126 THE AGRARIAN SYSTEM OF MOSLEM INDIA 
may have varied from time to time, this statement applies 
in general terms to the whole of the period under considera- 
tion. It may be worth while to summarise at this point a 
sketch of the financial history of the century which 1s given 
in the biographical dictionary! known as the Maasir-ul 
Umra: it is not a first-hand authority for this period, and 
the exact figures may be open to question; but the matter 
contained in the sketch is not likely to have been invented, 
and probably it represents the truth in substance, if not in 
every detail. According to this authority, under Akbar 
the rapidly increasing Imperial expenditure was more than 
covered by the growth of the Empire, and reserves in cash 
were accumulated. Jahangir neglected the administration, 
fraud became rife, and at last the annual income from the 
Reserved tracts fell to 50 lakhs of rupees, while the annual 
expenditure was 150 lakhs, and the accumulated treasure 
was drawn on for large sums. Shahjahan. on his accession, 
put the finances on a sound basis: he reserved tracts cal- 
culated to yield 150 lakhs as income, fixed the normal 
expenditure at 100 lakhs, and had thus a large recurring 
balance for emergencies. Expenditure rose far above this 
limit, but careful administration raised the reserved income 
to 300 lakhs (the figure given above) by 1647, and to nearly 
400 lakhs by the end of the reign. Aurangzeb at first 
endeavoured to maintain the balance between income and 
expenditure, but his long wars in the Deccan were ruinous, 
and at his death only 10 or 12 krors of rupees were left in 
the treasury, a sum which was rapidly dissipated by his 
SUCCEeSSOrS. 
So far as Jahangir is concerned, this account is closely 
in accordance with what we know from the chronicles, 
and from the observations of foreign residents in India. 
For the latter part of his reign, he left the administration 
entirely in the hands of his wife and her brother, a position 
which would naturally result in extravagance and in- 
efficiency; and his detachment from financial questions is 
apparent in the silence of his Memoirs as to what was going 
I Maasirulumra, II. 813 ff. The bibliographical note in Elliot (viii. 
1 87) shows that the authorship of the dictionary is composite, but no part 
of {t is earlier than the eighteenth century, and it was compiled in the 
Deccan not in Northern India.