Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India c8.s7.8

c8.s7.8

Where the ruling elite itself was not the trader, it collected imposts on manufactures and customs on sale. Duty on manufacture of high quality products was called *jihat*, and the remainder was known as *sair-jihat*, a term used in the *Ain-i-Akbari* for all kinds of sundry taxes other than land revenue.²⁰⁰ *Sair-jihat* formed an important source of income of the Mughal state as it included taxes on sale of cloth, oil, grains, articles of food, horses, camels and animal skins. There was a regular staff of police and revenue officials to guard and protect the markets and to collect taxes in them. So far as the rate of customs duty is concerned, Akbar charged at the rate of 2½ per cent. This rate seems to have continued during the reigns of Jahangir and Shahjahan and also Aurangzeb, but under him for Muslims only. From 1665 Hindu merchants paid 5 per cent and the Muslim 2½ per cent. Thevenot who arrived in 1666 found that the Christians paid 4 per cent and the Hindus (Banians) 5 per cent.²⁰¹ In 1667 the Muslim merchants were exempted from the payment of customs duties altogether.