The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c22.9

v4.c22.9

The Mughuls did not, as has sometimes been suggested, introduce a new revenue system into northern India; they took over the system which they found in operation, a system which in its main lines was consistent with Islamic law, as well as with the sacred law of Hinduism on which it was ultimately based. Under the sacred law occupation of land for production involved a liability to pay a share of the produce to the state, which determined within certain limits the amount of the share, and regulated the methods of assessment and collection. Under Islamic law a conqueror was authorised to dispossess infidel occupants, and distribute their lands among his followers; but if he permitted the infidels to remain in possession, as was usually done in India, he was entitled to claim from them a share of the produce, to be assessed and collected as he thought best, and to be applied for the benefit of Muslims in general, or in practice as the revenue of the state which he established. Thus the ordinary Indian peasant was not necessarily affected by conquest; he remained on the land, but he came under a new master, who might possibly increase his burdens, or more probably fall in for the moment with the arrangements which he found in existence. Under this system there were three questions of immediate interest to both the parties—the amount of the share claimed by the state, the method of its assessment, and the arrangements for collecting the sums due; these three points will be noticed in order, but something must first be said of the position occupied by the peasant.