Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c10.s1.5

v1.c10.s1.5

Such, too, was the case with Asaf Jāh. His *diwān* Muhammad Hāshim Khāfi Khān [ii. 748] reports from personal knowledge: "The former *subahdār* Dāud Khān (Pani) had laid the foundation of the illegal innovation (*bidat*) of exacting *ziladāri*, amounting to nearly eighty *lakhs* of Rupees, from the *zamindārs* and *ryots* of the *parganahs* of *subahs* Khāndesh, Bālāghāt and others, for himself with the assistance and concert of the Marātha troops,—with whom he was as thick as milk and sugar. Afterwards, (on the Nizam's first coming to the Deccan) when the collectors told him about it and asked his permission to levy this cess, he altogether abolished it. Nay more, he used constantly to urge his revenue officers to write to the *āmils* of the parganahs and mahals of his jāgir that they must remember that no ābwāb or cess forbidden by the Emperor should be collected even to the extent of a farthing (dām.) Such was this great man's compassion on the condition of the common people''.