The Revenue System
The revenues of the Mughul Empire may be grouped under two heads-central or imperial and local or provincial. The local revenue, which was apparently collected and spent without reference to the finance authorities of the central government, was derived from various minor duties and taxes levied on “production and consumption, on trades and occupations, on various incidents of social life, and most of all on transport”. The major sources of central revenue were land revenue, customs, mint, inheritance, plunder and indemnities, presents, monopolies and the poll-tax. Of these, land revenue formed, as in old days, the most important source of the State income.
The important revenue experiments of the Surs were undone in the period of confusion and disorders following the reigns of Sher Shah and Islam Shah. But the old machinery of government and the time-honoured customs and procedures must have been inherited by Akbar, who found at his accession three kinds of land in the country–the Khalsa or crown-lands, the Jagir lands, enjoyed by some nobles who collected the local revenues, out of which they sent a portion to the central exchequer and kept the rest for themselves, and the Sayurghal lands, granted on free tenure. After securing his freedom from the influence of Bairam and that of the ladies of the harem, Akbar realized the importance of reorganizing the finances of his growing empire, which were in a hopelessly confused state. Thus in 1570-1571, Muzaffar Khan Turbati, assisted by Raj, Todar Mall, prepared a revised assessment of the land revenue, “based on estimates framed by the local Qanungoes and checked by ten superior Qanungoes at headquarters”. After Gujarat had been conquered, Todar Mall effected there a regular survey of the land, and the assessment was made “with reference to the area and quality of the land”. In 1575-1576 Akbar made a new and disastrous experiment by abolishing the old revenue areas and dividing the whole of the Empire, with the exception of the provinces of Gujarat, Bengal and Bihar, into a large number of units, each yielding one kror (crore) a year, and placed over each of them an officer called the Krori, whose duties were to collect revenues and encourage cultivation. But the Kroris soon grew corrupt and their tyranny reduced the peasants to great misery. Their offices were, therefore, abolished and the old revenue divisions were restored, though the title of Krori continued to survive at least till the reign of Shah Jahan.
Important revenue reforms were introduced in 1582, when Todar Mall was appointed the Diwan-i-Ashraf. Hitherto assessments were fixed annually on the basis of production and statistics of current prices, and the demands of the State thus varied from year to year. Todar Mall established a standard or “regulation” system of revenue-collection, the chief features of which were (i) survey and measurement of land, (ii) classification of land, (iii) fixation of rates. Lands were carefully surveyed, and for measurement the old units, whose length fluctuated with the change of season, were replaced by the Ilahi Gaz or yard, which was equal to about thirty-three inches, tanab or tent-rope, and jarib of bamboos joined by iron rings, which assured a constant measure. Land was classified into four classes according to “the continuity or discontinuity of cultivation”: (i) Polaj or land capable of being annuAlly cultivated, (ii) Parauti or land kept fallow for some time to recover productive capacity, (iii) Chachar or land that had lain fallow for three or four years, and (iv) Banjar or land uncultivated for five years or longer. Only the area actually cultivated was assessed, and, in order to ascertain the average produce of land belonging to each class, the mean of the three grades into which it was divided was taken into consideration. The demand of the State was fixed at one-third of the actual produce, which the ryots could pay either in cash or in kind. The cash rates varied according to crops. This revenue system, as applied to Northern India, Gujarat, and, with some modifications, to the Deccan, was rayatwari, that is, “the actual cultivators of the soil were the persons responsible for the annual payment of the fixed revenue “. In the outlying portions of the Empire, this system was not applied, but each of these was dealt with as local circumstances required.
For purposes of administration and revenue collection, the Empire was divided into subahs, which again were subdivided into sarkars, each of which in turn comprised a number of paraganas. Each paragana was a union of several villages. The amalguzar or revenue-collector in charge of a district was assisted by a large subordinate staff. Apart from the village Muqaddam (headman) and the village Patwari, who were servants of the village community and not of the State, there were measurers and karkuns, who prepared the seasonal crop statistics; the Qanungo, who kept records of the revenue payable by the villages; the Bitikchi or accountant; and the Potdar or district treasurer. These officers were instructed to collect revenue with due care and caution and “not to extend the hand of demand out of season “. The Emperors were for ever ” issuing orders to their officers to show leniency and consideration to the peasants in collecting the revenue, to give up all abwabs and to relieve local distress “. There are instances in the reigns of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb of extortionate revenue officials and even provincial governors being dismissed on complaints being made against them by the subjects to the Emperors. Though the lower revenue officers, especially those in the outlying provinces and districts, were not above corruption and mal practices, “the highest were, on the whole, just and statesmanlike” with few exceptions.
The success or failure of the revenue system thus organized must have depended on the quality and nature of the administration at the centre, and evils could not but appear when the administrative machinery was getting out of gear in Aurangzeb”s reign. But on the whole its principles were sound and “the practical instructions to the officials all that could be desired “. The ryots got a certain amount of security and the fluctuations of the State revenue were prevented, or at least minimized. Further, the ryots were not evicted from their holdings for default of payment, and the “custom of payment by the division of the crop”,
The Provincial Government
In 1579-1580 Akbar divided his Empire into twelve provinces, the number of which rose to fifteen towards the close of his reign, to seventeen in the reign of Jahangir and to twenty-one in the time of Aurangzeb. “The administrative agency in the provinces of the Mughul Empire was an exact miniature of the Central Government.” The Governor (styled the Sipah Salar, Commander-in-Chief, or Sahib Subah, Lord of the Province, or simply Subahdar, and officially described as the Nazim) was the head of the civil as well as military administration of each Subah. He had a staff of subordinate officers; under him, like the Diwan, the Bakhshi, the Faujdar, the Kotwal, the Qazi, the Sadr, the Amil, the Bitikchi, the Potdar and the Waqa-i-navis. The Diwan or revenue-chief of a province often acted as the rival of the Subahdar. Each was enjoined ” to keep a strict watch over the other so that none of them could grow over-powerful.
