Mughal Administration c14.s5.t2.15

c14.s5.t2.15

This was quite different from the *mahal* of *Kathra-i-parcha* mentioned in the *Mirat-i-Ahmadi* (ii. 179) as one of the sources of State income in Gujrat. It meant the custom duty on cloth, and this meaning comes out clearly from its popular title, *mahal-i-sad-panj*, or the branch of five per cent, because in Aurangzib’s reign the rate of duty on goods sold was 5 per cent for the Hindus, 3½ per cent for the Christians and at first 2½ per cent, then nothing for the Muslim traders.