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Punjab Under Akbar : a Political and Administrative History

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Punjab Under Akbar : a Political and Administrative History PUNJAB UNDER AKBAR : A POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY Digtertation submitted for the Degree of MMttt of $()ilo«optip IN HISTORY BY niclAZIft BE6DM •-'•;A UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF DR. SHAIKH A. LATIF 1^ ^ OoKipas^ CBNTRE FOR ADVANCED STUDY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY AUGARH (INDIA) I mini DS2905 C O N T J N T Preface Ackno%<l ed gemen t Intrpduction OttPTBR - I Punjab Uitder Akbar (a) Establishment of Akbar's rule in Punjab, <,b^Political Instability in Punjab (c) Steps tak^i by Akbar for the cjonsolidatlon gf his rule in Punjab (i.e. Lahore as his Inperial headquarter) CHAPTER - II Adminietrative Set up 31 (a) Different administrative units ^b) Principal Officers and their power and position (c) Village administration (d) Judicial administration (e) Military organization CHAPTER - III Economy and Society 46 (a) Crops and Method of Cultivation (b) Irrigation (c) Mines/Minerals and Manufactures (d) Trade and Commerce con td,,. (ii) (e) Land Revenue administration (i) Land Rev^ue structure in Punjab (ii) Functionaries (iii) Land Revenue arrangements in Lands under Zamindars, Jagirdars and in directly administered areas (iv) Revenue System in Punjab (v) Mode of Payment (vi) The Land Tenures, Madad-i^Maash ( f) Social jreforms of Akbar in Punjab and Promotion of B3ucation (g) Akbar's Relation with Sikh Gurus ^ (h) Architecture. Oonclusion Bibliography Appendices PREFACE Tile subject of the present study is to examine political and administrative history of the Punjab province (Subah) under A)cbar, The %*ork is chiefly based c^ the conteirporary sources namely/ Alcbamama, Ain-i-Akbari» Muntakhab-ut»Tawarikh, TSrikh-i-Akbari. But one is -fraught with difficulty in preparing a oon|>reh^nslve account of the province^ owing to scanty references available in the above mentioned major sources about the subject concerned under AKbar. Despite these draw­ back an atteRpt/ however, has been made to draw as good picture on the political and administrative history of the Punjab as possible. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am deeply thankful to my supervisor. Dr. Shaikh A. Latif for supervising my work with many positive sugges­ tions to inqsrove the preeentatlcMi of this work. He read the proofs not only with the eyes of a linguist but also as a critical historian. It is not possible for me to proceed further without reoording my debt of gratitude for Chairman of the Deptt. of History/ who helped me throughout the course of the study. Thanks are also due to the staff of the Maulana Azad Library, A.M.U., Al 1 garh,Seminar Department of History, A.M.U. and Nehru Memorial Library, New Delhi. I am Very thankful to my friend Seema Verma for providing me relevant material available in the Punjab Univer­ sity, Chandigarh. I am highly indebted to my restjected teachers. Dr. I,A. zilli and Professor z.U. siddiqi from whom I learnt a lot. I am also express my deep sense of gratitude to my father-in-law and mother-in-law without whose blessings this work would have not been completed. I %40Uld like to acknowledge my deep sense of gratitude to my father Mr. Mohd, Arif Hussain and mother, brothers, sisters who inspite of my stresses and strain have supported and inspired me morally and materially and have waited quite patiently to see the result of their sacrifices. I am very thankful to my husband, who in his own way has greatly contributed to the oonrpletition of this work by making it possible for me to devote my attention towards my studies. l can never forget my little daughter ""XUsra Ahmad" who with tears in her eyes used to say good bye to me to pay proper attention to my work. I will be failing in my duty if I do not express my gratitude towards my grand-father, Janab Iqtidar Ahmad, grand-mot her and uncles, M.z. Sultan, M. Izhar Ahmad, Abrar Ahmad, their morals is a great factor behind the conpletion of this work. In the end i may add this work la due to the inspiration of my "Amnria Jan* who oould not see the fulfilling