A History of Agriculture in India v2.c55.s9: Condition of the Peasantry
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c55.s9
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Condition of the Peasantry
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The rural area was populated by the Hindu peasants, while the Moslem population was confined to small towns (*qasbas*). According to Muhammed Habib, the religion of Islam is fundamentally a city creed. 'The Moslem requires certain social amenities, which are available only in urban areas. These are—the congregational mosque for his five prayers; the common graveyard where his fellow Muslims may bury him neatly and tearlessly and pray for the forgiveness of his sins; a school for the education of his children; a *hafiz*, preferably blind, who may recite the whole of the Quran in the month of Ramazan; and last, but not the least, social intercourse with an academic flavour in it.¹ Even now in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the most populous states of northern India, which received the fullest impact of Islamic rule, the distribution of population follows this pattern.
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¹ Habib, M. Introduction to Elliot and Dowson’s History of India..., Vol. II, p.69
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In the towns adequate number of educated Moslem were available to fill the administrative posts. In the rural area, the Moslem rulers had to rely on Hindu rent-collectors, who were called *khutas* and *muqaddams*. The peasants were called *bilahars*. They were ruled by Rais, Rawats and Chaudharis. Some of them were defiant and paid nothing to the government and even imprisoned its agents. They had their small private armies and indulged in the game of mutual destruction and looting of caravans of traders. The Sultan sent his army from time to time to realize dues from the Hindu rural aristocracy and dealt with the rural population savagely and created a reign of terror.
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The condition of Hindu peasants was never so wretched as during the oppressive rule of Ala-ud-din. It was the result of a deliberate policy of the Sultan to impoverish them. Talking to a Mullah, Ala-ud-din said, ‘Be assured then that the Hindus will never become submissive and obedient till they are reduced to poverty. I have, therefore, given orders that just sufficient shall be left to them from year to year, of corn, milk, and curds, but that they shall not be allowed to accumulate hoards and property.’²
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² Zia-ud-din Barni. Tarikh-Firoz Shahi, in Elliot and Dowson, The History India..., Vol. III, p. 185
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The measures taken by this Sultan were:
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1. The standard of the revenue demand was fixed at one-half of the produce without any allowances or deductions.
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2. The Chiefs’ perquisites were abolished, so that all the land occupied by them was to be brought under assessment at the full rate.
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3. The method of assessment was to be measurement, the charges being calculated on the basis of standard yields.
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4. A grazing-tax was imposed apart from the assessment on cultivation.
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Zia-ud-din Barni, the Moslem historian, thus details these measures. ‘After the promulgation of these interdicts, the Sultan requested the wise men to supply some rules and regulations for grinding down the Hindus, and for depriving them of that wealth and property which fosters disaffection and rebellion. There was to be one rule for the payment of tribute applicable to all, from the *khuta* to the *balahar* (peasant), and the heaviest tribute was not to fall upon the poorest. The Hindu was to be so reduced as to be left unable to keep a horse to ride on, to carry arms, to wear fine clothes, or to enjoy any of the luxuries of life. To effect these important objects of government two regulations were made. The first was that all cultivation, whether on a small or large scale, was to be carried on by measurement at a certain rate for every *biswa*. Half of the produce was to be paid without any diminution, and this rule was to apply to *khutas* and *balahars*, without the slightest distinction. The *khutas* were also to be deprived of all their peculiar privileges. The second related to buffaloes, goats, and other animals from which milk is obtained. A tax for pasturage, at a fixed rate, was to be levied, and was to be demanded for every inhabited house, so that no animal, however wretched, could escape the tax. Heavier burdens were not to be placed upon the poor, but the rules as to the payment of the tribute were to apply equally to rich and poor. Collectors, clerks, and other officers employed in revenue matters who took bribes and acted dishonestly were all dismissed. Sharaf Kai, *naib wazir-i-mamalik*, an accomplished scribe and a most honest and intelligent man, who had no rival either in capacity or integrity, exerted himself strenuously for some years in enforcing these regulations in all the villages and towns. . . . They were so strictly carried out that the *chaudharis* and *khuts* and *mukaddims* were not able to ride on horseback, to find weapons, to get fine clothes, or to indulge in betel. The same rules for the collection of the tribute applied to all alike, and the people were brought to such a state of obedience that one revenue officer would string twenty *khuts*, *mukaddims*, or *chaudharis* together by the neck, and enforce payment by blows. No Hindu could hold up his head, and in their houses no sign of gold or silver, *tankas* or *jitals*, or of any superfluity was to be seen. These things, which nourish insubordination and rebellion, were no longer to be found. Driven by destitution, the wives of the *khuts* and *mukaddims* went and served for hire in the houses of the Musulmans. Sharaf Kai, *naib-wazir*, so rigorously enforced his demands and exactions against the collectors and other revenue officers, and such investigations were made that every single *jital* against their names was ascertained from the books of the *patwaris* (village accountants). Blows, confinement in the stock, imprisonment and chains, were all employed to enforce payment. There was no chance of a single *tanka* being taken dishonestly, or as bribery, from a Hindu or Musulman. The revenue collectors and officers were so coerced and checked that for five hundred or a thousand *tankas* they were imprisoned and kept in chains for years. Men looked upon revenue officers as something worse than fever. Clerkship was a great crime, and no man would give his daughter to a clerk. Death was deemed preferable to revenue employment. Oft times fiscal officers fell into prison, and had to endure blows and stripes.’⁴
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⁴ Zia-ud-din Barni, *Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi*, in Elliot and Dowson, *The History of India*..., Vol. I, pp. 18, 183
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The net result of these measures was universal poverty and degradation among the peasantry. Their standard of living was reduced to the lowest level. All the surplus which was taken from them was spent on the maintenance of a large standing army. Above all, they had lost their freedom, and were governed by aliens who had no respect for their culture.
Linked texts (1)
- Tārīkh-i Fīrūzshāhī — Shams-i Sirāj ʿAfīf