Chapter IV. 
The Reign of Akbar (1556-1605) 
[ 
INTRODUCTORY 
THE suggestion which was made in the last chapter, of a 
measure of administrative continuity throughout periods 
of violent political change, applies to the first episode of 
Mogul rule (1526-1540). There is nothing in the literature 
to indicate that either Babur or Humayiin made any altera- 
tions in the agrarian system of northern India, and the few 
references I have traced to the subject suggest that they 
accepted what they found. We read of Babur distributing 
Assignments among his followers very shortly after the 
battle of Panipat,! and his own summary account of the 
kingdom? must have been based on Indian records, for it 
notes that Mewat had not been administered by his pre- 
decessor, while the statement that 8 or g krors, out of the 
total of 52, related to ‘‘parganas of Rais and Rajas, who, 
as obedient from of old, receive allowance and maintenance’ 
is definite evidence of continuity. Humayiin® confirmed 
the Assignments which had been given by his father, and 
we hear of his granting new Assignments in Bengal and 
elsewhere; Khondamir’s account of the reconstruction of 
the central administration, though it mentions revenue- 
business as being placed in charge of one of the four Ministers, 
suggests no change in the actual work of the Ministry; and 
[ have found no single passage to indicate any material 
alteration in the arrangements. The few months in 1555-6 
which constituted the second portion of Humaytiin’s reign 
obviously afforded no opportunity for the introduction of a 
! Gulbadan, 11b. 
t Baburnama, 520. The figures given by Babur are described in the 
Persian version as jama (idem, App. P., liv.), and possibly he was quoting 
the Valuation which was in force at the time of his conquest: jama is the 
regular term for Valuation. 
3 Gulbadan. 20b, 158. Elliot, v. 123, 141. 
~~