The Mughal Land Revenue System: Assessment, Collection and Silver (Class 12 History)
Updated 15 October 2026 · Fact-checked
Land revenue was the economic mainstay of the Mughal Empire. The state first measured land and recorded its produce, then assessed the demand (jama) and collected it (hasil), preferably in cash but also in kind through kankut or batai. Akbar classified land as polaj, parauti, chachar or banjar, and silver inflows made cash collection possible.
Notice the order: measure and record first, then jama (assessed), then hasil (collected), preferably in cash; Akbar graded land as four types.
Illustration drawn for QuestionBuddy.
Understand The Mughal Land Revenue System
Why this topic matters. Almost every board paper has at least one item on Mughal land revenue: land classification, jama and hasil, methods of collection in kind, or the 'Cash or kind?' and 'How silver came to India' sources. 3-mark questions ask how the system was organised. NCERT sections 6 and 7 with Sources 5-8 and the mansabdari box.
1. Why revenue mattered. Revenue from the land was the economic mainstay of the empire. To fix and collect it across a rapidly expanding empire, the state built an administrative apparatus that included the office (daftar) of the diwan, who supervised the fiscal system. Revenue officials and record keepers thus entered the agricultural domain and became a decisive agent in shaping agrarian relations.
2. Information first. Before fixing taxes, the state tried to learn how much land was under cultivation and what it produced.
- Each province had its land surveyed, cultivable as well as cultivated; for Akbar's reign the Ain gives the totals.
- Measurement continued under later emperors: in 1665 Aurangzeb ordered that every village should have a yearly count of its cultivators (Source 7).
- Not everything was measured: forests, which covered huge areas, remained unmeasured.
3. Two stages: assessment and collection.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Jama | The amount assessed |
| Hasil | The amount actually collected |
| Amil-guzar | The revenue collector; Akbar told him to strive for cash but keep payment in kind open |
| Amin | Official responsible for seeing that imperial regulations were carried out in the provinces |
The state tried to maximise its claims, but local conditions sometimes prevented it from realising them. The gap between jama and hasil is where this shows.
4. Akbar's classification of land (Source 5).
| Class | Meaning (in our words) |
|---|---|
| Polaj | Cultivated every year, crop after crop, never left fallow |
| Parauti | Rested for a while so that it could regain its strength |
| Chachar | Fallow for three or four years |
| Banjar | Uncultivated for five years or more |
- Polaj and parauti were each divided into three classes: good, middling and bad.
- The produce of the three sorts was added together, and one-third of this total was taken as the medium produce.
- One-third of the medium produce was taken as the royal dues.
- Principle: the demand varied with the quality and continuity of cultivation of the land.
5. Collection in kind (Source 6, 'Cash or kind?'). The Ain lists four methods besides cash:
1. Kankut ('kan' = grain, 'kut' = estimate): the crop was estimated; in case of doubt, it was cut and estimated in three lots (good, middling, inferior).
2. Batai (also bhaoli): crops were reaped, stacked and divided by agreement in the presence of both parties; it needed several intelligent inspectors to prevent deception.
3. Khet-batai: the fields were divided after sowing.
4. Lang batai: grain was cut, formed into heaps and divided, each party taking his share.
6. Aurangzeb's order, 1665 (Source 7). The amins of the parganas were to discover the actual conditions of cultivation (maujudat) village by village and peasant by peasant (asamiwar), and after minute scrutiny assess the jama, keeping in view both the financial interests (kifayat) of the government and the welfare of the peasantry.
7. Revenue and the wider system.
- Mansabdars: the military-cum-bureaucratic apparatus at the apex of administration. A few were paid in cash (naqdi); most received jagirs, assignments of revenue in different regions, and were transferred periodically. So land revenue paid the empire's officers.
- Zamindars often collected revenue on the state's behalf and were paid for it.
- Jins-i kamil ('perfect crops') such as cotton and sugarcane were encouraged by the state because they brought more revenue.
- Irrigation: the state dug new canals (nahr, nala) and repaired old ones such as the shahnahr in the Punjab under Shah Jahan.
