History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c12.173

c12.173

Muhammad Tughluq soon after his accession to the throne breathed a new life into the revenue administration. Barani writes that every day a hundred or two hundred farmans were issued which were promptly carried out by the Zamīndārs and provincial governors.⁶⁸ They were sent to the Diwān-i-talab-aḥkām-tauqi‘a which executed them.⁶⁹ The Wazirs, Wālis, and Mutsarifs (treasurers) were required to send to the Diwān-i-Wizārat (minister's office) at Dihli accounts of receipt and expenditure, and no slackness was noticed even in the provinces. Accounts were carefully examined, and not a dang or dirham was left in the balance. No allowance was made for distance, and no insolent or disobedient Khūt (Hindu landholder) was allowed to remain in office. The arrears were collected with great rigour, and a separate officer was appointed to realise them from the *‘āmils.*⁷⁰ This preliminary settlement was followed by the enhancement of tax in the Doab which has been discussed in a previous chapter. For revenue purposes the land was divided into *Shiqs* and over each *Shiq* was placed a *Shiqdār*, whom Barani frequently mentions, to collect the revenue. But from Ibn Batūtah we learn that besides the *Shiqs* there were other divisions for this purpose. The crown lands in the Doab and in the provinces were divided into groups of one thousand villages and one hundred villages each called the *Hazārah* and the *Sadi* respectively.⁷¹ Hājji-ad-Dabīr speaks of *Hazāri* and *Sadi amīrs* in describing the reign of ‘Ala-al-Din (Vol. I, p. 817). Ibn Batūtah speaks of the *Hazārah* of Amroha where he found ‘Aziz Khummār holding the post of *Wāli-i-Khiraj*. His charge consisted of fifteen hundred villages and yielded a total revenue of sixty lakhs out of which he received one-twentieth as his portion.⁷² Ibn Batūtah has given more details about the organisation of the *Sadi*. He writes: ‘*Sadi* in that country (Hindustan) denotes a group of one hundred villages. Every *Sadi* has a Chowdhri who is a respectable man chosen from among the Hindus and a *mutsarif* who collects taxes.’⁷³ The *Shiq* was a larger division than either of the two, for Barani writes that the entire Maratha country was divided into four *Shiqs*. In the Provinces, of course, the revenue was collected by the Viceroys who paid to the state the surplus which remained, after deducting the cost of establishment sanctioned by the Sultan. The farming system was in vogue, and sometimes fiefs were given to the highest bidders irrespective of their means or capacity for payment.