THE SAYYID AND AFGHAN DYNASTIES 77 
that under Sher Shah the unit of measurement in use was 
that of Sikandar Lodi, and we know also the relation of 
this unit to that of Akbar; there is, I think, a definite pre- 
sumption that the schedule relates to the Sikandari bigha, 
but I have found no authority to show the precise unit of 
weight which was in use at this time. We cannot then use 
the schedules to calculate the productivity of the soil under 
Sher Shah; but we can see that, whatever the units, the 
suitability of the rates must be judged, firstly, by the 
standards of yield, and, secondly, bv the area over which 
they were applied. 
On the first point, the terms “good,” “middling,” and 
“bad” are obviously not based on any scientific distinction, 
but indicate working by rule of thumb; men of practical 
knowledge and experience might reach in this way a figure 
which would approximate very closely to a true average, 
men without the requisite qualifications might go very 
widely astray; and the only thing to be said is that Sher 
Shah, who personally administered his kingdom in great 
detail, was certainly not a fool, and had practical knowledge 
of the agriculture of at least one corner of his dominions. 
On the second point, it is uncertain! whether this schedule 
applied originally to the whole kingdom, or whether it is one 
of several local schedules, subsequently selected for general 
application under Akbar. In general application it broke 
down, as we shall see in the next chapter; but it might have 
lasted for Sher Shih’s reign of only five years, and there 
is nothing in his character inconsistent with the idea that he 
may have imposed a general schedule on the entire kingdom. 
Apart from his action in regard to assessment, Sher Shah 
appears to have initiated no large changes of system. 
Assignments continued to be granted, as we know from 
various incidental references,? and there is no suggestion 
of any alteration in the conditions attaching to them; 
while the reign was, perhaps, too short for the emergence 
of such difficulties in regard to their Valuation as were to 
1 The enclytic -# which is attached to the word schedule is ambiguous. 
It would be idiomatic to render it as the schedule, implying that there was 
only one; but it can be read also as a schedule, suggesting that it was one 
of several. 
2 E.g. Elliot, iv. 415, where one officer is mentioned as holding the 
sarkar of Sirhind, and another held Kant and other parganas in Rohilkhand.