Lanka Sundaram

“ It is not possible to exaggerate the importance of a study of the Mughal land revenue system, if it merits being called a system, as it is the bed-rock on which the present edifice of British taxation in India was built. ”

“ It is evidently clear that much depends on the machinery employed for the collection of the revenues and the spirit in which it works. Custom and principles of equity enjoin upon the king the paramount necessity of being an "upright intendant of finances” in the first place, the discharge of his duties as protector of the husbandmen from oppression by upstarts, the sole fountain of justice and the consequent moulder of the destinies of a nation. ”

“ Land revenue depends mainly upon the gross output of the various products of a country which vary in different parts of the land, subject to such determining causes as the vicinity or distance of water for irrigation purposes, the nature of the soil itself which tells upon the nature of the crop, and others. ”

“ ONE of the most interesting topics that engages the attention of the student of Indian history and economics is the nature of relationship between the sovereign and the actual tiller of the land in mediaeval India. Being at once a subject thoroughly historical and antiquarian, a study of Mughal land revenue system entails the necessary culling of statistics and information from State archives and official returns of the Mughal sovereigns of India, a comprehensive mastery over fact and a laborious assimilation of divergent statements and variant readings. ”

“ Such a state of things goes to explain the constant struggle between the 'ryot' and the 'sarkar' between the 'never-to-be-extinguished arrears' which the revenue officers were wont to show against the peasant, and the utter disappearance of a Tabula Rasa or a clean slate which is to be shown by the peasant. ”

“ It is too familiar for us that at the present day, while the British Government drew freely upon the various resources of India, nearly 40 per cent of the total revenue is derived from the taxes on land. ”

“ But the State's right over property is a fact widely recognized throughout the other kingdoms of India and quite consonant with the then accumulated wisdom of statecraft which eventually made the peasants lose their respect for private property. ”

“ Balaghat or Highlands, is one of the two administrative divisions effected by Aurangzib in the Deccan. A Diwan was placed in its charge with certain executive powers. The illustrious Murshid Kuli Khan worked out a revolution for the better in the existing system of revenue administration there.
Bandobast is a Persian word, the exact translation of which in modern phraseology is the word 'settlement'. “The comprehensive term Bandobast or 'settlement' covered all the operations incidental to the assessment of land revenue of government share of the produce. ”

“ The prevalence of Abwabs, perquisites and presents is another striking note about the Mughal land revenue system. Now, Abwabs are illegal cesses current throughout the empire, which will be fully explained elsewhere. The Ain mentions that Akbar abolished twenty-nine illegal cesses and vexatious taxes. [3] At the death of Shah Jahan there were fifty Abwabs flourishing. And it is said that Aurangzib abolished about sixty-eight taxes which were against the principles of the Quran. Perquisites etymologically mean allowances granted more than the settled wages. ”

“ It is undoubtedly the fact that the Hindu peasant at the time derived no benefit from the State, on account of the uncertainty of the government, the frequent changes of the dynasties, the unstable nature of the central authority, which were all the more aggravated by internecine warfare and wars of succession. ”

“ But the Ilahi Guz of Akbar being equivalent to a unit of measurement ranging from 29 to 34 modern inches, the Biga may be stated to be the equivalent to a modern half-an-acre and something more.
Bunjer:—It is a kind of land that has been left fallow for five years and upwards.
Buttiey or Bhaweley (Batai) are systems of realization of revenue in which the State and the peasant divide the grain collected in barns after the harvest according to the stipulated terms of an agreement. ”