8. The village end of the system.
- Panchayat funds paid for entertaining revenue officials who visited the village.
- The headman, helped by the patwari, kept village accounts; corrupt mandals sometimes under-assessed their own lands and shifted the burden to smaller cultivators.
- Petitions from Rajasthan and Maharashtra complained of extortionate taxation and begar; peasants expected the state to leave them the basic minimum for survival. If compromise failed, they could desert the village.
9. The flow of silver (section 7).
- The Mughals, Ming (China), Safavids (Iran) and Ottomans (Turkey) were large stable empires; overland trade ran from China to the Mediterranean.
- Voyages of discovery and the New World expanded Asia's, especially India's, trade with Europe. Huge amounts of silver bullion came to pay for Indian goods, and much of it ended up in India, which had no natural silver resources.
- Result: from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, remarkable stability in metal currency, especially the silver rupya; expansion of minting and money circulation; and the state's greater ability to collect revenue in cash.
- Giovanni Careri, an Italian traveller who passed through India c. 1690, described silver from America moving through Europe, Turkey, Persia and Arabia (via Mocha and Basra) to Hindustan (Source 8).
- A cash nexus reached villages: in the Mughal heartland revenue was assessed and collected in cash, and shroffs acted as village bankers.
10. Timeline. 1556-1605 Akbar's reign; 1598 Ain-i Akbari completed; 1628-58 Shah Jahan (shahnahr repaired); 1665 Aurangzeb's order on annual records; c. 1690 Careri in India; 1765 diwani of Bengal to the East India Company.
Key quotations
Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.
Revenue from the land was the economic mainstay of the Mughal Empire
NCERT, section 6: Opening of the section on the land revenue system.
The first line of any answer on Mughal revenue.
The jama was the amount assessed, as opposed to hasil
NCERT, section 6: Explaining the two stages of assessment and collection.
The core distinction tested in matching items.
one-third part of which is exacted as the Royal dues
Ain-i Akbari (Source 5, 'Classification of lands under Akbar'): After the medium produce is worked out from good, middling and bad land.
Gives the state's share of produce.
the welfare of the peasantry
Aurangzeb's order to his revenue official, 1665 (Source 7): Instructing amins to balance the government's interests with peasants' welfare when assessing jama.
Shows the ideal of a fair assessment, set beside the state's wish to maximise claims.
The Mughal Land Revenue System: key facts
- Key revenue terms
Jama the amount assessed Hasil the amount actually collected Amil-guzar revenue collector; cash preferred, kind allowed Amin ensured imperial regulations were carried out in the provinces Diwan his daftar supervised the fiscal system - The state maximised its claims, but local conditions sometimes thwarted them.
- Akbar's land classes
Polaj cultivated every year, never fallow Parauti left out of cultivation for a time to recover Chachar fallow for three or four years Banjar uncultivated for five years or more - Polaj and parauti each had three grades: good, middling, bad.
- Working out the royal dues
- 1.Add the produce of good, middling and bad land
- 2.Take one-third of the total as the medium produce
- 3.Take one-third of the medium produce as the royal dues
- Applies to polaj and parauti (Source 5).
- Collection in kind
Kankut crop estimated (kan, grain; kut, estimate) Batai or bhaoli reaped, stacked, divided by agreement Khet-batai fields divided after sowing Lang batai cut grain divided in heaps - Source 6, 'Cash or kind?'.
- Aurangzeb's order, 1665
Who amins of the parganas What maujudat (actual conditions of cultivation) How village by village, asamiwar (peasant-wise) Aim jama balancing kifayat (state's interests) and peasants' welfare - Annual records of the number of cultivators (Source 7).
- How silver came to India
- 1.New World silver
- 2.Europe
- 3.Turkey, Persia, Arabia (Mocha, Basra)
- 4.India, with no silver of its own
- 5.Stable silver rupya, more minting
- 6.Revenue collected in cash
- Giovanni Careri, c. 1690 (Source 8).
How to answer The Mughal Land Revenue System questions
Expect 1-mark items on land classes, jama and hasil or methods of collection; 3-mark questions on how the system was organised or how land was classified; 4-mark source questions on 'Cash or kind?', Aurangzeb's order or Careri's account of silver; and evaluative parts of 8-mark answers on agrarian society.
