Land Revenue System Under Akbar

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The land revenue system as it emerged under Akbar may be seen as the culmination of developments that had begun much earlier, well before the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate.
The evolution of Akbar’s revenue system, leading to what came to be called the dahsala or Ten-Year system in his 24th regnal year (1579), was in essence a logical extension of the measurement system (zabt) introduced by Sher Shah, which had continued to operate in Hindustan — the region from Lahore to Allahabad — into the early years of Akbar’s reign.

Revenue Administration Before the Dahsala System

During Bairam Khan’s regency, assessment was carried out under a special system known as jama-i-raqami.
- Since the number of claimants for jagirs was large, the jama (assessment) was artificially inflated, causing considerable discontent and infighting among the nobility.
After assuming full charge of the administration in 1562, Akbar attempted to reform the system.
- Asaf Khan, an Irani, was appointed wazir but achieved little and was subsequently removed.
- Aitmad Khan was then appointed diwan-i-khalisa.
  - He separated the khalisa (crown) lands from jagir lands, following an enquiry into the income yielded by different categories of land — with the most productive lands apparently retained as crown land.
  - Badayuni simply notes that “unprecedented economy was effected in expenditure” as a result.
Until the tenth regnal year (1566), no change was made to Sher Shah’s crop-rate (ray), which continued to be converted into a cash rate — called dastur-ul-amal or dastur — using a single, empire-wide price list.
- This caused considerable distress, since the prices used for this conversion were those prevailing in the royal camp, which were generally higher than prices in the countryside — meaning peasants elsewhere had to pay proportionately more.
- The deeper problem, however, was that the state still had little real knowledge of the actual state of cultivation — including productivity and the area actually sown — without which no proper revenue assessment could be made.
In 1564–65, Muzaffar Khan was appointed diwan-i-kul, with Todar Mal inducted into the department under him.
- In the eleventh regnal year (1567), Muzaffar Khan and Raja Todar Mal brought about a major change by systematically collecting revenue data from the qanungos.
  - The qanungos were asked to furnish information on the area of land cultivated and uncultivated, the produce of the land, and land-revenue statistics (taqsimat).
  - Statements for the khalisa areas covering 1567–71 were verified by ten senior qanungos, and on this basis a new estimate of empire-wide revenue was prepared.
- On the strength of this fresh data, the older, inflated jama-i-raqami — in use since Bairam Khan’s time — was set aside, and crop-rates began to be converted into cash using region-specific prices rather than a single price-list for the whole empire; Sher Shah’s ray was effectively abolished in the process.
This led to the determination of hal-i-hasil (the new assessment).
- Initially, state demand was calculated through annual measurement (zabt-i-harsal), later replaced by estimation (kankut) — an improvement over the earlier system, though still unsatisfactory for several reasons:
  - The qanungos, being local zamindars themselves, had little interest in disclosing the full state of affairs, so that neither the crop-rates nor the jama based on actual produce proved accurate.
  - The kankut or estimation method also left ample scope for corruption among local officials.
  - Since price-lists from the regions had to be scrutinised and approved by the court — a process complicated by the emperor’s uncertain movements as the empire expanded — delays were interminable, and, in Abul Fazl’s own terse words, “abundant distress used to occur.”

The Dahsala System

Incomplete information and the rapid expansion of the empire compounded these problems, forming the essential background to the dahsala or Ten-Year rates, proclaimed in the twenty-fourth regnal year (1579) — under which state demand was expressed as a cash rate based on local productivity and local prices.
Before this measure was enforced, two preliminary steps were taken.

The Karori Experiment (1574)

The region from Lahore to Allahabad was divided into separate revenue units, each expected to yield a crore of tankas, or roughly two-and-a-half lakh rupees — according to the Ain-i-Akbari, there were 182 such units.
- Officials called amils, popularly known as karoris, were placed in charge of each unit.
- Assisted by a treasurer, a surveyor, and other technical staff, the karori was to measure a village’s land and assess its cultivated area; he was also expected to survey banjar (uncultivated land) and encourage peasants to gradually bring it under cultivation.
  - This proved an impossible task, and many karoris were held to account for their failure to meet it.
- The real purpose of the karori experiment appears to have been the measurement of cultivated area — it was in this same year (1574) that a new jarib (measuring rod of bamboo joined by iron rings) was introduced, replacing the older hempen-rope jarib, which expanded when wet and was a frequent source of abuse.
- It was also in 1574 that Todar Mal carried out a parallel experiment in measurement and survey in Gujarat.
A second step followed in 1576, when the region of Hindustan (Lahore to Allahabad) was brought under khalisa, or direct crown administration.
- Combined with the introduction of the horse-branding (dagh) system, this caused serious discontent among sections of the nobility.
- However, this step appears to have been intended chiefly to gain first-hand experience of agricultural conditions, rather than reflecting any desire to abolish the jagir system outright — once the required information had been gathered, the jagir system was restored.
In 1579, the karori system was abolished and the Ain-i-Dahsala settlement introduced in its place.
- The Ain-i-Dahsala system was first introduced in khalisa land across the Lahore-to-Allahabad region, and was the product of the combined efforts of Todar Mal and Khwaja Shah Mansur.

