THE REIGN OF AKBAR (1556-1605) 99 
mainly of procedure. The Emperor authorised Grants, 
in cash or in land, at his pleasure, just as he made appoint- 
ments or promotions; but in the former case his orders were 
carried out, not by the Revenue Ministry, but by the high 
officer of State designated Sadr. The administration of 
this department has a chequered history! into which it is 
unnecessary to enter; periods of liberality, or even prodi- 
gality, were punctuated by spasms of economy, but on the 
whole the amount of revenue which was alienated in this 
way was substantial. The tenure of such Grants can be 
described only as “during pleasure”; many of them were 
intended to last for a life, or for more lives than one, but a 
change of policy, or even of personnel, might in practice 
be followed by annulment or drastic reduction, as the 
passages quoted by Blochmann show. 
A further distinction in the procedure was that, while 
Assignments were made in terms of Income, Grants of land 
were made commonly in terms of area. A claimant was 
sranted so many bighas of land in a specified locality, and 
the local officials were then directed to demarcate the land, 
and put him in possession. The procedure in force at this 
period can be studied in a series of documents? which have 
been preserved in a Parsi family in Gujarat. In some of 
these documents the Grant is strictly personal, while others 
are drawn in favour of the grantee ‘with his children,” a 
phrase which is open to more than one interpretation, but 
which certainly indicates a grant for two lives at least. 
One interesting detail which emerges from these documents 
is the fact that, between the 4oth and the 48th regnal years, 
Akbar had issued a general order reducing by one-half all 
the Grants of land for maintenance existing in the province 
of Gujarat, action which furnishes definite proof of the con- 
clusion expressed above that the tenure was strictly “during 
pleasure’: while the instances of confirmations or renewals. 
' The procedure is described in Ain, i. 198, and the history summarised 
in Blochmann’s note (i. 270 ff.) on his translation of the chapter. Allow- 
ances in cash were at this period designated wazifa, while Grants of land 
were milk or madad-t ma'ash. 
? For these documents see S. H. Hodivala, Studies tn Parsi History, 
1o7 ff.; J. J. Modi, The Parsees at the Court of Akbar, J.R.A.S. (Bombay), 
1902, pp. 69 fi.; and A Farman of Emperior Jahangir. sdem, 1920, pp. 
410 fF.