The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.420

v3.c20.420

We now return to the movements of Muhammad Tughluq, who retired from Warangal to Bīdar, of which city and province he appointed Shihab-ud-dīn governor, conferring on him the title of Nusrat Khān. This appointment marks the introduction of the pernicious system, which was soon to become general, of farming the revenue. Muhammad’s lavish profusion and wild and disastrous schemes of conquest so impoverished him as to render him desperate, and the system of farming the revenue was introduced with the object of wringing from the wretched cultivator the utmost farthing. His experience in the Gangetic Doāb should have taught him the axiom that there is a point beyond which demands cannot be raised, and that human beings will not labour to till the soil unless they are allowed to retain a proportion of its fruits sufficient to maintain life. In the later years of the reign no experienced and conscientious official would enter into the unholy competition for governorships, for the government of districts and provinces was virtually put up to auction, and he who promised to pay the largest annual sum to the treasury obtained the prize. The successful bidders were usually men of mean origin, devoid of knowledge, experience, and compassion, who, without staying to consider what men could or would pay, made the most extravagant promises, only to discover that they could not meet their obligations. It was well known that the king would make no allowance for circumstances, and the defaulter was left with no remedy but rebellion.