- 1Open with the purpose: land revenue as the economic mainstay; the diwan's daftar.
- 2Describe information gathering: measurement of cultivated and cultivable land; Ain aggregates; Aurangzeb's 1665 order.
- 3Explain the two stages with the terms jama, hasil and amil-guzar.
- 4Give the four land classes and the method of fixing royal dues.
- 5List the methods of collection in kind and say which suits whom.
- 6Link to the wider system: mansabdars and jagirs, zamindars, jins-i kamil, silver and cash.
- 7Close with flexibility and limits: kind allowed, peasants' welfare stated, but claims maximised and forests unmeasured.
The Mughal Land Revenue System 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.
Assessed versus collected
Suppose a municipal corporation budgets Rs 100 crore in property tax for the year but actually collects Rs 82 crore because of disputes, floods in some wards and unrecorded buildings.
Which pair of Mughal terms describes this gap, and why did it arise for the Mughals too?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The budgeted figure is like jama, the amount assessed.
- The actual figure is like hasil, the amount collected.
- NCERT notes that the state tried to maximise its claims but local conditions sometimes thwarted them; forests remained unmeasured.
Answer: Jama and hasil: the assessment was an ambitious claim, while collection depended on harvests, local resistance and what could actually be measured.
Memory hook: Jama is the plan, hasil is the cash in hand.
Taxing according to land quality
Imagine a farmer who leases two plots: one is irrigated and cropped every season, the other has lain idle for four years after salt damage.
How would Akbar's system have treated the two plots, and why is that fair?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The first plot is polaj: cultivated every year and never fallow.
- The second is chachar: fallow for three or four years.
- Revenue was fixed differently for each class; for polaj and parauti, a share of the medium produce was taken.
Answer: The polaj plot pays a regular share of its produce; the chachar plot is treated differently because it yields little. Linking tax to the condition of land avoids taxing what cannot produce.
Memory hook: Tax the field by how often it feeds you.
Tricks to remember The Mughal Land Revenue System
Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.
Please Pay Clear Bills
Polaj, Parauti, Chachar, Banjar: from always cultivated to longest unused.
Use it when: Order of Akbar's land classes.
One-third of one-third
Average the three grades (divide by three), then the king takes a third of that average.
Use it when: Working out the royal dues.
K-B-K-L in kind
Kankut (Kan = grain estimate), Batai (bhaoli), Khet-batai (field split), Lang batai (heap split): 'Kind Brings Khet and Lang'.
Use it when: Four methods of collection in kind.
The Mughal Land Revenue System: solved examples
Ordered from board level to HOTS. Try each one before you open the solution.
Example 1: Dividing the fields · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
Under which method of revenue collection described in the Ain were the fields themselves divided between the state and the cultivator after sowing?
(a) Kankut
(b) Bhaoli
(c) Khet-batai
(d) Lang batai
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Khet-batai: division of fields after sowing; bhaoli is another name for batai; lang batai divides heaps of cut grain (1 mark).
Answer: (c) Khet-batai
Example 2: Assessment and collection · 3 marks · Short answerBoard level
Explain the two stages of the Mughal land revenue arrangements and the role of the amil-guzar in them. (3 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Stage 1: assessment, giving the jama (1 mark).
- Stage 2: actual collection, giving the hasil (1 mark).
- Amil-guzar: revenue collector told by Akbar to strive for cash but keep payment in kind open; claims maximised but limited by local conditions (1 mark).
Answer: The arrangements had two stages. First came assessment: after measuring land and learning what it produced, the state fixed the amount due, called the jama. Second came actual collection: the amount realised was the hasil, which could fall short of the jama because local conditions sometimes thwarted the state's attempt to maximise its claims. The amil-guzar was the revenue collector; Akbar's list of his duties told him to strive to make cultivators pay in cash, while keeping open the option of payment in kind through methods such as kankut and batai.
Example 3: Assertion and reason: silver and cash revenue · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level
Assertion (A): The Mughal state was able to collect a large part of its land revenue in cash.
