Introduction.
Musalmán Gujarát, a.d. 1297–1760. The present Sorath stretches no further than the limits of Junágaḍh, Bántwa, and a few smaller holdings.
Káthiáváḍa.The name Káthiáváḍa is of recent origin. It was not until after the establishment of Musalmán power in Gujarát that any portion of the peninsula came to bear the name of the tribe of Káthis. Even as late as the middle of the eighteenth century, the name Káthiáváḍa was applied only to one of the sub-divisions of the peninsula. In the disorders which prevailed during the latter part of the eighteenth century, the Káthis made themselves conspicuous. As it was from the hardy horsemen of this tribe that the tribute-exacting Maráthás met with the fiercest resistance, they came to speak of the whole peninsula as the land of the Káthis. This use was adopted by the early British officers and has since continued.
Under the kings, 1403–1573.Under the Áhmedábád kings, as it still is under British rule, Gujarát was divided politically into two main parts; one, called the khálsah or crown domain administered directly by the central authority; the other, on payment of tribute in service or in money, left under the control of its former rulers. The amount of tribute paid by the different chiefs depended, not on the value of their territory, but on the terms granted to them when they agreed to become feudatories of the kings of Áhmedábád. Under the Gujarát Sultáns this tribute was occasionally collected by military expeditions headed by the king in person and called mulkgíri or country-seizing circuits.
States.The internal management of the feudatory states was unaffected by their payment of tribute. Justice was administered and the revenue collected in the same way as under the Aṇahilapur kings. The revenue consisted, as before, of a share of the crops received in kind, supplemented by the levy of special cesses, trade, and transit dues. The chief’s share of the crops differed according to the locality; it rarely exceeded one-third of the produce, it rarely fell short of one-sixth. From some parts the chief’s share was realised directly from the cultivator by agents called mantris; from other parts the collection was through superior landowners.[5]
Districts.The Áhmedábád kings divided the portion of their territory which was under their direct authority into districts or sarkárs. These districts were administered in one of two ways. They were either assigned to nobles in support of a contingent of troops, or they were set apart as crown domains and managed by paid officers. The officers placed in charge of districts set apart as Crown Lands.crown domains were called muktiă.[6] Their chief duties were to preserve the peace and to collect the revenue. For the maintenance of order, a body of soldiers from the army head-quarters at Áhmedábád was detached for service in each of these divisions, and placed under the command of the district governor. At the same time, in addition to the presence of this detachment of regular troops, every district contained certain
Introduction.
Under the kings, a.d. 1403–1573. fortified outposts called thánás, varying in number according to the character of the country and the temper of the people. These posts were in charge of officers called thánadárs subordinate to the district governor. They were garrisoned by bodies of local soldiery, for whose maintenance, in addition to money payments, a small assignment of land was set apart in the neighbourhood of the post. On the arrival of the tribute-collecting army the governors of the districts through which it passed were expected to join the main body with their local contingents. At other times the district governors had little control over the feudatory chiefs in the neighbourhood of their charge.
Fiscal.For fiscal purposes each district or sarkár was distributed among a certain number of sub-divisions or parganáhs, each under a paid official styled ámil or tahsildár. These sub-divisional officers realised the state demand, nominally one-half of the produce, by the help of the headmen of the villages under their charge. In the sharehold and simple villages of North Gujarát these village headmen were styled patels or according to Musalmán writers mukaddams and in the simple villages of the south they were known as desáis. They arranged for the final distribution of the total demand in joint villages among the shareholders, and in simple villages from the individual cultivators.[7] The sub-divisional officer presented a statement of the accounts of the villages in his sub-division to the district officer, whose record of the revenue of his whole district was in turn forwarded to the head revenue officer at court. As a check on the internal management of his charge, and especially to help him in the work of collecting the revenue, with each district governor was associated an accountant. Further that each of these officers might be the greater check on the other, king Áhmed I. (a.d. 1412–1443) enforced the rule that when the governor was chosen from among the royal slaves the accountant should be a free man, and that when the accountant was a slave the district governor should be chosen from some other class. This practise was maintained till the end of the reign of Muzaffar Sháh (a.d. 1511–1525), when, according to the Mirăt-i-Áhmedi, the army became much increased, and the ministers, condensing the details of revenue, farmed it on contract, so that many parts formerly yielding one rupee now produced ten, and many others seven eight or nine, and in no place was there a less increase than from ten to twenty per cent. Many other changes occurred at the same time, and the spirit of innovation creeping into the administration the wholesome system of checking the accounts was given up and mutiny and confusion spread over Gujarát.[8]
Assigned Lands.The second class of directly governed districts were the lands assigned to nobles for the maintenance of contingents of troops. As in other parts of India, it would seem that at first these assignments were for specified sums equal to the pay of the contingent. When such assignments were of long standing, and were large enough to swallow the whole revenue of a district, it was natural to simplify the
Introduction.
