[12] This was in 1579. See “Blochmann,” i. p. 185; “Elliot,” v. p. 531.
[13] For a plate of Indian arms and accoutrements in the time of Akbar see the very interesting work by the Hon. Wilbraham Egerton, M.P., published by order of the Secretary of State for India in Council, “A Handbook of Indian Arms,” p. 23. (Wm. H. Allen & Co., 1879.)
[14] Mr. Blochmann has supplemented this list with biographical notices of Akbar’s nobles, of which there are four hundred and fifteen. These notices are chiefly taken from the “Tabakat-i Akbari,” the work of El Badaoni, the “Akbar-namah,” the “Tuzuk-i Jahangiri,” and a manuscript called “Maásir ul Umará” in the collection of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.—Blochmann’s “Ain-i Abkari,” i. pp. 308 to 526.
[15] See Hunter’s “Orissa,” ii. p. 5.
[16] Namely the poll tax (jiziah), the port and ferry dues (mirbahri), the pilgrim tax (kar), the tax on cattle (gau shumari), tax on trees (sar darakhti), offerings on appointments (peshkash), trade licenses, fees to darogahs, tahsildars, treasurers, and landlords, fees on hiring or letting, for bags on cash payments, on the verification of coins, and market dues.
[17] Akbar’s returns are in dams, forty dams making one rupee.
[18] In 1877 the whole land revenue of India, including the Madras Presidency and Burma, was £19,857,152. Of this sum £3,993,196 came from Madras, and £835,376 from Burma, which provinces were not included in the empire of Akbar; nor was a great part of Bombay (probably about half) under Akbar’s revenue system. In Bombay land revenue (including Sind) in 1877 was £3,344,664; and half this sum £1,672,332. For a rough comparison these three sums (namely the amount of land revenue from Madras, Burma, and half Bombay) must be deducted from the land revenue of 1877, and £807,102 (the revenue of Kabul) from the land revenue of Akbar. This leaves £15,775,338 as Akbar’s land revenue, and £13,356,248 as the land revenue obtained by our Government in 1877 from the same provinces.
[19] Many Muhammadan princes died of delirium tremens before the introduction of tobacco, which took place towards the end of Akbar’s reign. Asad Beg says that he first saw tobacco at Bijapur. He brought a pipe and a stock of tobacco to Agra, and presented it to the Emperor, who made a trial. The custom of smoking spread rapidly among the nobles, but Akbar never adopted it himself.—“Dowson,” vi. 165.
[20] “Memoirs of Jehanghir.”
[21] “Memoirs of Jehanghir,” written by himself, and translated by Major David Price for the Oriental Translation Fund, 1829. When I was at Madrid Don Pascual de Gayangos gave me a copy of a very interesting Spanish manuscript by an anonymous missionary (probably Aquaviva) who describes the personal appearance and habits of Akbar. It was left at the Asiatic Society, before Mr. Vaux’s time, and was mislaid. Don Pascual has also mislaid the original, so that the loss is irremediable.