Another important effect of this survey was to extend to cultivators in simple villages the proprietary interest in the soil formerly enjoyed only by the shareholders of joint villages. By this change the power of the military nobles to make undue exactions from the cultivators in their assigned lands was to some extent checked. It was, perhaps, also an indirect effect of this more definite settlement of the crown demand that the revenue agents of government and of the holders of assigned lands, finding that the revenues could be realised without their help, refused to allow to the heads of villages certain revenue dues which, in return for their services, they had hitherto enjoyed. Accordingly, in a.d. 1589–90, these heads of villages appealed to government and Akbar decided that in assigned districts as well as in the crown domains from the collections of government lands two-and-a-half per cent should be set apart as a perquisite for men of this class.[32]
Introduction.
Condition of Gujarát, a.d. 1297–1760.
Under the Mughals, 1573–1760. When the heads of villages laid their own private grievance before government, they also brought to its notice that the Koli and Rájput landowners, whose shares in government villages had been resumed by the crown in a.d. 1545, had since that time continued in a state of discontent and revolt and were then causing the ruin of the subjects and a deficiency in the government collections. An inquiry was instituted, and, to satisfy the claims of landowners of this class, it was agreed that, on furnishing good security for their conduct and receiving the government mark on their contingent of cavalry, they should again be put in possession of a one-fourth share of the land of government villages. While the province was managed agreeably to these regulations, says the author of the Mirăt-i-Áhmedi, its prosperity continued to increase.[33]
Though these measures did much to check internal disorder, Gujarát, for several years after it came under Mughal control, continued disturbed by insurrections among the nobles, and so imperfectly protected from the attacks of foreign enemies that between the years a.d. 1573 and 1609 each of its three richest cities, Áhmedábád Cambay and Surat, was in turn taken and plundered.[34] During the rest
Introduction.
Condition of Gujarát, a.d. 1297–1760.
Under the Mughals, 1573–1760. of the seventeenth century, though the country was from time to time disturbed by Koli and Rájput risings, and towards the end of the century suffered much from the raids of the Maráthás, the viceroys were, on the whole, able to maintain their authority, repressing the outbreaks of the disorderly classes, and enforcing the imperial claims for tribute on the more independent feudatory chiefs. Throughout the greater part of the seventeenth century the general state of the province seems to have been prosperous. Its cities were the wonder of European travellers. Surat, which only since the transfer of Gujarát to the Mughal empire had risen to hold a place among its chief centres of trade, was, in a.d. 1664, when taken by Shiváji, rich enough to supply him with plunder in treasure and precious stones worth a million sterling[35]; and at that time Cambay is said to have been beyond comparison greater than Surat, and Áhmedábád much richer and more populous than either.[36]
From the beginning of the eighteenth century disorder increased. Unable to rely for support on the imperial court, the viceroys failed to maintain order among the leading nobles, or to enforce their tribute from the more powerful feudatories. And while the small Koli and Rájput landholders, freed from the control of a strong central power, were destroying the military posts, taking possession of the state share of village lands, and levying dues from their more peaceful neighbours, the burden of the Marátha tribute was year by year growing heavier. During the last ten years of Musalmán rule so entirely did the viceroy’s authority forsake him, that, according to the author of the Mirăt-i-Áhmedi, when the great landholders refused to pay their tribute, the viceroy had no power to enforce payment. And so faithless had the great landowners become that the viceroy could not pass the city gate without an escort.[37]
Introduction.
Condition of Gujarát, a.d. 1297–1760.
Self-governed Zamíndárs. The above summary contains frequent references to three classes of zamíndárs: (1) The zamíndárs of the self-governed states; (2) The greater zamíndárs of the crown districts; and (3) The lesser zamíndárs of the crown districts.
Self-governed Zamíndárs.In the case of the zamíndárs of self-governed states the principle was military service and no tribute. The author of the Mirăt-i-Áhmedi says that finally the zamíndárs of the self-governed states ceased to do service. In spite of this statement it seems probable that some of this class served almost until the complete collapse of the empire, and that tribute was rarely levied from them by an armed force. In the Mirăt-i-Áhmedi account of the office of súbahdár or názim sûbah the following passage occurs: When occasion arose the názims used to take with their armies the contingents of the Ránás of Udepur Dúngarpur and Bánsváda, which were always permanently posted outside their official residences (in Áhmedábád). This shows that these great zamíndárs had official residences at the capital, where probably their contingents were posted under wakíls or agents. It therefore seems probable that their tribute too would be paid through their representatives at the capital and that a military force was seldom sent against them. Accordingly notices of military expeditions in the tributary sarkárs are rare though they were of constant occurrence in the crown districts.
