The Ain-i Akbari as a Source for Mughal Agrarian History (Class 12 History)
Updated 15 October 2026 · Fact-checked
The Ain-i Akbari, completed by Abu'l Fazl in 1598 after five revisions, is the third book of the Akbar Nama: a compendium of imperial regulations and a gazetteer of the empire. It is our main source for Mughal agrarian history, rich in figures, though it gives a view from the top and its data are uneven.
Notice that the Ain is only Book 3 of the Akbar Nama (1598, Abu'l Fazl), and its first three daftars cover household, army and revenue.
Illustration drawn for QuestionBuddy.
Understand The Ain-i Akbari as a Source
Why this topic matters. The Ain is the source behind almost everything in Theme 8, and it is examined in every form: 1-mark items on its books and authorship, 3-mark questions on its value or limitations, an 8-mark question on why it is an extraordinary document, and source passages written by Abu'l Fazl. NCERT sections 1.1 and 8, Source 9, the box on translations, and Sources 4-6.
1. Author and project.
- Written by Abu'l Fazl, Akbar's court historian, at the emperor's order.
- The culmination of a large historical and administrative project of classification.
- Completed in 1598, the forty-second regnal year of Akbar, after five revisions.
- Part of a larger history, the Akbar Nama, in three books: the first two are a historical narrative; the third, the Ain-i Akbari, is a compendium of imperial regulations and a gazetteer of the empire.
2. What it contains. Organisation of the court, administration and army; sources of revenue; the physical layout of the provinces; the literary, cultural and religious traditions of the people; descriptions of departments and of the subas, with intricate quantitative information.
3. The five daftars.
| Book | Subject |
|---|---|
| 1. Manzil-abadi | The imperial household and its maintenance |
| 2. Sipah-abadi | Military and civil administration, the establishment of servants; short biographies of mansabdars, learned men, poets and artists |
| 3. Mulk-abadi | The fiscal side: revenue rates, then the 'Account of the Twelve Provinces' with statistics on every suba |
| 4 and 5 | Religious, literary and cultural traditions; Akbar's 'auspicious sayings' |
4. Inside the mulk-abadi. For each suba: geographic, topographic and economic profile, its divisions (sarkars, parganas, mahals), total measured area and assessed revenue (jama). Then tables for each sarkar, with eight columns:
| Column | Records |
|---|---|
| 1 | Parganat/mahal |
| 2 | Qila: forts |
| 3 | Arazi and zamin-i paimuda: land that had been measured |
| 4 | Naqdi: cash revenue assessed |
| 5 | Suyurghal: revenue given in charity |
| 6 | Zamindars |
| 7-8 | Their castes; their troops: sawar (horsemen), piyada (foot-soldiers), fil (elephants) |
5. How Abu'l Fazl gathered information (Source 9).
- Interviewed servants of the state and old members of the royal family; recorded statements of old and young men.
- Royal commands to the provinces asked those who remembered past events to send notes and memoranda to the court.
- Collected material was read out in the emperor's hearing.
- Used the chronicle kept from the Nineteenth Year of the Divine Era, when the Record Office was set up.
- Gathered originals or copies of orders sent to the provinces, and reports of ministers and high officials.
- He called the result a reservoir for 'moistening the rose garden of fortune', that is, the Akbar Nama.
6. Signs of care.
- Five revisions suggest caution and a search for authenticity.
- Oral testimonies were cross-checked before being accepted as 'facts'.
- Numbers were also written in words to reduce copying errors.
- It was more than a copy of official papers.
7. Limitations (learn all four).
| Problem | Detail |
|---|---|
| View from the top | Its purpose was to present Akbar's empire as harmonious under a strong ruling class; any revolt was, in Abu'l Fazl's eyes, bound to fail. What we learn about peasants is a view from the apex |
| Totalling errors | Numerous slips of arithmetic or transcription by assistants, but minor: they do not undermine overall quantitative reliability |
| Uneven data | Not collected uniformly: zamindars' caste composition missing for Bengal and Orissa |
| Prices and wages | Poorly documented in the provinces; the detailed list comes mainly from around Agra, so it has limited relevance elsewhere |
8. How historians deal with these limits. NCERT says the Ain's account can be supplemented by:
- revenue records from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan (seventeenth-eighteenth centuries);
- the East India Company's records on eastern India.
