History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c45.s9.13

v3.c45.s9.13

In 1671 an ordinance was issued that the rent-collectors of the Crownlands must be Muslims, and all viceroys and taluqdars were ordered to dismiss their Hindu head clerks (peshkars) and accountants (diwanian) and replace them by Muslims. As the official historian of the reign exultantly points out, "By one stroke of the pen he dismissed all the Hindu writers from his service." (M.A. 528.) It was found impossible to run the administration after dismissing the Hindu peshkars of the provincial governors, but in some places Muslims replaced Hindu kroris (district rent-collectors). Later on, the Emperor yielded so far to necessity as to allow half the peshkars of the revenue minister and paymaster's departments to be Hindus and the other half Muhammadans.[*]