Crown Zamíndárs.The position of the zamíndárs of the khálsa or crown districts was very different from that of the zamíndárs of self-governed territories. The khálsa zamíndárs had been deprived of the greater portion of their ancestral estates which were administered by the viceregal revenue establishment. In some instances their capitals had been annexed. Even if not annexed the capital was the seat of faujdár who possessed the authority and encroached daily on the rights and privileges of the chieftain. The principal chiefs in this position were those of Rájpípla and Ídar in Gujarát and the Jám of Navánagar in Káthiáváḍa. Of the three, Rájpipla had been deprived of his capital Nándod and of all the fertile districts, and was reduced to a barren sovereignty over rocks, hills and Bhíls at Rájpípla. Ídar had suffered similar treatment and the capital was the seat of a Muhammadan faujdár. Navánagar, which had hitherto been a tributary sarkár, was during the reign of Aurangzíb made a crown district. But after Aurangzíb’s death the Jám returned to his capital and again resumed his tributary relations.
Smaller Zamíndárs.The lesser holders, including grásiás wántádárs and others, had suffered similar deprivation of lands and were subject to much encroachment from the government officials. Throughout the empire widespread discontent prevailed among subordinate holders of this description as well as among all the zamíndárs of the crown districts, so that the successes of Shiváji in the Dakhan found ardent sympathisers even in Gujarát. When the zamíndárs saw that this Hindu rebel was strong enough to pillage Surat they began to hope that a day of deliverance was near. The death of Aurangzíb (a.d. 1707) was the signal for these restless spirits to bestir themselves. When the Maráthás began regular inroads they were hailed as deliverers from the yoke
Introduction.
Condition of Gujarát, a.d. 1297–1760.
Smaller Zamíndárs. of the Mughal. The Rájpípla chief afforded them shelter and a passage through his country. The encouragement to anarchy given by some of the Rájput viceroys who were anxious to emancipate themselves from the central control further enabled many chieftains girásiás and others to absorb large portions of the crown domains, and even to recover their ancient capitals. Finally disaffected Muhammadan faujdárs succeeded in building up estates out of the possessions of the crown and founding the families which most of the present Muhammadan chieftains of Gujarát represent.
Marátha Ascendancy, 1760–1802.When the imperial power had been usurped by the Marátha leaders, the chiefs who had just shaken off the more powerful Mughal yoke were by no means disposed tamely to submit to Marátha domination. Every chief resisted the levy of tribute and Momín Khán reconquered Áhmedábád. In this struggle the Maráthás laboured under the disadvantage of dissensions between the Peshwa and the Gáikwár. They were also unaware of the actual extent of the old imperial domain and were ignorant of the amount of tribute formerly levied. They found that the faujdárs, who, in return for Marátha aid in enabling them to absorb the crown parganáhs, had agreed to pay tribute, now joined the zamíndárs in resisting Marátha demands, while with few exceptions the desáis and majmudárs either openly allied themselves with the zamíndárs or were by force or fraud deprived of their records. Gáikwár Saved by British Alliance, 1802.So serious were the obstacles to the collection of the Marátha tribute that, had it not been for the British alliance in a.d. 1802, there seems little doubt that the Gáikwár would have been unable to enforce his demands in his more distant possessions. The British alliance checked the disintegration of the Gáikwár’s power, and the permanent settlement of the tribute early in this century enabled that chief to collect a large revenue at a comparatively trifling cost. Not only were rebels like Malhárráo and Kánoji suppressed, but powerful servants like Vithalráv Deváji, who without doubt would have asserted their independence, were confirmed in their allegiance and the rich possessions they had acquired became part of the Gáikwár’s dominions.
Power of Chiefs.It must not be supposed that while the larger chiefs were busy absorbing whole parganáhs the lesser chiefs were more backward. They too annexed villages and even Mughal posts or thánáhs, while wántádárs or sharers absorbed the talpat or state portion, and, under the name of tora garás,[38] daring spirits imposed certain rights over crown villages once their ancient possessions, or, under the name of pál or vol, enforced from neighbouring villages payments to secure immunity from pillage. Even in the Baroda district of the thirteen Mughal posts only ten now belong to the Gáikwár, two having been conquered by girásiás and one having fallen under Broach. In Sauráshṭra except Ránpur and Gogha and those in the Amreli district, not a single Mughal post is in the possession either of the British Government or of the
Introduction.
Condition of Gujarát, a.d. 1297–1760.
Power of Chiefs. Gáikwár. A reference to the Mughal posts in other parts of Gujarát shows that the same result followed the collapse of Musalmán power.