The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c22.41

v4.c22.41

We now pass from assessments to assignments. In the opening years of Akbar's reign, officers were ordinarily remunerated by assignment, and a difficulty emerged which must always have been latent in the system. An eastern autocrat was bound to be liberal, if he was to retain the services of an adequate and competent staff; and liberality was even more indispensable in the case of an autocracy in the making, the position which Bairam Khān as regent for Akbar had to face. It is no matter for surprise therefore that the cost of establishment should have grown more quickly than the resources of what was a relatively small empire, and that the Revenue Ministry should have found itself unable to make assignments sufficient to cover the salaries granted by the regent. The way in which the difficulty was met was characteristic of the times. For the purpose of allocating assignments the Ministry maintained registers, which may be called "the Valuation of the Empire", or more shortly, "the Valuation", showing the income which each local area might be expected to yield, one year with another, to the assignee. When orders for assignments could not be met in full, the figures in the valuation were arbitrarily raised, so that the orders could be carried out on paper, but the assignee would in fact be unable to realise the income to which he was entitled. The inevitable result was dissatisfaction throughout the staff of the empire, and corruption inside the Ministry.