding a uniform share of one-half in all cases; in later times Sher Shah and Akbar also followed the Hindu practice; and the earliest differential scale of which I have found clear evidence in Moslem India! was that which was introduced in the Deccan by Murshid Quli Khan in the middle of the seventeenth century. It is true that a differential scale is recommended in a Sanskrit work, the Sukraniti,® the text of which has been used as an argument to establish the view that the practice was part of the Sacred Law. This work is, however, com- paratively modern; the references to artillery which it contains show that, in its present form, it belongs to the Moslem period; and so far as I can find, there is nothing in it inconsistent with the view that it was compiled in the seventeenth century, when a differential scale had in fact been introduced in India. The passage is, I think, best read as an attempt to combine the two methods. The traditional uniform share of one-sixth is duly preserved, but its application is limited to barren and rocky soils; while for more productive land, higher shares, varying from a half to a quarter, according to the source of water, are recommended as the basis of assessment. That is probably the work of a writer who knew the Sacred Law, but at the same time was familiar with a modern practice. In any case, the differences which have been described are matters of detail, and it may fairly be said that the agrarian system which we find in operation in the fourteenth century was, in its essential features, in harmony with the law of Islam, and also with the Sacred Law of Hinduism, so that the conquerors had little more to do than give 1 Mr. Ishwari Prasad states (Medieval India, p. 46) that a differential scale was introduced by the Arabs in Sind during the eighth century. [I have not traced the details of this arrangement in the chronicles, and I do not know how long it lasted, but I think it must be regarded as an episode. * Translated by S. K. Sarkar, Allahabad, 1914, p. 148.

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