CHAPTER V. INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION.' Distinguished as the whole house of Timur undoubtedly was by political ability, it was to Akbar that the greatest share of the intellectual legacy of his great ancestor from the highlands of the Amur fell, and to him it was allotted to fit the key-stone in the edifice of the unlimited sovereignty of his house. Communism, upon which was based the elementary notion of the Moslim State is a phase of frequent * Atul Fazl, Chalmers, 1. c., Vol. I, pp. 284-5, 401-2, 420-1, 433-4, 446 477; Vol. II, pp. 78-9, 119, 154, 165, 195, 202, 228, 234, 239, 244-5, 269, 278, 282-285, 292-3, 298, 347-8, 351, 356-7, 397-8. Garcin de Tassy, Un chapitre de l'histoire de l'Inde Musulmane, ou chronique de Scher Schah, traduite de l'Hindoustani; Paris, 1865. Nizamuddin Ahmad, Elliot, Vol. V. p. 287, 371, 383, 409, 411, 413. Badáoní, Elliot V. p. 511, 513, 521-2, 534, 538. Abul Fazl, Blochmann 1. c., and Gladwin 1. c. especially Vols. I and II, Wilson's Glossary, Elliot (Beames) 1. c., esp. Vol. II. Edward Thomas' Revenue Resources of the Mughal Empire, Lond. 1871. Tornauw, Das moslimische Recht, Leipzig, 1855. Tischendorf, Ueber das System der Lehen in den moslimischen Staaten (Inaug. Diss), Leipzig, 1877. Macnaghten's (Wilson) Principles of Hindú and Muhammedan Law, Lond. 1860, and Principles and Precedents of Muhammedan Law, Calcutta, 1825. Prinsep (Thomas) Indian Antiquities, Vol. II. Lond. 1858. Neil, B. E., Baillie's Land Tax of India, according to the Muhammedan Law, etc., Lond. 1853. A. V. Kremer, Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams, Leipzig, 1868. Etc., Ete. recurrence in the history of nations but the Moslim confraternity of warlike clans differs in many particulars from the village community of the Hindús and the mir of the Russian peasantry: these divergencies notwithstanding, the key-note of community of goods is audible in it as in those other experiments at social organization. As the circles widened which had Islám for their centre and as the demon legacy of craving after power strengthened, the communistic foundation broke up. Religious zeal which gives soul to the masses and prompts them to great deeds, is an emotion that cannot persist; the aspirations of the individual soon awake and the selfish impulses must, by their nature, oppose the full vigour of an activity which is uncongenial to themselves because demanding sacrifice. In Islám the general, the judge, the law-giver and the priest fused into one personality; this personality represented the State and to it therefore, all State rights were transferred. In this way the Pádsháh was lord of the collective possessions of his subjects. It is true that according to the teaching of the Qorán, one-fifth only of the revenues of conquered lands belonged to him, but he who could decide on life and death, could dispose also of the states of his kingdom and the goods of his subjects. It is by the use he makes of such powers that a just and sagacious autocrat is discriminated from one unwise and unrighteous. Yet it must not be forgotten that it was manifestly against the interests of a sovereign to proceed harshly against the cultivator, for all diminution of labour power would avenge itself by decreased reThe greater portion of the revenues of a State being in direct proportion to the profits of the cultivating classes, it is natural that a sovereign, in so far as turn. he is a capable ruler, should direct his attention to promoting the welfare of the most useful class of his subjects. In a Moslim state, all landed property fell under two heads; that subject to tithe and that liable to tribute both classes fell again into numerous and varied subdivisions. Tithe-land was granted to Muhammadans, tributary to infidels or rather it was assigned to them for cultivation and partial usufruct. If former infidel possessors of land had made voluntary submission to their conquerors, they were laid under the obligations of a capitation fee and of ground-rent; if they had resisted and had been defeated, their lands were confiscated to the exchequer and they became moneyless labourers upon it, subject to service in socage and subsisting on the scanty surplus which remained after satisfying the State demands. Lands so held were called khálisa, i. e. crown demesnes. Certain grants called iqṭáâ and made by the State to followers of Islám acquired a special form; under Persian influence they became military endowments. The military fiefs of the empire of Hindústán appear under the names of the jágír and the zamindari. The empire was divided into twelve súbahs (subsequently into fifteen). These were vice-royalties and as follows: Alláhábád, Agrah, Audh, Ajmír, Ahmadábád, Bihár, Bengal, Dihlí, Kábul, Lahór, Multán, Málwah to which were added later, Berár, Khándesh, and Ahmadnagar. All were seats of government and political and administrative centres and were not merely territorial designations. The empire was further divided into 105 sarkárs, which corresponded fairly to European provinces ; sarkárs were split into parganas (called also mahalls) which were re-grouped into dasturs, i. e., aḍministrative jurisdictions. For example, the sarkár of Agrah, a tract of 1864 square miles, consisted of 31 parganas which were grouped into four dasturs, viz., Haweli Agrah, Etawah, Biánah, and Mandawa. From these districts portions of varying size were excluded and assigned as jágírs and zamíndáris by imperial decree to grandees of the Empire. A zamíndár was a landholder; it was his duty to collect the revenues from a given district, to promote the administration of justice and to advance the welfare of the peasantry; in return he was allowed a fixed commission on the revenue he collected and also the use of a portion of the land. The word jágir denotes "occupying a place or position" and the Hindú-Muhammadan feudal system of military service was mainly based upon this conception. A jágírdár was the proprietor of his land in so far that its revenues were assigned to him; on it he was absolute, practised the jus gladii and ruled despotically: such a vassal undoubtedly possessed the dominium directum but he was nevertheless responsible to the supreme power, since it was by its favour that he was placed in authority. A jágir was either conditional, in that it carried the obligation of following the army of the sovereign or of some other State service; or it was a free gift. Fundamentally the grant was personal and lapsed with the death of its holder in some cases his heirs retained the fief on payment of a kind of fine to the State, the nazarana, or sometimes by a renewal of the farmán in their favour by the sovereign. In this manner a jágír might remain in one family for several generations and become a fief held in perpetuity, or even, by the fiction of right of co-proprietorship, a perpetual estate. In opposition to the purely democratic principles of Muhammadanism, a military nobility gradually arose; this was never rigidly exclusive since it readily assimilated new elements, whether introduced by marriage alliances or by the admission of ambitious men, Hindús or Muhammadans who had raised themselves to high rank and influential office. In estimating the power of the jágírdárs this fact must be borne in mind; the final property in their lands resided in the Emperor ;-the displacement of a jágirdár for a time or permanently and transference from one fief to another are of frequent mention in Muhammadan histories. The liability of a jágírdár to the state was proportioned to the extent and emoluments of his estate. The military character of his tenure is shown in the name by which he was designated, mançabdár.* He filled a mançab, a military office, and his rank was defined by the number of horse he provided for the royal army. There were 33 grades of mançabs: the commands of royal princes do not come under our consideration and varied from 10, 000 to 7,000 horse; after these came 30 varying from 5,000 to 10, and forming a series of six, as follows,-from 5,000 to 1,500-from 1,500 to 1,000,-from 900 to 400,-from 350 to 150,-from 120 to 60,-and from 50 to 10. The soldiers of a jágírdár were recruited from the clan of which he was the elective head, from the widespread ranks of his inherited followers and bondsmen and from allies by blood and affinity. The numeral designating the grade of a mançabdár did not tally with the actual number of his following; thus a * Mançabdár is not necessarily a military officer. |