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Daniel O’Huiginn
Why was the Miughal empire under Akbar so successful in generating revenue?
Akbar’s regime was rarely short of money. His treasury at the time of his death was worth between 139 and 166 million rupees, despite the costs of imperial expansion and lavish spending on building projects and the royal court. In 1595-6 alone, Akbar’s revenue was 99 million rupees[1]. There were two reasons for such wealth. Firstly, more wealth was being produced. This change was caused by improved agriculture, which allowed the diversion of resources to cash crops, to the growth of towns, trade, and industry, to population growth, and to the royal treasury. Secondly, the emperors administration in general, and its system of tax collection in general, became far more effective during the reign of Akbar.
An agricultural surplus was crucial, and could be achieved with only a moderate increase in total agricultural production.
Agricultural technology was one factor in this. Mughal peasants used seed drills and dibbling[2]. They rarely used iron ploughs, but this is probably because they did not need to in light soils. Fish was used for manure in coastal areas, certain crops were planted to prepare land for cultivation, and crop rotation was practised. The technology of irrigation was constantly improving.[3] Wells and tanks had been used for centuries, and provided much scope for innovation in civil engineering and the arrangement of sluices. A variety of devices were used to lift water from wells into channels. The most advanced of these, the Persian wheel (saqiya), and the charas, a system of buckets, pulleys and oxen, represented a considerable opportunity for labour-saving[4]. The generally high water table saved effort in digging wells, and enabled a larger number of them to be dug, thus reducing effort in transporting water.[5]
The Mughal administration did much to support such innovation. By 1650 it was considering lending farmers in Khandesh and Berar 40-50,000 rupees to enable them to erect irrigation dams[6]. The madag lake was important enough to be mentioned in the A’in-i Akbari. Taxation was altered to provide incentives for increased cultivation. This built on the sytem of Sher Shah, under which incentives were provided for those who reclaimed land or sunk wells[7].
Many different crops were grown in the Mughal empire. The Ai’in-i Akbari lists 16 spring crops and 25 autumn crops, as well as 5 others grown in a few regions. This is significant in two ways. Firstly a variety of crops provides protection from severe famine - one crop may fail, but it is unlikely that all will. It also encourages trade, and some crops - such as indigo, cotton, sugar and opium - were grown almost entirely for sale[8]. State incentives, in the form of more lenient taxation, encouraged the cultivation of cash crops and so stimulated the economy overall.[9] Indigo and sugar were taxed at just 20% of their value, compared to one-third of rice, millet and wheat[10]. It is also noteworthy that Mughal farmers were quick to cultivate new crops, such as tobacco, maize and the mulberry[11]. In addition to the inherent importance of this (because of the greater economic value of the new crops), the change is important as evidence of widespread agricultural innovation. Babur had been struck by the willingness of Indian peasants to change, encouraged by the Indian climate:
‘A group collects together, they make a tank or dig a well - khas grass abounds, trees are innumerable, and straight way there is a village or town’[12]
One result of the growth in agricultural production was the possibility of population growth. Irfan Habib estimates that over the 200-year period of Mughal rule the population of India increased from 150 million to 200 million. This change is less impressive when constrained to the time and area of Akbar’s empire, but still provides evidence for improved agriculture, and for increased revenue from a greatrer population. The combined growth of popultion and productivity allowed an increase in the area of land under cultivation, especially in the foothills of the Himalayas, in Eastern Bengal, in Assam and in the Punjab. Unusually for newly-cultivated land, it appears that much of this was very productive, due to the fact that this cultivation was replacing ineffective pastoral farming or shifting cultivation in woods, and to the high levels of investment into developing the land. Jungle in Assam and Bengal was reclaimed for wet rice cultivation, and wells were dug in the Punjab. Much of this land was fertile, and had previously been uncultivated simply because of the work needed to clear it for farming[13]
According to Raychaudhuri, ‘the demand, both public and private, for manufactured goods in Mughal India was large, varied and expanding’[14]. Many foreign visitors were amazed by the level of manufacturing in the Mughal empire, although this may have been partly because they generally remained in rich cities[15]. Some basic industries were based in rural areas. Indigo dye was generally, though not always[16], produced by cultivators.
