Summary

Modern Indian History Class 02

Khalisa land (5:17 PM)

The land of the kingdom was Jagirs (transferable and non-transferable or Tankha and Vatan).
Khalisa land was the royal land and the land revenue of this land went to King.

The land revenue system of the Mughals (5:28 PM)

Zamindars - Zamindars collected Land revenue and had police duties and in return for their service, they got a commission.
Therefore Zamindar was not the owner of the land from which he collected Land revenue.
Zamindar had Vatan(hereditary) right of revenue collection.
He would collect Land revenue from others' land but would also pay land revenue from his lands( which were called Milkiyat).
Nankar lands - These were the land of Zamindars which were declared tax-free/revenue-free in return for providing service of revenue collection.
Primary Zamindars - They collected land revenue from peasants/ryots/ actual cultivators.
He also collected Abwab(additional levies) over and above the land revenue from peasants.
Ryots paid land revenue as per the recorded % in Pattas(documents), therefore Patta system prevented over-extraction.
Intermediary zamindars - They collected land revenue from the Primary Zamindars.
Then passed it on to Jagirdars or the state.
Peasants were of 2 kinds:
Khudkasht - Those with occupancy rights.
They could not be removed from the land they cultivated.
They kept occupancy rights as customary/traditional rights since they had cultivated a particular piece of land continuously for a long time.
Pahikashts - They were landless, rightless peasants.
They did not have occupant rights as were Vagrant peasants, that is cultivated different lands in different seasons.

Ijaradari system (6:18 PM)

Here the right to collect the revenue was auctioned to the highest bidder.
Those who won the auction were called Ijaradars.
They were men of money like merchants and moneylenders, who were outsiders to the traditional rural economy.
They would collect land revenue but may also collect taxes on shopkeepers and merchants, over and above for winning the auction.
He may pay revenue in advance to Jagirdar or the state and later collect it from the areas or may pay partially in advance and rest later.
If he failed to submit the agreed amount then the right to collect revenue could be reauctioned.
Jahandar Shah introduced the Ijaradari system and it grew during Aurangzeb and spread rapidly in the 18th century.
It was introduced by Jahandar shah (1712-13) in Punjab and Bengal, later in Awadh and Hyderabad.
Farukksiyar introduced it even in Khalisha land.
Under the British, it was introduced as a Farming system in 1772 in Bengal and Ijaradar was called a revenue farmer who won the right to collect land revenue in the auction.
The Ijaradari system was introduced when there was a shortfall in revenue collection or when the Jagirdar of the state wanted to maximize land revenue collection.

The decline of Mughals (6:53 PM)

Role of Aurangzeb - Continues warfare- Mughal empire reached its territorial peak, however, seeds of decline were also sown, during Aurangzeb's reign.
Aurangzeb engaged in continuous warfare for roughly 40 years, which drained resources for the Mughal empire due to the high cost of war.
These wars also hurt overland trade due to a decline in production and law and order instability.
These wars also increased the economic burden on Mansabdars, who were required to maintain an army for the emperor, therefore wars contributed to the economic decline of the Mughals.
Aurangzeb wanted to capture the whole of Deccan and annexed Golconda in 1687 and Bijapur in 1685(The two autonomous Muslim kingdoms).
However he failed to defeat the Marathas convincingly, and by 1705 Marathas began winning after 1707, they reversed most territorial gains of Aurangzeb in 1st half of the 18th century.
Therefore in the end these wars proved futile.
Therefore Marathas became reasons for the military and territorial decline of the Mughals.
The religiously decisive policy of Aurangzeb:
They alienated the mass, for example, the application of Jizya on non-muslim(an additional tax) and not preparing temples, and reducing the allocation of land to temples.
He also demolished some important Hindu temples.
Aurangzeb executed important leaders which contributed to the alienation of the masses.
For example, the 9th Guru Tegbahadur for Sikhs was executed in 1675, and Sambhaji(elder son of Shivaji) was executed after 3 weeks of torture in 1689.
Both also refused conversion to Islam.
Institutional failure/governance failure:
Impersonal loyalty could not develop in the Mansabdari system, which was the core of the Mughal system.
Therefore what existed was personal loyalty to the king which is a Parton(Mughal emperor)-client(Mansabdars) relationship, that is a give-and-take relationship.
Where Patron gave Mansabs and Jagirs and in return, clients gave loyalty and an army.
Post-Aurangzeb, weak Mughal emperors failed to maintain the balance of power in the Mughal court among Mansabdars.
Therefore failed to keep Mandabdars under control.
If the king was unable to satisfy Mansabdars with desired Jagirs and Mansabs, then disloyalty among Mansabdars took root.

The topic of the next class: The decline of Mughals to continue.