The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c11.s3.4

c11.s3.4

To the contemporary chronicler these prices were quite low and fluctuation, not even of a *dang* (small copper coin), was ever allowed whether in seasons of drought or of plenty. Indeed the low and fixed prices in the market were considered to be one of the wonders of the age. But when a husbandman paid half of his hard earned produce in land tax, some portion of the remaining half in other sundry duties, and then was compelled to sell his grain at cheap rates to the governments,⁵⁰ it does not speak well of the general condition of the peasantry in those days.⁵¹ They could never have been happy in selling their grain cheap in the open market nor to the government itself at fixed rates without making profit. Profit is the greatest incentive to production, but it was completely checked by Alauddins market regulations and the peasants seem to have lived a life of monotony and low standard.