228 THE AGRARIAN SYSTEM OF MOSLEM INDIA 
10. He used to say that you ought not to take all at once so 
much that neither the established cultivation should be main- 
tained nor any extension be made in the future. 
1x. When kingdoms are obviously ruined (literally, are ruined 
and show themselves ruined) it is due to the oppressiveness of 
the revenue and the excessive royal demand, 
I2.. and ruin proceeds from destructive Muqtis and officials. 
13. Also with regard to the exaction of revenue from the 
peasants Sultan Tughlaq Shah used to give instructions to all 
the Muqtis and governors of the territories of the kingdom, 
14. that the Hindu should be kept in such a condition that 
he should not become blinded and rebellious and refractory 
from excessive affluence, 
15. and that he should not be compelled by poverty and 
destitution to abandon cultivation and tillage. 
16. The observing of the standards and principles mentioned 
in collecting the revenue can be carried out by typically eminent 
statesmen and experts, 
17. and the essence of the art of statesmanship in regard 
to Hindus(4) is the fulfilment of the aforesaid instruction. 
18. Further in regard to the collection of revenue it is related 
of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq Shah, who was a very experienced, 
far-sighted, and prudent sovereign, 
19. that he urged on the Mugqtis and governors investigation 
and consistency in the collection of revenue, 
20. so that Chiefs and headmen should not impose a separate 
assessment on the peasants apart from the king's revenue; 
2X. and if their own cultivation and pasturage be not brought 
under assessment, perhaps their perquisites as Chiefs and 
headmen, on the supposition that they pay nothing on this, 
may suffice them and they may make no additional demand. 
22. It cannot be denied that abundant responsibilities rest 
on the neck of Chiefs and headmen, so that if they too con- 
tribute a share in the same way as the peasants, the advantage 
of being Chief or headman would disappear. 
23. And as for those among the amirs and maliks (5)whom 
Sultin Ghiyasuddin advanced, and to whom he gave iqtas 
and provinces, 
24. he used not to hold it permissible that they snould be 
brought before the Ministry just like (ordinary) officials(6)