Revenue System of Akbar

[Muhammad T S Awan]

AoA, I was going through some old papers and found some pages of my notes of History of Indo Pakistan. Today got time so typed out revenue system of Akbar, which goes as under. You people may like to add/modify it to suit your own selves by putting some excerpts of historians and their names... :


Introduction

S.M. Akram has expressed, 'he was the real builder of the Mughal empire and laid down the principles and formulated policies, which except for occassional modifications and minor adjustments, became basis for the British administration.'

Akbar's review system was more prominent feature of his administration to be followed for a long time, even after the downfall of Mughals with some adaptations. Akbar's accession to the throne marked a new era in the history of administrative reforms. Like evreything else the revenue department also felt the master's touch. During early years of his rule, he made several experiments in this field but didn tget much success. Ultimately, the system, which he introduced with the help of Raja Todar Mal succeded, this system has been called Dahsala system.

Historical Background:

In 1560 Akbar appointed Abdul Majeed Khan as Diwan (Finance Minister). He could not achieve any appreciable success. He was replaced by Aitemad Khan in 1563. He separated the Khalsa lands (of emporeor) from the jagirdari lands. In 1564, Muzaffar Khan was appointed in place of Aitmad Khan. He appointed ten senior qanungoes and got prepared as estimate of the total revenue which was called Hal-i-Hasil. The estimate was not enitrely correct and brought about no useful change. Shahabuud-Din Ahmed Khan, who took over in 1568, restored to Nasq and Kamkut systems by which a range estimate of produce was prepared and revenue was called through land lords and other middlemand.

In 1570, Muzaffar Khan in his second tenure restored back the system based on Hal-i-Hasil and improved it further. Jagirdari lands were also brought under this system, the record, of the quality of land, its produce and revenue prices and others were also fixed under this system, this also provided basis on which Dahsala system was introduced.

Revenue System:

Raja Todar Mal was appointed as Diwan-i-Ashraf in year 1582. He and his deputy, Khwaja Jahan Shah Mansur thoroughly reorganized the revenue system. Historians have expressed different opinions regarding this system, however, the majority of historian agree on the following features of this system:

i). Instead of a hampen rope, the land was measured by bamboo which were joined by iron rings

2). One unit of land was called bigha, which was 60 yards

3). In the beginning Gaz-i-Sikandari was used for measures but later Gaz-i-Ilahi was instroduced.

4). The land was divided into four categories in the polaj land, the chachar land, the parauti land and the banjar land

5). The average yield per bigha of each kind of land in respect of every crop was ascertrained seperately in every pargana on the basis of past ten years produce. That produce was the Mughal rule and later British also adopted it with some modificaitons. Besides it was even better than British revenue system as S.M. Ikram has expressed that 'the British paid special attention towards revenue administration and introduced many improvements, but i can be said without injustie that on certain important points the Mughal system was superior to that of British which evolved over a long period.

Conclusion:

Due to this system, peasants were prosperous and happy. They had to pay fixed revenue for ten years and if they could produce more by their efforts, they were free to draw its advantages.

Notwithstanding the system has been praised by most of the historians but some historians have pointed out two defects of this Dahsala system of Akbar. Firstly, the revenue officers were corrupt and Akbar could not save the cultiavators from their oppression. Seondly, the revenue was quite high. But these defects have mostly been pointed out by British historians who did not wish that the revenue system under British be lowered downin efficiency when compared with system of Akbar. The charges of corruption and excessive burden on the peasantry are not sound. Akbar encouraged produced and helped in the growth of trade and industry, that is why, though Akbar engaged himself constantly in aggressive warfare, his treasury remained fully. Even in present times the revenue system which is in practice in subcontinent bears many marks of the Akbar's revenue system.
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[venom]

Please share some data on Akber's religious policy and its motives.

[Muhammad T S Awan]

@ venom, if i found it, for sure, i will be sharing considering time constraints.