The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c22.55

v4.c22.55

The lack of contemporary information regarding Jahāngīr's revenue administration continues during the reign of his successor. It is known that Shāh Jahān reorganised the finances of the empire, and provided that sufficient areas should be reserved for the treasury to yield a recurring surplus after ordinary expenditure had been covered. It is known also that he devoted his personal attention to finance, and that he gave liberal rewards to collectors who had been successful in working up the revenue of their circles. Further, it is recorded that he issued general orders on the revenue system, but the text of these has not been found, and the extant description of them is too vague and eulogistic to be of any value to the historian. The nature of the system favoured by him can, however, be inferred from documents of the early years of Aurangzīb, which will be noticed below; briefly, it may be said that the general rule was to assess the village through the headmen at a sum calculated to yield the equivalent of from one-third to one-half of the produce, and that this rule applied, at least formally, to assigned as well as reserved areas. Assignment continued to be the prevalent practice, and in 1647, the twentieth year of the reign, revenue aggregating 190 millions of rupees was assigned, while thirty millions were reserved for the treasury. No records have survived to show how these figures were calculated, but the most probable view is that the valuation of the empire had been kept up to date in the Ministry, so that general re-valuations, such as had been made under Akbar, were no longer required, the figures for each local area being revised from time to time in the light of recent experience.