Mughal Administration c9.s3.1

c9.s3.1

The natural tendency of the ryot to withhold or refuse the payment of revenue and the failure of the State to give him a clean slate every three or five years by writing off his arrears, were the chief causes of trouble in the Mughal revenue department. The evil was aggravated by the greed of the revenue underlings and of some of the Emperors even. When I discuss the list of ābwābs or unauthorized exactions from the people in Mughal times, the reader will perceive the wonderful fertility of the human brain in devising means for squeezing money out of the people,—at birth, throughout life, and even after death. Several of these ābwābs were not directly paid by the peasant ; several of them affected the smaller dealers and townspeople too. But as our population is predominantly agricultural and most of the articles for sale came from the land, the weight of the ābwābs pressed most heavily on the ryots.