Examine the evidence that suggests that land revenue was important for the Mughal fiscal system.
(a) The mainstay of the Mughal economy was the revenue acquired from land. This was used to pay salaries and defray various administrative expenses.
(b) Its importance can be seen by the fact that an elaborate administrative apparatus was created to ensure control over agricultural production and to collect revenue from the length and breadth of the empire.
(c) This apparatus included revenue officials and record keepers. The Mughal state first acquired specific information regarding the extent of agricultural lands and their produce before fixing the burden of taxes.
(d) Land revenue arrangements consisted of two stages assessment (jama) and actual collection (hasil). Cultivators were given the choice to pay in cash or kind though the state preferred cash. While fixing the land revenue, attempts were made maximise profits.
(e) Both cultivated and cultivable lands were measured in each province. Efforts to measure lands continued under subsequent emperors like Aurangzeb. Yet not all areas could be measured successfully as huge areas of India were covered with forests.
What are the problems in using the Ain as a source for reconstructing agrarian history? How do historians deal with this situation?
Describe the role played by women in agricultural production.
To what extent is it possible to characterise agricultural production in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries as subsistence agriculture? Give reasons for your answer.
Discuss, with examples, the significance of monetary transactions during the period under consideration.
