History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v1.c12.69

v1.c12.69

This utter absence of system and principle in revenue matters laid the peasantry open to the caprice and extortion of the petty collectors. The long wars of Mughal aggression and a succession of rainless years, completed their ruin. The oppressed ryots fled from their homes, the deserted fields lapsed into the jungle; many once flourishing villages became manless wildernesses. Shah Jahan had reduced the revenue of Khandesh to one-half in 1631, but even this amount was never fully realised before Murshid Quli’s time.