THE REIGN OF AKBAR (1556-1605) 91 
and consequently there would be no record of any special 
orders on the subject. In general terms, then, we may say 
that in practice the State continued to take some share in 
the benefits and the burdens which in theory had been 
entirely shifted to the peasant. 
Such is my reading of the history of assessment in the 
older provinces during this reign. A uniform set of grain- 
rates per bigha, valued first at uniform, and then at local, 
prices, gave way to local grain-rates valued at local prices; 
and, when commutation broke down, schedules of cash- 
rates were fixed on the basis of past experience, which lasted, 
so far as we know, for the remainder of the reign. The 
theoretical basis of the revenue-Demand, one-third of the 
average produce, remained intact; the changes made were 
matters of administration, determining only the methods 
by which the Demand was calculated. It should, however, 
be added that our knowledge of the last decade of Akbar’s 
reign is imperfect. The historical account in the Ain stops 
abruptly at the 24th year; the Akbarnama, which carries 
the story further, becomes less detailed after the 43rd, when 
its author was sent on service to the Deccan, and breaks off 
in the 46th year, when he was murdered ; while the ‘“com- 
pletion” of the work, prepared by a later writer, is very 
concise and pays no attention to agrarian topics It is 
possible then that definite changes may have been made 
during this period, or else, what I think is more probable, 
that a gradual evolution may have been in progress, but 
on these points speculation is useless. 
One important question remains: Did these assessment 
rates apply to the whole area of the provinces, Assigned as 
well as Reserved, or only to the portion administered directly 
by the Revenue Ministry? We have seen in the last 
chapter that under the Lodi dynasty assignees had in 
practice entire freedom in regard to assessment; I have 
found nothing to show whether this freedom lasted into 
Akbar’s reign, or had been curtailed under Sher Shah. 
It is clear, however, that the second, or ganiingo-rates, 
directly affected assignees, because their complaints about 
delay in commutation are specifically recorded (Ain, i. 348); 
and a passage in the Akbarnama (iii. 381) makes it quite