There were already major cities such as Delhi, described by Ibn Batutah as the most beautiful city in the Muslim world, and myriad small market towns. The market was a focal point for most towns. According to traveller John-Baptiste Tavernier, ‘it is the custom in India, when they build a public edifice, to surround it with a large market-place’[17]
Patterns and routes of international trade were already well established. The major routes were those leading from China to Europe through India, those going to the African ports of Malinde, Mombasa and Kilwa, and those between Bengal and South East Asia. Gujarat exported rice, cloth, jewels and indigo; Bengal exported pepper, incense, textiles, safron and quicksilver. Even without developments under Akbar, trade would have continued to produce significant income for the Mughal empire. This trade covered both luxuries and necessities[18]. Substantial trade was needed to supply the needs of the urban populationwith food from fertile areas such as Bengal[19]. There was an extensive trade in textiles, directed both inside and outside the Mughal empire[20]. Trade in basic commodities alowed each region to specialise, and so increased the total quantity produced[21]. Trade also extended to rarer goods such as cardomom from Malabar and conch-shell ornaments from Bengal, and jasmine oil from Gwalior[22].Such trade was assisted by Akbar’s exertions to build roads, primarily for military purposes.During the seventeenth century, after the death of Akbar, there was a boom in international trade, encouraged by the arrival of the first European trading companies. However the extent of exports - by 1640 the Dutch annually exported 400-450,000 lbs of sugar cane[23] - makes it likely that there was already a significant Indian surplus.
Together with urbanisation went specialisation, and here again Akbar benefited from developments which took place during the Sultanate period, when many towns had grown more specialised. Those on the coast, for example, woud often concentrate on the export trade. Ports in Gujarat and Bengal focussed on textile production, in part for export[24].
Some basic conditions were needed for a growth in trade. Some of these were already present in embryonic form as a result of the Delhi Sultanate, but all were maintained only through efforts by the emperor and his assistants. Standardised weights and measures - the man seer and chattaka - were already used. Todar Mal extended this sytem, fixing the gaz (yard) at 21.92 inches, and the bigah - the main measure of area, was set at 60 square gaz. The man - a measurement of crop yield - was fixed at 51.63lbs[25].
There was a relative - though by no means an absolute - absence of ethnic and religious conflict under Akbar. In part this was because the Delhi Sultanate had been so successful in assimilating immigrants. It was also a result of Akbar’s policy of introducing many ethnic groups into the nobility. However the diversity of the major trading cities, which retained in particular large Turkic and Afghan populations, allowed contact with and understanding of foreign countries. There were also a variety of Indian trading groups: baniyas in Gujarat, Marwaris from Rajasthan, and nomadic caravans of banjaras.
A money-based economy helped to increase both the total wealth produced, and the share taken by the Mughals. A banking industry already existed, although before the eighteenth century credit was provided primarily by merchants rather than by specialised bankers. Bills of exhange (hundis) were sometimes used in place of cash for long-distance trade[26]. Bankers often took upon themselves much of the risk of trade under the ‘avog’ system[27]. However, attempts by the Sultanate to standardise the coinage had for the most part failed, primarily because of the tendency of their feudatories to issue their own coinage. The weight of the tanka - the predecessor of the rupee - did stabilise at 172.8 grams of silver. Akbar ensured that the entire empire used the same coinage, although a transition period was allowed for newly-conquered territories[28]
Such economic and agricultural development was made possible by the maintenance of peace and stability across the empire. Akbar’s expansion of the empire was largely self-financing, and confined to realistic targets. He avoided an invasion from Central Asia by playing off the Uzbeks against the Persians[29]. The power of zamindars, who had previously often engaged in battles against each other, was constrained.
