The Agrarian System of Moslem India: A Historical Essay with Appendices c19.17

c19.17

There is nothing in the Āīn to suggest that Akbar’s Revenue Ministry accepted the *Institutes* as authoritative, or indeed had even heard of them. The work is not mentioned in the historical essay on taxation (i. 289), where we should expect to meet it, while the fact (if it be a fact) that a translation had to be made in the reign of Shāhjahān suggests that nothing of the kind existed previously. There are no grounds, therefore, for the view that Todar Mal used the *Institutes* as his guide; and all that can be said is, that, if he knew of their existence, he departed widely from their provisions in his practice.