Reason (R): Large quantities of silver bullion flowed into India through trade, giving stability to the silver rupya and expanding minting.
(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 links the silver inflow and stable rupya to the state's ability to extract taxes and revenue in cash (1 mark).
Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
Example 4: Kankut or batai: which favours whom? · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Compare kankut and batai as methods of collecting revenue in kind. Which would a cultivator with a poor harvest probably prefer, and why? (3 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Kankut: crop estimated (kan = grain, kut = estimate), checked by cutting three lots if doubtful (1 mark).
- Batai/bhaoli: crop reaped, stacked and divided by agreement in the presence of both parties; needs inspectors (1 mark).
- Reasoned preference: batai shares the actual crop, so a poor harvest means a smaller payment, while an estimate may overstate it (1 mark).
Answer: In kankut the standing crop was estimated; if there was doubt, it was cut and estimated in three lots of good, middling and inferior quality. In batai, also called bhaoli, the crop was reaped and stacked and then divided by agreement in front of both parties, which required several intelligent inspectors to prevent cheating. A cultivator with a poor harvest would probably prefer batai, because the state's share came from what had actually been harvested, whereas an estimate made before the harvest could overstate the yield and leave him paying more than the field produced.
Example 5: Source-based: Aurangzeb's instructions · 4 marks · Source-basedHarder board level
Read the source (summarised for this page from an order of 1665 quoted in NCERT) and answer.
The emperor told his revenue officer to make the amins of every pargana find out how land was actually being cultivated, going from village to village and noting each peasant separately. Only after close examination were they to fix the amount of revenue due, weighing what the government needed against the well-being of the cultivators.
(i) What were the amins, and which administrative unit did they work in here? (1)
(ii) Name the Persian terms NCERT gives for 'actual conditions of cultivation' and 'peasant-wise'. (1)
(iii) Why did the emperor insist on such a detailed survey? Give two reasons. (2)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- (i) Officials who saw that imperial regulations were carried out in the provinces; the pargana, a subdivision of a province (1 mark).
- (ii) Maujudat; asamiwar (1 mark).
- (iii) To assess an accurate jama and maximise revenue; to avoid over-burdening peasants and keep cultivation going; to check fraud by local intermediaries (2 marks).
Answer: (i) Amins were officials responsible for ensuring that imperial regulations were carried out in the provinces; here they worked in the parganas, administrative subdivisions of a Mughal province. (ii) Maujudat (actual conditions of cultivation) and asamiwar (peasant-wise). (iii) First, land revenue was the economic mainstay of the empire, so the state needed exact knowledge of cultivation to fix a full and realistic jama. Second, the order itself asks officials to weigh the government's financial interests (kifayat) against the welfare of the peasantry: an accurate, peasant-wise record helped avoid excessive demands that might drive cultivators to desert their villages, and limited the scope for headmen and patwaris to under-assess their own lands and pass the burden to small cultivators.
Example 6: Long answer: was the system flexible? · 8 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
"The Mughal land revenue system combined a demand for precise information with flexibility in practice." Examine this statement. (8 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Importance of revenue; diwan's daftar (1 mark).
- Precision: measurement of cultivated and cultivable land; Ain aggregates (1 mark).
- Precision: Aurangzeb's 1665 order, maujudat, asamiwar (1 mark).
- Precision: land classes and the royal-dues calculation (1 mark).
- Flexibility: cash preferred but kind allowed; four methods (1 mark).
- Flexibility: jama versus hasil; local conditions; peasants' welfare (1 mark).
- Limits: forests unmeasured; corrupt mandals; petitions against extortion; desertion (1 mark).
- Judgement, with silver and cash as context (1 mark).
Answer: Land revenue was the economic mainstay of the Mughal Empire, and the office (daftar) of the diwan supervised the fiscal system. Revenue officials and record keepers thus became a decisive force in agrarian relations.
The demand for precise information is clear. Both cultivated and cultivable lands were measured in each province, and the Ain compiled the totals for Akbar's reign. In 1665 Aurangzeb ordered annual records of the number of cultivators in each village: amins were to discover the actual conditions of cultivation (maujudat) village by village and peasant-wise (asamiwar) before assessing the jama. Akbar's classification of land into polaj, parauti, chachar and banjar, with three grades for the first two, allowed the state to fix the royal dues as one-third of the medium produce.
