The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c22.5

v4.c22.5

Court etiquette required that presents of substantial value should be offered to the emperor on various occasions, and ordinarily these were worth much more than the presents given in return; an idea of their fiscal importance can be formed from the fact that under Shāh Jahān, when the incidence was heaviest, the presents given at the new year, the chief ceremonial occasion, totalled from one to three million rupees in different years, from which must be deducted the value, whatever it was, of what was given by the emperor in return. As regards inheritance, the state claimed all the property left by its officers, and the claim was extended on occasion to the estates of wealthy merchants; anything relinquished for the maintenance of families and dependants was a matter of favour. The whole claim was formally abandoned by Aurangzīb, but there are some indications that his orders were not carried out in their entirety. Income from this source necessarily fluctuated; a particular officer might leave a really large sum, such as Āsaf Khān’s fortune of twenty-five millions of rupees in the reign of Shāh Jahān, but such great accumulations were necessarily rare, while many officers died in debt or left very little for the treasury.