The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c11.79

c11.79

There was nothing in these methods which could be repugnant to Islamic law. Sharing was the same as *kharāj-i-muqāsimah*. Appraisement was only a development of sharing; it was technically called *hazr*.⁵ The Muslims had come to recognize a custom which had grown up under the Abbasids called *kharāj-i-muqāṭi'ah*, under which the peasant paid a sum of money or a quantity in kind fixed for a term of years.⁶ This says that it was no longer necessary to take into account calamities and differentiate between the areas which had produced a harvest and those which had not.¹ This is really an important statement, and in spite of its cryptic nature shows that not only was the area where the crops had failed set apart so that no revenue be charged on it, but some allowance was also made for partial failure.² The method of leaving a margin in favour of the peasant was not unknown as is shown by Sher Shāh's maxim that one should be liberal at the time of assessment and strict at the time of collection; but it is doubtful if no concession followed a moderate assessment at the time of collection.³ It was also necessary for the state to compile schedules for different regions giving the standard demand for each.⁴ These schedules must have been based on past experience and revised from time to time. A schedule of Sher Shāh has been preserved by Abū'l-Faḍl.⁵ Former schedules which have perished must have contributed to the knowledge of subsequent administrators. An examination of Sher Shāh's schedule shows that the state demand was based on average produce. This was calculated by adding the best, the middling and the lowest yields and dividing the total by three.¹ It was the existence of such schedules in local areas which made it possible to valuate whole parganahs for the purpose of assignments. Besides, ‘Abbās Sarwānī mentions a very significant fact. “Before Sher Shāh’s time,” says the chronicler, “it was not the custom to measure the land, but there was a qānūngū in every parganah, from whom was ascertained the present, past and probable future state of the parganah.”² This statement may be regarded as true for the period just preceding Sher Shāh’s reign, and the method was probably taken over by the Mughuls under Bābur and Humāyūn. The qānūngū must have possessed statements showing the areas cultivated, the crops grown, and, what is more important, the average yield per unit area of the various kinds of land.³ On the basis of these schedules, a fairly equitable assessment could be made without fresh measurement, for reasonably full data must have been available. It is quite obvious that there must have been different schedules for the different parts of the sultanate. A single schedule could not work for regions which differ so greatly in the nature of soil, rainfall and other climatic conditions.