Under the kings, a.d. 1403–1573.
Assigned Lands. arrangement by transferring the collection of the revenue and the whole management of the district to the military leader of the contingent. So long as the central power was strong, precautions were doubtless taken to prevent the holder of the grant from unduly rackrenting his district and appropriating to himself more than the pay of the troops, or from exercising any powers not vested in the local governors of districts included within the crown domains. As in other parts of India, those stipulations were probably enforced by the appointment of certain civil officers directly from the government to inspect the whole of the noble’s proceedings, as well in managing his troops as in administering his lands.[9] The decline of the king’s power freed the nobles from all check or control in the management of their lands. And when, in a.d. 1536, the practice of farming was introduced into the crown domains, it would seem to have been adopted by the military leaders in their lands, and to have been continued till the annexation of Gujarát by the emperor Akbar in a.d. 1573.
Under the Mughals, a.d. 1573–1760.It was the policy of Akbar rather to improve the existing system than to introduce a new form of government. After to some extent contracting the limits of Gujarát he constituted it a province or sûbah of the empire, appointing to its Administration.government an officer of the highest rank with the title of sûbahdár or viceroy. As was the case under the Áhmedábád kings, the province continued to be divided into territories managed by feudatory chiefs, and Crown Lands.districts administered by officers appointed either by the court of Dehli or by the local viceroy. The head-quarters of the army remained at Áhmedábád, and detachments were told off and placed under the orders of the officers in charge of the directly administered divisions. These district governors, as before, belonged to two classes, paid officers responsible for the management of the crown domains and military leaders in possession of lands assigned to them in pay of their contingent of troops. The governors of the crown domains, who were now known as faujdárs or commanders, had, in addition to the command of the regular troops, the control of the outposts maintained within the limits of their charge. Like their predecessors they accompanied the viceroy in his yearly circuit for the collection of tribute.
As a check on the military governors and to help them in collecting the revenue, the distinct class of account officers formerly established by king Áhmed I. (a.d. 1412–1443) was again introduced. The head of this branch of the administration was an officer, second in rank to the viceroy alone, appointed direct from the court of Dehli with the title of diván. Besides acting as collector-general of the revenues of the province, this officer was also the head of its civil administration. His title diván is generally translated minister. And though the word minister does not express the functions of the office, which corresponded more nearly with those of a chief secretary, it represents with sufficient accuracy the relation in which the holder of the office of diván generally stood to the viceroy.
Introduction.
Under the Mughals, a.d. 1573–1760.
Revenue Officials. Revenue Officials.For its revenue administration each district or group of districts had its revenue officials called amíns who corresponded to the collector of modern times. There were also amíns in the customs department separate from those whose function was to control and administer the land revenue. Beneath the amín came the ámil[10] who carried on the actual collection of the land revenue or customs in each district or parganáh, and below the ámil were the fáîls, mushrifs, or kárkúns that is the revenue clerks. The ámil corresponded to the modern mámlatdár, both terms meaning him who carries on the amal or revenue management. In the leading ports the ámil of the customs was called mutasaddi that is civil officer.