The agrarian system of Moslem India

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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 II. The 13th and 14th centuries

Collection:: Economics Books

THE 13tH AND 1l4tH CENTURIES 31 that they should have enough to live on in comfort, but they should not have much more. It may fairly be said then that Balban had grasped the main principles of rural economy in an Indian peasant-State, at a period when the environ- ment afforded little scope for individual advance; he aimed at a peaceful and contented peasantry, raising ample produce and paying a reasonable revenue; and he saw that it was the King’s duty to direct the administration with this object in view. 3. ALAUDDIN KHALJI (1296-1316) In the year 1296, Alauddin obtained the throne of Delhi by the murder of his uncle, the reigning King, and con- solidated his position by lavish distribution of the wealth he had obtained by his raid into the Deccan! Just at first, he appears to have thought that a kingdom so obtained would stand of itself; but from a succession of revolts in the opening months of his reign he learned the need for vigorous ad- ministration, and thenceforward he stands out as a strong and absolutely ruthless ruler, intent only on the security of his throne and the extension of his dominions. The changes made by him in the agrarian system did not arise from any economic, still less any philanthropic, motive, but were inspired solely by political and military con- siderations. Personally he was unpopular, at the outset he had no trustworthy body of nobles or officers on whom to rely, nor could he count on the support of orthodox Moslems ; his subjects were ready to rebel, while the Mongols, massed on the Indus, constituted a perpetual danger on the frontier. The need for security, internal as well as external, was thus the dominant note of his policy, and extension of the kingdom was deliberately postponed until he judged that he was safe at home. ! The narrative in the text is based entirelv on Barni (241 ff.), who wrote from personal knowledge, and who condemns some portions of Alauddin’s conduct severely, while he praises certain of his measures. He may fairly be regarded as impartial, at least in intention; and, from the form in which he gives the King’s regulations, I judge that he must have had access to the official records, or else had preserved copies of some important documents. His chronology is difficult, for dates are often wanting, and his narrative does not always follow the order of time; but close reading usually makes it possible to ascertain the sequence of events though not the actual dates

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