Yet the system was flexible in practice. Akbar told the amil-guzar to prefer cash but keep payment in kind open, and the Ain describes four methods: kankut, batai or bhaoli, khet-batai and lang batai, which suited different crops and situations. The distinction between jama (assessed) and hasil (collected) admits that the state's claims, though maximised, were sometimes thwarted by local conditions. Aurangzeb's order speaks of balancing the government's financial interests with the welfare of the peasantry.
There were also limits. Forests, covering huge areas, remained unmeasured. Corrupt mandals defrauded accounts with patwaris and under-assessed their own lands. Petitions from Rajasthan and Maharashtra complained of extortionate taxation, and peasants could desert their villages when compromise failed.
The system worked within a growing money economy: silver flowing in through trade kept the silver rupya stable and helped the state collect revenue in cash. On balance, the statement is valid: the Mughal state sought detailed information to maximise revenue, but adjusted methods of collection to local realities and could not always realise its claims.
Where students lose marks in The Mughal Land Revenue System
The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.
Mistake: Reversing jama and hasil
Both are 'revenue' words.
Wrong working
Jama was the amount collected; hasil was the amount assessed.
Right working
Jama was the amount assessed; hasil was the amount collected.
Do this: Jama = jaanch (assessment) first; hasil = haath mein (in hand).
Usually costs: 1 mark in matching items.
Mistake: Mixing up chachar and banjar
Both are fallow lands.
Wrong working
Chachar was uncultivated for five years or more.
Right working
Chachar: fallow three or four years; banjar: uncultivated five years or more.
Do this: C before B, three-four before five.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Saying revenue was taken only in cash
Over-reading the silver section.
Wrong working
The Mughals collected all revenue in cash.
Right working
Cash was preferred, but payment in kind through kankut, batai, khet-batai and lang batai was kept open.
Do this: Write 'cash preferred, kind allowed'.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Describing the system without the gap between claim and reality
Treating the Ain's ideal as practice.
Wrong working
The state measured all land and collected the full revenue.
Right working
The state maximised its claims, but local conditions thwarted them; forests stayed unmeasured.
Do this: Add one line on limits in every analytical answer.
Usually costs: 1-2 marks in 8-mark answers.
Exam tips
- Asked in: 2024 board paper 61/3/1 Q25 (3 marks, how the Mughals organised the land revenue system); 2025 board paper 61/5/1 Q25 (3 marks, how land was classified for revenue); 2023 board paper 61/1/1 Q32 (4-mark source, 'Cash or kind?'); 2026 board paper 61/3/1 Q32 (4-mark source, 'How silver came to India'); 1-mark items on land classes (2023 61/1/1 Q14, 2024 61/2/1 Q14, 2024 61/3/1 Q15, 2026 61/3/1 Q12, 61/4/1 Q12, 61/5/1 Q12, sample paper 2025-26 Q14), on collection methods (2023 61/3/1 Q8), on jama and hasil (2024 61/4/1 Q13) and on silver (sample paper 2024-25 Q12). Answers here are our own.
- In 3-mark answers on organisation, cover: diwan and measurement, jama and hasil, cash or kind.
- Learn the four land classes in order and the one-third of one-third rule.
- For the silver source, connect Careri's description to the stable silver rupya and cash revenue.
- End analytical answers with the gap between the state's claims and what it could actually collect.
Practice questions on The Mughal Land Revenue System
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
Whose daftar (office) oversaw the finances of the whole Mughal Empire?
(a) Amin
(b) Diwan
(c) Patwari
(d) MuqaddamHint
His office was a daftar.
Answer
(b) Diwan.
Q2 · 2 marks · Very short answerBoard level
According to the Ain, how was the share taken as royal dues worked out for polaj and parauti land? (2 marks)
Hint
Three grades, two divisions by three.
Answer
The produce of good, middling and bad land was added together and one-third of the total was treated as the medium produce; one-third of this medium produce was taken as the royal dues.
