History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c7.70

c7.70

The contemporary chronicler Barani takes a gloomy view of the Sultan's policy and writes: "Another measure which conduced to the ruin of the country and the people was the taxation in the Doab, which was increased ten and twenty times. To put into effect this scheme of the Sultan, his Kārkuns created such awābs or cesses as broke the backs of the ryots. These awābs were demanded with such rigour that the ryots were reduced to impotence, poverty and ruin. Those who were well off and owned property became rebels. The land was ruined and cultivation was greatly diminished. The ryots of distant provinces, having heard of the fate of the people of the Doab, through fear of similar demands being made from them, withdrew their allegiance and sought shelter in the woods. The decline of cultivation, the ruin of the ryots, the failure of the convoys of corn from distant provinces produced a famine in Dihli and its neighbourhood and the country of the Doab. Rain did not fall at the same time and the famine continued for several years. Thousands of people perished of want and communities were scattered and households were broken up. The glory of the empire of Muhammad began to decline from this time.⁴² An important question for consideration is the actual enhancement ordered by the Sultan. The India Office MS. of Barani as well as other MSS. that I have utilised have خراج ولایت دواب يكي به ده و يكي به بيست مييارد شد which literally interpreted means that the Sultan raised the Khiraj of the Doab ten and twenty times.⁴³ The Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi also has يكي به ده يكي به بيست but to this increase in the land tax are added the ghari (house tax) and the Charāhi (pasture tax) which had been levied by ‘Ala-al-Din previously. A census of the residential houses was taken and the cattle were branded. The produce was estimated, and the market rates were fixed by the Sultan. These regulations weighed heavily upon the people who drove away their cattle into the jungles for purposes of grazing.⁴⁴ Badaoni copies the Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi, but instead of يكي به ده يكي به بيست he writes:—