Administrative System of the Marathas c23.4

c23.4

Before the formidable onslaught of Islam the old Hindu monarchies of Northern India disappeared one after another; but the new rulers did not interfere much with the administrative institutions of Hindusthan. The Arab rulers had formerly employed Christians and Jews for revenue work in Syria and Palestine, the Iranians in Persia had been employed for similar work by their Muslim conquerors, after the fall of their national monarchy, and Muhammad bin Kasim, the first and the only Arab conqueror of an Indian province, not only employed Brahman officers for revenue collection in Sind, but allowed Brahman scholars and Brahman priests to enjoy without bar or hindrance the rent-free lands granted by their former Hindu rulers, and to continue their ancient form of worship in their sacred temples. The Muhammadan conquerors who followed him were not of Arab extraction, but they inherited from the Arabs, their traditional policy and culture along with their faith. Moreover their number did not allow them to dispense with the services of the natives of the land, and while the Hindu monarchies disappeared the Hindu institutions survived.