The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c11.s2.5

c11.s2.5

Still conditions did not become unbearable all at once. Natures bounty to some extent compensated for the cruelty of the king. If the regime was extortionist, heavy rains sometimes helped in bumper production. Babur noted that Indias crops are all rain grown.²⁵ Farming in north India depended upon the monsoon rains coming from the Bay of Bengal. Artificial irrigation was there on a very limited scale, for irrigation is not at all a necessity in cultivating crops and orchards. Autumn crops (*Kharif* season) grow by the downpour of the rains themselves; and strange it is that spring crops (*Rabi* season) grow even when no rain falls. Young trees are watered during two or three years after which they need no more (watering)²⁶ as the ground gets soaked with rain in the monsoon season. Ibn Battuta gives a detailed description of the crops grown in India and adds: The grains that have been described are *Kharif* grains. They are harvested 60 days after sowing. Thereafter *Rabi* grains like wheat, barley and massoor are sown. These are sown in the very same field in which *Rabi* grains (are harvested). The soil of this country is very fertile and is of excellent quality. Rice is sown three times in the year. Production of rice is the largest in the country. Sesame and sugar-cane are also sown with *Kharif*.²⁷ Shams Siraj Afif writes that when, during the monsoon season, there were spells of heavy rains, Sultan Firoz Tughlaq appointed officers to examine the banks of all the water courses and report how far the inundations had extended. If he was informed that large tracts had been made fertile by the spread of waters, he was overwhelmed with joy. But if any village went to ruin (on account of floods), he treated its officials with great severity.²⁸