The above paragraphs demonstrate that there was a substantial increase in the total amount of wealth available to be taxed. Akbar also increased the percentage of the total wealth collected in tax. He did this not simply by imposing higher taxes (which would have discouraged production) but by imposing taxes more rationally, taking account of their effect on those taxed.
This was due largely to a series of extremely competent wazirs, such as Khwaja Shah Mansur, Mir Fathullar Shirazi and Raja Todar Mal. These officials were so successful because of their personal ability, because they worked closely with each other, and because they had the confidence of Akbar himself. When Mir Fathullah Shirazi died, Akbar declared that he would have given up all his wealth in exchange for the wazir’s life.[30] The wazirs developed ‘a smoothly functioning pyramidical treasury system’[31] under which specialised officials had clearly-defined roles in a nationwide structure. The lowest level of this was the karuri (revenue officer) in charge of each revenue circle. The administration ensured that treasury officials could be held responsible for all they did, and the state funds under their control were firmly separated from their personal wealth. Written receipts were needed for all transactions, and treasurers reported their balance every 15 days.[32]
Akbar decreased the religious element of taxation. In 1563 he abolished the tax on Hindu pilgrims gathering for festivals[33], and in 1579 he also removed the jiziya, the tax on property imposed on non-Muslims. This had been a particular burden on the Hindu poor.
Tax assessments were made increasingly accurate and complete, building on the zabt system introduced by Sher Shah. This earlier system was substantially improved by taking account of local variations in production and wealth. Detailed information on crops, their yields and values, were collected over a period of ten years[34]. Todar Mal compiled lists of maximum and minimum market prices, and grouped districts into revenue circles, based on similar climate and soil. The karuri for each revenue circle would compile tables of data on local agricultural and market conditions, and would set taxes based on that. The assessments were later reviewed and altered, although the frequency of such revisions varied considerably[35]
Reforms of the structure of the nobility reduced the ability of powerful individuals to divert imperial revenue to themselves. Jagirs (portions of land granted to nobles) were taken back, and replaced with cash salaries paid from central revenue[36]. All nobles were classified and ranked under the mansab system. Royal rewards were given in the form of a higher position in the mansab scale, or a higher zat (salary - similarly formalised into a scale). When Akbar came to power, the tax paid by some of the chaudhuris (local chieftains) was little more than a tribute, often set at a mere 5% of their income[37]. This system was gradually broken down by the introduction of controlled revenue grants. According to Richards, much of the increase in Mughal rural taxation ‘was collected at the expense of the older claims and perquisites of the zamindars’[38]
Plunder from conquered territories was another major revenue source. This sometimes took place at the battlefield itself. For example after the battle of Panipat in 1556, Akbar’s army captured a number of elephants laden with gold[39]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1Cambridge economic history of India, vol. 1
2New Cambridge history of India 1.5, JF Richards
3A history of India, H Kulke and D Rothermund
4A history of India, R. Thapar
[1] 2, p. 75
[2] 1, p. 214
[3] 1, p. 214
[4] 1, p. 215
[5] 1, p. 215
[6] 1, p. 216
[7] 2, p. 83
[8] 2, p. 190
[9] 2, p. 290
[10] 2, p. 85
[11] 2, p. 190
[12] Baburnama II, 487-8, quoted in 1, p. 218
[13] 2, p. 190-1
[14]1, p. 268
[15]1, p. 268
[16]1, p. 273
[17]quoted in 1, p. 326
[18] 1, p. 329
[19]1, p. 330
[20]1, p. 331
[21] 1, p. 332
[22] 1, p. 333
[23]1, p. 274
[24]4, ch. 13
[25] 2, p. 84
[26] 1, p. 346
[27]1, p. 347
[28] 2, p. 73
[29] 3, p. 188
[30] 2, p. 69
[31] 2, p. 70
[32] 2, p. 70
[33] 2, p. 38
[34] 3, p. 189
[35] 2, p. 84-5
[36] 3, p. 189
[37] 2, p. 181
[38] 2, p. 86
[39] 2, p. 75