These record conflicts among peasants, zamindars and the state and show what peasants expected from the state as fair.
9. Why it is still a benchmark. Earlier medieval chroniclers wrote mainly of wars, conquests, political machinations and dynastic turmoil, mentioning land and people only in passing. The Ain departed completely from this tradition by recording information on the empire and its people. Its quantitative evidence on agrarian relations is uncontested, and its information on people, professions, trades and the imperial establishment lets historians reconstruct the social fabric of India at the turn of the seventeenth century.
10. The Ain inside Theme 8. Examples of what we know only through it: Agra produced 39 and Delhi 43 varieties of crops over two seasons; Akbar's land classes (Source 5); the methods of collection in kind (Source 6); the zamindars' 'parallel army'; the Brahmana-Rajput dominance among zamindars; trade between hill tribes and the plains of Awadh, c. 1595 (Source 4). Silence can be evidence too: the Ain does not mention tobacco among northern crops, which helps date its spread.
11. Translations. Henry Blochmann edited it and the Asiatic Society of Bengal published it in the Bibliotheca Indica series. English: Volume 1 by Blochmann (Calcutta, 1873); the other two by H.S. Jarrett (1891 and 1894).
Key quotations
Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.
about peasants remains a view from the top
NCERT, section 1.1: On the central purpose of the Ain, which presented an empire held together by a strong ruling class.
The core limitation to mention in any evaluation.
a compendium of imperial regulations and a gazetteer of the empire
NCERT, section 8: Describing the third book of the Akbar Nama.
The best one-line definition of the Ain.
Numerous errors in totalling have been detected
NCERT, section 8: On problems historians have found in the Ain.
NCERT adds that they are minor and do not damage its overall reliability.
moistening the rose garden of fortune
Abu'l Fazl (Source 9): His image for the Akbar Nama built from his collected records.
Shows the author's pride in his research, and his praise of the emperor.
The Ain-i Akbari as a Source: key facts
- Identity card
Author Abu'l Fazl, Akbar's court historian Completed 1598, the forty-second regnal year Revisions five Place third book of the three-part Akbar Nama - A compendium of imperial regulations and a gazetteer of the empire.
- Five daftars
Manzil-abadi the imperial household Sipah-abadi military and civil administration; biographies of mansabdars, learned men, poets, artists Mulk-abadi fiscal side; 'Account of the Twelve Provinces' Books 4 and 5 religious, literary and cultural traditions; Akbar's 'auspicious sayings' - The first three describe administration.
- Sarkar table columns
- Parganat/mahal
- Qila (forts)
- Arazi and zamin-i paimuda (measured area)
- Naqdi (cash revenue assessed)
- Suyurghal (revenue grants in charity)
- Zamindars
- Castes
- Troops: sawar, piyada, fil
- Eight columns in the mulk-abadi.
- Abu'l Fazl's method (Source 9)
- Interviews with state servants and old members of the royal family
- Notes and memoranda sent from the provinces
- Material read out in the emperor's hearing
- Record Office chronicle from the Nineteenth Year of the Divine Era
- Copies of orders and officials' reports
- Oral evidence cross-checked; numbers also written in words
- Signs of a search for authenticity.
- Four limits
Top-down view an empire shown as harmonious Totalling errors numerous but minor Uneven data no zamindar caste data for Bengal and Orissa Prices and wages mainly from around Agra - Supplement with Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan revenue records and East India Company records.
- Value
Departure broke from chroniclers of wars, conquests and dynasties Figures quantitative evidence on agrarian relations uncontested Society lets historians reconstruct the social fabric Benchmark for India at the turn of the seventeenth century - Use as the conclusion of an evaluation.
How to answer The Ain-i Akbari as a Source questions
Expect 1-mark items on the books of the Ain, its author and the Akbar Nama; 3-mark questions on why it is a major source or what its limitations are; 8-mark questions asking why it is an extraordinary document; and 4-mark sources from the Ain or from Abu'l Fazl's account of his method.
