The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c28.47

v3.c28.47

It was at Kondapalli that Mahmūd Gāvān's plan for the partition of the four great *tarafs* or provinces of the kingdom was completed. As Telingāna had been divided into the two provinces of Rajamundry and Warangal, so Berar was divided into those of Gāwīl, or northern, and Māhūr, or southern Berar; Daulatābād into those of Daulatābād on the east, and Junnār on the west; and Gulbarga into those of Belgaum on the west and Gulbarga on the east. At the same time the powers of the *tarafdārs* or provincial governors were curtailed in many ways. Many of the *parganas*, or sub-districts, in the provinces were appropriated as crown lands and removed from the jurisdiction of the governor, and all military appointments which had formerly been part of the governor's patronage, were, with the exception of the command of the principal fortress in each province, resumed by the king. Allowances for the maintenance of troops, whether in cash or in grants of land, had hitherto been calculated at the rate of 100,000 huns for five hundred and 200,000 for 1000 horse. These sums were now raised to 125,000 and 250,000, but on the other hand a system of inspection and control was introduced, and deductions were made on account of men not regularly maintained and mustered. These reforms were most unpopular. The older nobles disliked them because they curtailed the power and diminished the wealth of the provincial governors, and all resented the curtailment of opportunities for peculation. They rendered their author more odious than ever to the Deccani faction, headed by Malik Hasan, who had been the first to suffer by them.