34 THE AGRARIAN SYSTEM OF MOSLEM INDIA 
that their object was realised. As the result of some years’ 
continuous effort, the Chiefs, and the headmen of parganas 
and villages, were impoverished and subdued; there was no 
sign of gold or silver in the houses of the “Hindus”; the 
Chiefs were unable to obtain horses or weapons; and their 
wives were even driven by poverty to take service in Moslem 
houses. We may suspect some rhetorical exaggeration in 
the language of the chronicle; but the success of the King’s 
policy seems to be established by the fact that, six years 
after its adoption, his kingdom was at peace, and he was 
able to detach strong armies for his long-meditated project 
of the conquest of the Deccan. Nor is there any record of 
serious internal revolt during the remainder of his reign; 
and we may fairly accept the inference that, for the time 
being, the Chiefs were set aside, and the Administration 
was brought into direct relations with the peasants through- 
out a large part of the kingdom. 
The extent of country over which these regulations 
operated is not entirely clear. The chronicler gives (p. 288) 
a long list ot provinces, but, as commonly happens with such 
lists, some of the names are corrupt; and. in the absence 
of any definitive text, there is no certainty that others may 
not have dropped out in the course of copying. Taking the 
list as it stands, we learn that the regulations were applied 
by degrees to Delhi, the River Country, and the rest of the 
Doab. To the East, Rohilkhand was included, but not 
Awadh or Bihdr; to the South, portions of Malwa and 
Rajputana were included, but not Gujarat; while on the 
West, all the Punjab provinces are indicated with the 
exception of Multin. So summarised, the list inspires some 
confidence, because it covers the centre of the kingdom and 
omits the outlying provinces; but, as I have just said, the 
possibility remains that some of the omissions may be the 
work of copyists. Even, however, if the list has not been 
accidentally cwurtailed, it represents a very large adminis- 
trative achievement on the part of the Deputy-Minister, 
Sharaf Qai, to whose efficiency the chronicler pays a glowing 
tribute. 
The establishment of direct relations with the peasants 
sver this large area must necessarily have involved a rapid