THE REIGN OF AKBAR (1556-1605) IT 
know, there is no record showing the extent of the Reserved 
areas at this period, or the number of collectors employed, 
and all that can be said is that the rules applied directly 
only to a portion, and probably a small portion, of the 
Empire, though we may conjecture that indirectly they 
may have set a standard of procedure for the area in the 
hands of assignees. 
In the next place, it ic important to realise that each 
of these chapters has a definite structure, dealing successively 
with different branches of the work, so that each separate 
provision must not be read as applying indiscriminately in 
all cases. The latter course would land us in various con- 
tradictions, a thing being allowed in one place, and pro- 
hibited in another; but, if due attention is paid to the 
context, these apparent contradictions disappear, and we 
find a carefully drafted code of practice, tedious in point 
of detail, and omitting much that we should like to know, 
but, taken as a whole, intelligible, and obviously workable 
by officers familiar with the system and with the technical 
language used in the department. 
The environment in which the code was intended to 
operate is not formally described, but we can discern in its 
provisions the elements of a village such as is familiar in 
later periods, a number of peasants each in separate posses- 
sion of his holding, with one or more headmen occupying 
a privileged position, and with an accountant, the patwadrz, 
keeping records of cultivation, assessment, and collections, 
records which were available to the administration, but 
belonged to the village, and not, as now, to the State. 
The collector’s attitude towards the peasants is defined in 
precise terms. He was to be the peasants’ friend, and as 
such was to be accessible to them without intermediaries. 
He was to treat each peasant as an individual; and, in 
order to be able to do this, he was required to familiarise 
himself with agriculture in its local aspects. He was re- 
quired also to recognise the importance of the headmen 
in developing the village as a productive unit, and, in cases 
where their efforts were successful, he was to allow them a 
share in the results, the proportion of 2% per cent., cal- 
culated on the cultivated area, being suggested as