The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c11.s3.1

c11.s3.1

We have earlier referred to the problem of collection of arrears. When agriculture was almost entirely dependent on rainfall and land tax was uniformly high, it was not possible for the peasants to pay their revenue regularly and keep their accounts ever straight with the government. The revenue used to fall into arrears. From the study of contemporary sources it is almost certain that there were hardly any remissions - even against conversion to Islam. Muslim rulers were very keen on proselytization. Sultan Firoz Tughlaq rescinded *Jiziyah* for those who became Muhammadan.⁴¹ Sometimes he also instructed his revenue collectors to accept conversions in lieu of *Kharaj*.⁴² Rajas and Zamindars who could not deposit land revenue or tribute in time had to convert to Islam.⁴³ Bengal and Gujarat provide specific instances which go to show that such rules prevailed throughout the Muslim-ruled regions.⁴⁴ But remissions of *Kharaj* were not allowed. On the other hand arrears went on accumulating and the kings tried to collect them with the utmost rigour. In the Sultanate period there was a full-fledged department by the name of the *Diwan-i-Mustakharaj*. The work of this department was to inquire into the arrears lying in the names of collectors (*Amils* and *Karkuns*) and force them to realize the balances in full.⁴⁵ Such was the strictness in the Sultanate period. Under the Mughals arrears were collected with equal harshness. The system then existing shows that the peasants were probably never relieved of the burden of arrears. In practice it could hardly have been possible always to collect the entire amounts and the balance was generally put forward to be collected along with the demand of the next year. A bad year, therefore, might leave an intolerable burden for the peasants in the shape of such arrears. These had a natural tendency to grow It also seems to have been a common practice to demand the arrears, owed by peasants who had fled or died, from their neighbour. And peasants who could not pay revenue or arrears frequently became predial slaves.⁴⁶