How the Dahsala Assessment Worked

By 1579, sufficient experience had accumulated regarding land productivity and local prices. On this basis, lands were grouped into assessment circles, also called dasturs — a dastur being an area of comparable produce and crop-rate.
- The conversion of produce into a cash equivalent was known as dastur-ul-amal.
According to Abul Fazl, the crops, the sown area, and the price of produce in every pargana over the preceding ten years were “ascertained,” and “one-tenth thereof was fixed as annual revenue.”
- State demand was thus no longer based on a single crop-rate later converted into cash, but on a series of cash-rates tied to the crop grown and the area sown.
- This benefited the state, since it could estimate its likely income as soon as crops were sown and the area measured (zabt) — and it benefited the peasant to some extent as well, though it also shifted much of the risk of cultivation onto the peasant’s own shoulders.
It is worth clarifying that dahsala did not mean a fixed ten-year settlement, but rather an assessment based on the average of produce and prices over the preceding decade.
- These average prices were not simply an average of the cash-rates used in earlier years; instead, productivity and local prices for the past ten years were worked out afresh from fresh information and then averaged.
- This method, however, was not applied to cash crops or high-grade produce — such as cotton, indigo, sugarcane, oilseeds, poppy, and vegetables — which were always charged in cash. Since such crops saw wide price fluctuations, a particularly good season was chosen as the basis of the revenue demand instead.
Both productivity and continuity of cultivation were factored into the state demand, with land classified as follows:
- Polaj — land continually under cultivation.
- Parauti — land left fallow for a year, charged full rates once brought back under cultivation.
- Chachar — land fallow for three to four years (e.g., due to inundation), charged at a progressive rate that reached the full rate only in the third year.
- Banjar — cultivable wasteland, charged full rates only from the fifth year, to encourage its reclamation.
Land was further classified as good, bad, or middling.
- The state’s share was generally fixed at one-third of average produce, though this rose to one-fourth in areas such as Multan and Rajasthan, and to one-half in Kashmir, where saffron was cultivated.
Measurement itself relied on the Sikandari gaj (a 32-digit unit), later replaced by the longer Ilahi gaj (41 digits); records of measurement were maintained in a register called the siyahi zabita. The bigha remained the basic unit of the land revenue system.
The formal land-revenue demand should not be confused with what a peasant actually paid in practice.
- It excluded various additional cesses — such as those on cattle or trees — as well as the share claimed by zamindars and local officials (qanungo, muqaddam, patwari, etc.), and the costs of village upkeep.
- Even so, the land-revenue demand remained by far the heaviest burden a peasant faced, enforceable, in case of default, through severe measures — including ejectment and even loss of life.

The Working of the Dahsala System

The dahsala system, based on measurement (zabt) and survey, was introduced across the region from Lahore to Allahabad, as well as in Gujarat, Malwa, and parts of Bihar and Multan.
- Irfan Habib, however, notes that it is improbable that zabt ever covered the entirety of any province.
Per the Ain, amalguzars were instructed to accept whichever system of assessment the cultivator preferred — besides zabt, the prevalent alternatives were kankut (appraisement) and batai (crop-sharing).

Kankut

In kankut, the whole of a landholding was measured — either using the jarib or by pacing it out — and the standing crop assessed by inspection.
- Where there was doubt, the crop was cut and divided into three lots — good, middling, and inferior — and a balance struck accordingly.

Batai (Crop-Sharing)

The batai system took three distinct forms:
- Bhaoli — crops were reaped and stacked, then divided by agreement in the presence of both parties.
- Khet batai — fields were divided after they were sown.
- Lang batai — after the grain was cut, it was heaped and then divided.
Because it depended heavily on human judgement, the batai system required a large body of vigilant inspectors — without them, deception was common.

Kharwar System

In Kashmir, following a practice found in parts of Central Asia, produce was instead computed on the basis of ass-loads (kharwar) and then divided between state and cultivator.

Nasaq System

The nasaq system remains a matter of considerable debate among historians.
- Moreland described it as a form of group assessment, while Irfan Habib considers it essentially an estimation based on the previous assessment.
- Under this system, peasants were given an estimate based on the prior assessment — whether originally derived from zabt, batai, or any other method.
  - If the peasant refused to accept this estimate, a fresh assessment could be carried out.
  - This allowed the state to avoid conducting annual measurements in most years.
- Over time, nasaq based on zabt appears to have become the standard system, though the option of batai always remained available, particularly following a series of crop failures.
While the state generally preferred payment in cash, peasants retained the option of paying in cash or in kind under the crop-sharing arrangement.
- Whenever the state’s share was collected in kind, it was invariably sold and converted into cash — as revenue papers from Rajasthan indicate.

Additional Provisions Within the Dahsala System

An emergency cess, known as dah-seri, could be levied when required.
A provision for nabud (cropless area) allowed land that had failed to yield a crop to be kept outside the assessment — though such cropless area could not exceed 12.5 per cent of the total sown area.
In 1581–82, jagir lands too were brought under the Ain-i-Dahsala settlement, extending the system beyond khalisa territory.
In 1584, the Ilahi Era (a new solar calendar) was introduced, closely linked to Akbar’s broader administrative and revenue reforms.
In 1585, a Commission was formed — with Todar Mal and Fathullah Shirazi as members — specifically to investigate corruption among amils.
The collection of land revenue was enforced with considerable strictness, and non-payment was treated as an act of revolt.