History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c38.s1.5

v3.c38.s1.5

Several of these had been abolished by Firuz Tughlaq as early as the 14th century and by Akbar about a hundred years before Aurangzib; but they had evidently been reimposed by later rulers, or had crept in through the illegal greed of the revenue underlings and local officials and landlords. Khafi Khan (ii. 88) says that nearly eighty cesses were abolished by Aurangzib, though he mentions only fourteen of these by name. He admits however, that they were continued by faujdars and zamindars in the far-off provinces in secret defiance of the Emperor's orders, and that only the *pandari* or ground-rent for the stalls in the open bazars at the capital and other large towns was really given up. The octroi duty on tobacco was abolished about 1666,* as it was an article of universal consumption and the tax was a