- 1Introduce: author, date, revisions, place in the Akbar Nama.
- 2Describe structure: five daftars, with the mulk-abadi and its eight-column sarkar tables in detail.
- 3Explain method: Source 9's range of informants and documents; cross-checking; numbers written in words.
- 4Assess value for agrarian history: land, crops, revenue, zamindars, castes, troops.
- 5Give the limitations: view from the top, totalling errors, uneven data, prices and wages from Agra.
- 6Show how historians cope: regional revenue records and East India Company records.
- 7Conclude: a break from earlier chronicles and a benchmark for India at the turn of the seventeenth century.
The Ain-i Akbari as a Source in real life
The idea, met in an everyday situation. Answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.
An official report as a source
Suppose a state government publishes a glossy annual report full of district-wise figures on crops, roads and schools, written by its own information department.
How should a researcher use it, and how does this mirror the way historians use the Ain?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The figures are detailed and systematic, like the Ain's mulk-abadi tables.
- But the report shows the government's view; protests and failures may be left out, just as the Ain presents a harmonious empire.
- Some districts may be covered better than others, as the Ain lacks caste data for Bengal and Orissa.
- Cross-check with local records and independent reports, as historians use regional revenue records and East India Company records.
Answer: Use the figures, but read them as a view from the top and test them against other sources.
Memory hook: Official numbers: trust, but verify.
Writing numbers in words
Imagine a bank cheque where the amount is written both as '45,000' and as 'forty-five thousand rupees only'.
Why does a cheque do this, and which practice of Abu'l Fazl does it echo?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Writing the number twice makes copying or tampering errors easier to detect.
- In the Ain's quantitative sections, all numbers were reproduced in words for the same reason.
- This reduced the chance of later transcription errors when the manuscript was copied.
Answer: Both guard against mistakes and alteration; Abu'l Fazl wrote figures in words to minimise transcription errors.
Memory hook: Digits for speed, words for safety.
Tricks to remember The Ain-i Akbari as a Source
Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.
Man-Sip-Mulk
Manzil (home), Sipah (soldier), Mulk (country): from the palace, to the army, to the whole land.
Use it when: Order and content of the first three daftars.
1598 = 42 and 5
'Ninety-eight, forty-two, five times through': completed 1598, in the 42nd regnal year, after five revisions.
Use it when: Key numbers about the Ain.
T-E-U-P limits
Top view, Errors, Uneven data, Prices from Agra: 'The Ain has TEUP (teeth) marks'.
Use it when: Four limitations in order.
The Ain-i Akbari as a Source: solved examples
Ordered from board level to HOTS. Try each one before you open the solution.
Example 1: Which daftar? · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
A historian wants biographical sketches of Mughal mansabdars, poets and artists. Which book of the Ain-i Akbari should she consult?
(a) Manzil-abadi
(b) Sipah-abadi
(c) Mulk-abadi
(d) The fifth daftar
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The sipah-abadi covers military and civil administration and includes notices on mansabdars, learned men, poets and artists (1 mark).
Answer: (b) Sipah-abadi
Example 2: Abu'l Fazl's care · 3 marks · Short answerBoard level
Give three pieces of evidence that Abu'l Fazl tried to make the Ain accurate. (3 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Revised the manuscript five times (1 mark).
- Cross-checked and verified oral testimonies before accepting them (1 mark).
- Reproduced all numerical data in words to minimise transcription errors (1 mark).
Answer: First, the manuscript was revised five times before completion in 1598, which suggests caution and a search for authenticity. Second, oral testimonies were cross-checked and verified before being accepted as 'facts'. Third, in the quantitative sections all figures were also written out in words, so that later copyists would make fewer errors. He also drew on a wide range of material, including copies of orders sent to the provinces and reports of high officials.
Example 3: Assertion and reason: prices and wages · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level
Assertion (A): The Ain's information on prices and wages is of limited use for understanding the whole empire.
Reason (R): The detailed list of prices and wages comes mainly from areas in and around Agra.
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- NCERT explains the limited relevance of the price and wage data by its origin around the imperial capital (1 mark).
Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
Example 4: A view from the top · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Why does NCERT call the Ain's picture of peasants 'a view from the top'? How do historians correct for this? (3 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Purpose: to show Akbar's empire as harmonious under a strong ruling class; revolt seen as bound to fail (1 mark).
- Peasants did not write about themselves; the Ain records what the state needed (1 mark).
- Correction: regional revenue records of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and East India Company records, which show conflicts and peasants' expectations (1 mark).
Answer: The Ain was written by Akbar's court historian, and its central aim was to present a vision of the empire in which a strong ruling class ensured social harmony; any revolt against the Mughal state was, in its author's eyes, predestined to fail. Since peasants did not write about themselves, what we learn of them from the Ain is what the state recorded and thought important. Historians therefore supplement it with detailed revenue records from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and with East India Company records on eastern India, which record conflicts between peasants, zamindars and the state and reveal what peasants expected from the state as fair.
Example 5: Source-based: the sarkar tables · 4 marks · Source-basedHarder board level
Read the source (summarised for this page from NCERT's description of the Ain) and answer.
Below the account of each province, the Ain sets out every sarkar in a table. Reading across a row, one finds the name of the pargana, whether it had a fort, how much land had been measured, the revenue assessed in cash, the revenue granted away in charity, and the zamindars of the area along with their castes and their horsemen, foot-soldiers and elephants.
(i) In which book of the Ain do these tables appear? (1)
(ii) Give the Persian terms for 'grants of revenue in charity' and 'revenue assessed in cash'. (1)
(iii) How would these tables help a historian study the relationship between the Mughal state and the zamindars, and what caution is needed? (2)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- (i) Mulk-abadi, the third daftar (1 mark).
- (ii) Suyurghal; naqdi (1 mark).
- (iii) They show where zamindars were, their castes and armed strength alongside the state's revenue claims; caution: caste data missing for Bengal and Orissa, possible totalling slips, and a top-down purpose (2 marks).
Answer: (i) The mulk-abadi, the third book, which deals with the fiscal side of the empire. (ii) Suyurghal (grants of revenue in charity) and naqdi (revenue assessed in cash). (iii) By placing the state's revenue figures beside the names, castes and troops of local zamindars, the tables show how the empire mapped the rural power-holders on whom revenue collection depended and whose armed strength it had to reckon with; from such data historians see, for example, the Brahmana-Rajput dominance among zamindars. But they must be used with care: caste details are not available for Bengal and Orissa, there are some totalling errors, and the tables record what the court wished to know, not how zamindars or peasants saw their relations with the state.
Example 6: Long answer: benchmark or court propaganda? · 8 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
"A rich storehouse of facts, yet written to please its patron." How far can historians rely on Abu'l Fazl's work to study rural society under Akbar? Argue with evidence. (8 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Introduction: author, date, revisions, Akbar Nama (1 mark).
- Structure: five daftars; mulk-abadi detail (1 mark).
- Method and care: Source 9 sources; cross-checking; numbers in words (1 mark).
- Value for agrarian history: land, crops, revenue, zamindars (1 mark).
- Court-shaped: purpose, view from the top (1 mark).
- Other limits: totalling errors, uneven data, prices and wages (1 mark).
- How historians compensate: regional and Company records (1 mark).
- Judgement: benchmark despite limits (1 mark).
Answer: The Ain-i Akbari was written by Abu'l Fazl at Akbar's order and completed in 1598, the forty-second regnal year, after five revisions. It formed the third book of the Akbar Nama and was a compendium of imperial regulations and a gazetteer of the empire.
Its five daftars covered the imperial household (manzil-abadi), military and civil administration with biographies of officials, scholars and artists (sipah-abadi), the fiscal system with the 'Account of the Twelve Provinces' (mulk-abadi), and the religious, literary and cultural traditions of the people. The mulk-abadi's sarkar tables list parganas, forts, measured area, cash revenue, charitable grants, zamindars, their castes and troops.
As a record it is remarkable. Abu'l Fazl questioned state servants and members of the royal family, collected notes from the provinces, used the Record Office chronicle, orders and officials' reports, and had material read in the emperor's hearing. Oral evidence was cross-checked and numbers were written in words. For agrarian history it tells us about land classification, crop varieties (39 in Agra, 43 in Delhi), methods of revenue collection and the military strength of zamindars, and its quantitative evidence on agrarian relations is uncontested.