Q3 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
How did the flow of silver into India in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries affect the Mughal revenue system? (3 marks)
Hint
Trade, rupya, minting, cash.
Answer
Expanding trade with Europe after the voyages of discovery and the opening of the New World brought huge amounts of silver bullion into Asia to pay for Indian goods, and much of it reached India, which had no silver of its own. This gave remarkable stability to the silver rupya and allowed an unprecedented expansion of minting and of money in circulation. As a result the Mughal state could extract taxes and revenue in cash, as it did in the Mughal heartland, where revenue was assessed and collected in cash.
Q4 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Why did the Mughal state encourage peasants to grow jins-i kamil, and what does this show about agriculture in the period? (3 marks)
Hint
Revenue and the market.
Answer
Jins-i kamil, literally 'perfect crops', such as cotton and sugarcane, brought in more revenue, so the state encouraged their cultivation. Cotton was grown across central India and the Deccan, and Bengal was famous for sugar; oilseeds and lentils were also cash crops. This shows that agriculture was not only for subsistence: subsistence and commercial production were intertwined on an average peasant's holding, and the revenue system itself pushed peasants towards the market.
Q5 · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level
Assertion (A): All the lands of the Mughal Empire were successfully measured for revenue.
Reason (R): Forests covered huge areas of the subcontinent.
(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
What stayed outside the survey?
Answer
(d) A is false but R is true: forests remained unmeasured, so not all areas were measured.
Q6 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Suppose you are a peasant in a drought year whose village has been assessed a high jama. Using the chapter, describe the options open to you, from the mildest to the most drastic. (3 marks)
Hint
Panchayat, petition, compromise, desertion.
Answer
First, approach the village panchayat, which peasants saw as a court of appeal that could make the state carry out its moral obligations; in cases of excessive demands it often suggested a compromise. Second, join others in a collective petition, as villagers in Rajasthan and Maharashtra did against extortionate taxation, arguing that custom guaranteed a basic minimum for survival. If reconciliation failed, the most drastic step was to desert the village; easy availability of uncultivated land and competition for labour made this an effective weapon.
Q7 · 4 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Map 1 in NCERT shows the Mughal Empire growing from Babur's reign (1530) to Aurangzeb's (1707). What problems and opportunities would this expansion have created for land revenue collection? (4 marks)
Hint
More land, more variety, more officials.
Answer
Opportunities: more land meant more revenue, the mainstay of the empire, and more jagirs to assign to mansabdars; regions such as Bengal (sugar) and the Deccan (cotton) added valuable jins-i kamil. Problems: new territories had to be measured and classified, which needed more amins, amil-guzars and record keepers, and not all areas, especially forests, could be measured. Local conditions varied, so the state had to allow collection in kind as well as cash and often could not realise its full jama. Distance also made it harder to check corrupt local officials and headmen, which is one reason Aurangzeb ordered detailed annual village records in 1665.
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.What was the jama?Show answer
The amount of revenue assessed.
2.What was the hasil?Show answer
The amount of revenue actually collected.
3.What was parauti land?Show answer
Land left out of cultivation for a time so that it could recover its strength.
4.What is another name for batai?Show answer
Bhaoli.
5.In which year did Aurangzeb order annual records of cultivators?Show answer
1665.
6.Which Italian traveller described silver reaching India c. 1690?Show answer
Giovanni Careri.
The Mughal Land Revenue System: frequently asked questions
How did the Mughals organise their land revenue system?
Through the diwan's office: land was measured and classified, the jama was assessed and the hasil collected by officials such as the amil-guzar, in cash where possible and in kind where needed.
What were the four categories of land under Akbar?
Polaj (cultivated every year), parauti (rested for a time), chachar (fallow three or four years) and banjar (uncultivated five years or more).
Was the Mughal revenue system flexible?
Partly: cash was preferred but payment in kind was allowed through four methods, and collection was adjusted to local conditions, though the state always tried to maximise its claims.
Why is the flow of silver part of this topic?
Silver from trade gave India a stable silver rupya and more coined money, which enabled the Mughal state to collect revenue in cash.