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
[Fiscal.] The revenue appears to have been classed under four
main heads: 1. The Khazánah-i-Ámirah or imperial treasury which
comprehended the land tax received from the crown parganáhs or
districts, the tribute, the five per cent customs dues from infidels,
the import dues on stuffs, and the sáyer or land customs including
transit dues, slave market dues, and miscellaneous taxes. 2. The
treasury of arrears into which were paid government claims in arrear
either from the ámils or from the farmers of land revenue; takávi
advances due by the raiyats; and tribute levied by the presence of a
military force. 3. The treasury of charitable endowments. Into this
treasury was paid the 2 1/2 per cent levied as customs dues from
Muhammadans. [687] The pay of the religious classes was defrayed from
this treasury. 4. The treasury, into which the jaziah or capitation
tax levied from zimmís or infidels who acknowledged Muhammadan rule,
was paid. The proceeds were expended in charity and public works. After
the death of the emperor Farrukhsiyar (A.D. 1713-1719), this source
of revenue was abolished. The arrangements introduced by Akbar in
the end of the sixteenth century remained in force till the death of
Aurangzíb in A.D. 1707. Then trouble and perplexity daily increased,
till in A.D. 1724-25, Hamíd Khán usurped the government lands, and,
seeking to get rid of the servants and assignments, gradually obtained
possession of the records of the registry office. The keepers of the
records were scattered, and yearly revenue statements ceased to be
received from the districts. [688]
[Assigned Lands.] Akbar continued the system of assigning lands to
military leaders in payment of their contingents of troops. Immediately
after the annexation in A.D. 1573, almost the whole country was divided
among the great nobles. [689] Except that the revenues of certain
tracts were set aside for the imperial exchequer the directly governed
districts passed into the hands of military leaders who employed their
own agents to collect the revenue. During the seventeenth century
the practice of submitting a yearly record of their revenues, and
the power of the viceroy to bring them to account for misgovernment,
exercised a check on the management of the military leaders. And
during this time a yearly surplus revenue of £600,000 (Rs. 60,00,000)
from the assigned and crown lands was on an average forwarded from
Gujarát to Dehli. In the eighteenth century the decay of the viceroy's
authority was accompanied by the gradually increased power of the
military leaders in possession of assigned districts, till finally,
as in the case of the Nawábs of Broach and Surat, they openly claimed
the position of independent rulers. [690]
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