Mughal Administration c9.s2.1

c9.s2.1

Hence, the collection of the revenue was always the result of a struggle between the ryot and the sarkār, and the arrears were seldom, if ever, cleared. The next logical step in this vicious circle was for the Government collectors to exact from the ryot, under the name of the never-to-be-extinguished arrears, everything except his bare subsistence. In most parts of Mughal India the ryot was, therefore, in the same condition as the French peasantry in the reign of Louis XV, trying to escape the unjust taille, or the cottier tenants of Ireland perpetually in debt to their landlords.