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 III. The Sayyid and Afghan dynasties

Collection:: Economics Books

THE SAYYID AND AFGHAN DYNASTIES 77 that under Sher Shah the unit of measurement in use was that of Sikandar Lodi, and we know also the relation of this unit to that of Akbar; there is, I think, a definite pre- sumption that the schedule relates to the Sikandari bigha, but I have found no authority to show the precise unit of weight which was in use at this time. We cannot then use the schedules to calculate the productivity of the soil under Sher Shah; but we can see that, whatever the units, the suitability of the rates must be judged, firstly, by the standards of yield, and, secondly, bv the area over which they were applied. On the first point, the terms “good,” “middling,” and “bad” are obviously not based on any scientific distinction, but indicate working by rule of thumb; men of practical knowledge and experience might reach in this way a figure which would approximate very closely to a true average, men without the requisite qualifications might go very widely astray; and the only thing to be said is that Sher Shah, who personally administered his kingdom in great detail, was certainly not a fool, and had practical knowledge of the agriculture of at least one corner of his dominions. On the second point, it is uncertain! whether this schedule applied originally to the whole kingdom, or whether it is one of several local schedules, subsequently selected for general application under Akbar. In general application it broke down, as we shall see in the next chapter; but it might have lasted for Sher Shih’s reign of only five years, and there is nothing in his character inconsistent with the idea that he may have imposed a general schedule on the entire kingdom. Apart from his action in regard to assessment, Sher Shah appears to have initiated no large changes of system. Assignments continued to be granted, as we know from various incidental references,? and there is no suggestion of any alteration in the conditions attaching to them; while the reign was, perhaps, too short for the emergence of such difficulties in regard to their Valuation as were to 1 The enclytic -# which is attached to the word schedule is ambiguous. It would be idiomatic to render it as the schedule, implying that there was only one; but it can be read also as a schedule, suggesting that it was one of several. 2 E.g. Elliot, iv. 415, where one officer is mentioned as holding the sarkar of Sirhind, and another held Kant and other parganas in Rohilkhand.

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