Yet it was shaped by the court. Its central purpose was to show an empire held together by a strong ruling class, in which revolt was bound to fail; its picture of peasants is a view from the top. Its data are also uneven: zamindars' caste composition is missing for Bengal and Orissa, prices and wages come mainly from around Agra, and there are minor slips in totalling.
Historians handle this by reading the Ain alongside revenue records from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and the East India Company's records, which reveal conflicts and peasants' expectations of fairness.
The statement is therefore valid. The Ain broke with chroniclers who wrote only of wars, conquests and dynastic turmoil, and it remains a benchmark for India at the turn of the seventeenth century, provided it is read critically as the empire's own view.
Where students lose marks in The Ain-i Akbari as a Source
The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.
Mistake: Calling the Ain a separate book from the Akbar Nama
Not knowing the structure.
Wrong working
Abu'l Fazl wrote the Akbar Nama and later a separate work called the Ain.
Right working
The Ain-i Akbari is the third book of the Akbar Nama; the first two give the historical narrative.
Do this: Akbar Nama = 2 narrative books + Ain.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Muddling the daftars
Similar Persian names.
Wrong working
The manzil-abadi deals with revenue.
Right working
Manzil-abadi: imperial household; sipah-abadi: military and civil administration; mulk-abadi: fiscal side and provinces.
Do this: Manzil = house, sipah = soldier, mulk = country.
Usually costs: 1 mark in MCQs.
Mistake: Only praising or only criticising the Ain
Ignoring the evaluation demand.
Wrong working
The Ain is a perfect and complete record of the Mughal Empire.
Right working
Rich and careful, but a view from the top with uneven data and minor errors; supplement with regional and Company records.
Do this: Value, limits, how historians cope, judgement.
Usually costs: 2 marks in 8-mark answers.
Mistake: Overstating the totalling errors
Reading 'numerous errors' without NCERT's qualification.
Wrong working
Its numbers are unreliable because of errors.
Right working
The errors are generally minor and do not detract from its overall quantitative veracity.
Do this: Always add 'but minor'.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Exam tips
- Asked in: 2025 board paper 61/6/1 Q29(b) (8 marks, the Ain as an extraordinary document); 2024 board paper 61/2/1 Q25 (3 marks, limitations of the Ain); 2024 board paper 61/5/1 Q25 (3 marks, the Ain as a major source for agrarian history); 2026 board paper 61/4/1 Q32 (4-mark source by Abu'l Fazl on trade between hill tribes and the plains); 1-mark items such as 2023 61/3/1 Q20 and 61/4/1 Q14, 2024 61/1/1 Q11, 2025 61/1/1 Q12, 61/4/1 Q11, 61/5/1 Q11 and 61/7/1 Q11, 2026 61/1/1 Q8, 61/4/1 Q11 and 61/5/1 Q11, sample papers 2024-25 Q13 and 2025-26 Q13. Answers here are our own.
- Learn the three daftars and the eight columns of the sarkar tables; MCQs test these details.
- For limitations, give all four and add how historians supplement the Ain.
- For 'extraordinary document', contrast it with chroniclers of wars and dynasties and call it a benchmark.
- Never forget the qualifier: totalling errors are minor.
Practice questions on The Ain-i Akbari as a Source
Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.
Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
Who edited the Ain-i Akbari for the Bibliotheca Indica series of the Asiatic Society of Bengal?
(a) H.S. Jarrett
(b) Henry Blochmann
(c) W.H. Moreland
(d) Giovanni CareriHint
He also translated Volume 1 (1873).
Answer
(b) Henry Blochmann.
Q2 · 2 marks · Very short answerBoard level
What did the fourth and fifth daftars of the Ain deal with? (2 marks)
Hint
Not administration.
Answer
The religious, literary and cultural traditions of the people of India; they also contain a collection of Akbar's 'auspicious sayings'.
Q3 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
In what way did the Ain depart from the tradition of earlier medieval chroniclers? (3 marks)
Hint
Politics versus people.
