History of Gujarát: Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Volume I, Part I.Campbell, James M.
History
History of Gujarát: Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Volume I, Part I.
Campbell, James M.
Gujarat (India) -- History
[Under the kings, 1403-1573.] Under the Áhmedábád kings, as it still
is under British rule, Gujarát was divided politically into two main
parts; one, called the khálsah or crown domain administered directly
by the central authority; the other, on payment of tribute in service
or in money, left under the control of its former rulers. The amount
of tribute paid by the different chiefs depended, not on the value of
their territory, but on the terms granted to them when they agreed to
become feudatories of the kings of Áhmedábád. Under the Gujarát Sultáns
this tribute was occasionally collected by military expeditions headed
by the king in person and called mulkgíri or country-seizing circuits.
[States.] The internal management of the feudatory states was
unaffected by their payment of tribute. Justice was administered
and the revenue collected in the same way as under the Anahilapur
kings. The revenue consisted, as before, of a share of the crops
received in kind, supplemented by the levy of special cesses, trade,
and transit dues. The chief's share of the crops differed according
to the locality; it rarely exceeded one-third of the produce, it
rarely fell short of one-sixth. From some parts the chief's share
was realised directly from the cultivator by agents called mantris;
from other parts the collection was through superior landowners. [681]
[Districts.] The Áhmedábád kings divided the portion of their territory
which was under their direct authority into districts or sarkárs. These
districts were administered in one of two ways. They were either
assigned to nobles in support of a contingent of troops, or they were
set apart as crown domains and managed by paid officers. The officers
placed in charge of districts set apart as [Crown Lands.] crown domains
were called muktia. [682] Their chief duties were to preserve the peace
and to collect the revenue. For the maintenance of order, a body of
soldiers from the army head-quarters at Áhmedábád was detached for
service in each of these divisions, and placed under the command of
the district governor. At the same time, in addition to the presence
of this detachment of regular troops, every district contained certain
fortified outposts called thánás, varying in number according to the
character of the country and the temper of the people. These posts
were in charge of officers called thánadárs subordinate to the district
governor. They were garrisoned by bodies of local soldiery, for whose
maintenance, in addition to money payments, a small assignment of
land was set apart in the neighbourhood of the post. On the arrival
of the tribute-collecting army the governors of the districts through
which it passed were expected to join the main body with their local
contingents. At other times the district governors had little control
over the feudatory chiefs in the neighbourhood of their charge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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