A History of Agriculture in India v2.c85.s6.8

v2.c85.s6.8

Due to uncertainty created among jagirdars owing to the constant and unpredictable transfers of jagirs, the agents of the jagirdars had given up the practice of helping the peasantry of making firm arrangements, states Bhimsen. 'Moreover, the amils of the jagirdars were not sure of their own tenures of employment and so "proceeding tyrannically" were unrelenting in the collection of revenue. When the *jagirdar*, instead of appointing his own agents to collect the revenue, farmed out the *jagir*, the evil was worse still. The land was being laid waste, says Sadiq Khan, writing of Shahjahan's reign, through bribery and revenue-farming, as a result of which the peasantry was being robbed and plundered.⁵