Answer
Earlier medieval chroniclers wrote mostly about remarkable political events: wars, conquests, political machinations and dynastic turmoil; the country, its people and its products appeared only incidentally, as embellishments. The Ain broke completely with this by systematically recording information about the empire and its people: provinces, revenue, crops, professions, trades and the imperial establishment, often in quantitative form. This makes it a benchmark for studying India at the turn of the seventeenth century.
Q4 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
List four kinds of material Abu'l Fazl says he used in compiling his history. Which would be most useful for agrarian relations, and why? (3 marks)
Hint
Source 9; think revenue.
Answer
He used statements of state servants and old members of the royal family; notes and memoranda sent from the provinces on royal command; the chronicle kept since the Record Office was set up in the Nineteenth Year of the Divine Era; copies of orders issued to the provinces; and reports of ministers and high officials. The orders to the provinces and officials' reports would be most useful for agrarian relations, since they would carry the state's rules on measurement, revenue and zamindars and reports from the regions where cultivation and collection took place.
Q5 · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level
Assertion (A): Because of its totalling errors, historians reject the Ain's quantitative data.
Reason (R): Abu'l Fazl's assistants made slips of arithmetic and transcription.
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.Hint
How serious were the errors?
Answer
(d) A is false but R is true: the errors are generally minor and do not detract from the overall quantitative reliability of the Ain.
Q6 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
The Ain does not list tobacco among the crops of northern India, though tobacco spread there in the early seventeenth century. What can a historian learn from this silence? (3 marks)
Hint
Dates: 1598, 1604.
Answer
The Ain was completed in 1598, and NCERT says Akbar and his nobles first came across tobacco in 1604; the plant reached the Deccan first and spread north in the early seventeenth century. So the absence of tobacco from the Ain's crop lists fits the timing and helps date its spread: it was not yet a crop of the north when the Ain was compiled. Silence in a source is evidence only when the source would be expected to record the item, as the Ain's careful crop lists would.
Q7 · 4 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Suppose you are asked to write the history of a single village in Bengal in 1600. Explain why the Ain alone would not be enough and what else you would look for. (4 marks)
Hint
Bengal gaps, top-down view, other records.
Answer
The Ain's data are uneven: for Bengal it does not give the caste composition of zamindars, and its detailed prices and wages come mainly from around Agra, so they tell us little about a Bengal village. It also presents a view from the top, recording what the state needed for revenue, not the voices of peasants, artisans or women. I would therefore look for the East India Company's records, which describe agrarian relations in eastern India, along with any local revenue documents, and sources such as the Bengali poem Chandimangala on forest clearance. Together they would show conflicts, customs and peasants' expectations that the Ain leaves out.
Test your recall
Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.
1.When was the Ain-i Akbari completed?Show answer
In 1598, the forty-second regnal year of Akbar.
2.How many times was it revised?Show answer
Five times.
3.Which daftar contains the 'Account of the Twelve Provinces'?Show answer
The mulk-abadi.
4.What does suyurghal mean?Show answer
Grants of revenue in charity.
5.For which provinces is the caste of zamindars not recorded?Show answer
Bengal and Orissa.
6.Who translated Volumes 2 and 3 of the Ain into English?Show answer
H.S. Jarrett (Calcutta, 1891 and 1894).
The Ain-i Akbari as a Source: frequently asked questions
Why is the Ain-i Akbari important for agrarian history?
It recorded how the state ensured cultivation, collected revenue and regulated zamindars, with detailed figures on land, crops, revenue and zamindars; its quantitative evidence on agrarian relations is uncontested.
What are the limitations of the Ain-i Akbari?
It is a view from the top; it has minor totalling errors; its data are uneven, with no zamindar caste data for Bengal and Orissa; and its prices and wages come mainly from around Agra.
What are the books of the Ain?
Five daftars: manzil-abadi (household), sipah-abadi (military and civil administration), mulk-abadi (fiscal side and provinces), and two on religious, literary and cultural traditions.
Is the Ain the same as the Akbar Nama?
No. The Ain-i Akbari is the third book of the Akbar Nama; the first two books are a historical narrative.