of her wishes and passed away before the work could be completed. I am also very thankful to Rukheana Bajl# Dllnawaz Bhai and Alka Singh, for helping me in completing this dissertation and Mr. Habibullah for helping me in studying persian text, Mr. Akhlaque for careful typing. HIJAZIA BEGUM INTRODUCTION The Punjab subah enjoyed an extra-ordinary status in history because of its strategic importance,rich culture and economic richness, huch before its occupation by the Turks it drew towards it the Greeks, the sakas, the parti- haras and the KushlSnas. The arrival of the Muslim rulers 2 began in the 12th century. It was since th^ that various muslim leaders, representing the Turks, the Khiljis, the Tughluqs, Saiyyada and the Lodles came and ruled over India till the 1st quarter of the 16th ce»ntury and they left their deep imprint on the political, social, economic and cultural history of the Punjab, A new era of political/social and economic development began in the history of India with the victory of Babur at the 3 battle of Panlpat against Ibrahim Lodi in 1526. In the five years life after this victory Babur found no time to stabilize his gains and spent most of his time in fighting and dealing with the rival forces led by the Afghan chiefs and the 4 Rajputs. After his death in 1530, his son Humayun ascended the throne. Humayun could not prove himself better than Babur. 1. Imperial Gazetteer of India (Punjab), vol.I, pp. 18, 19^. superintend ©It of Government Printing Calcutta, 1908. 2. Imperial Gazetteer of India (Punjab), vol.I, pp.21-22. 3. Baburnama, Vol.11, p. 463, A.S. Beveridge, Delhi, ed. 1922. 4. Baburnama, Vol.II, pp. 561-62,600 z The Increasing threats of the anti Mughal forces and the growing ambitions of his brothers as chsllongers of the throne made him fail to shape and strengthen the Mughal enpire. The consolidation and the expansion of the Mughal erpire in India was done by Akbar. Akbar had his first posting in the Punjab by his father to fight out the Afghans and to stabilize the Mughal holds. He was informed about the death of his father xvhlle camping at Kalanaur in the district Gurdaspur (Punjab). But before his return to Delhi he was formally seated to the throne at Kalanaur to acknowledge the homage of high officials and the Mughal nobles present there. The pr^ent work is an attenpt to prepare an account of the Punjab subah^ under Akbar on the basis of data avail­ able in the Persian chronicles. But it is very surprising that no exclusive attempt has earlier been made by the medieval historians to make a proper study of the Punjab under Akbar. In general history of the Mughals like Ris» and fall of the Mughal EUpire by Tripsthi; Akbar the Great Mughal by Smith and History of Punjab by Latif; t^»e Punjab subah has been treated in fragmentation and has found a 1. Tabaqat~i-Akbari/ II, pp.136,137,139. Low Price Publication, Delhi, 1992. brle£ mention in theae >iK>rka. in view o£ the above facts it was felt neceasary to preT>are a conprehensive account of the Punjab eubah uncler Alcbar« who initiate's his career as king from this subah. After assuming kingship in 1556, Akbar Bp&it four years under the tutelage of Bairam Khan. He freed himself from the cluches of Bairam Khan in 1560 and took deep interest in the state matters. Being closely asso­ ciated with the Punjab in his early years, it was natural that Punjab enjoyed Akbar's kind favour. Somuch so that In 1582, he made Lahore as the capital of the Mughal etipire. To argu­ ment the production of the subah« A)(bar re-dug the canals and made themuseableby the peasants. Besides extending support to agricultural output, he also patronized various industries to inprove the economic condition of the people of the subah. To eradicate social evils, like satidah and child•Kttarriage them prevalent in Punjab, he took some re£on«« measures wiilch had perfomied inpact on the social map of the Punjab. The whole work is divided into three chapters. The first chapter deals with the establishment and consolidation of Akbar's rule in Punjab and also deals with the political instability in Punjab. 4 The secx>ncl chapter is concerned with the ^forking of administrative structure of the Punjab, various aspects of administration, via. town, village, judicial etc. have also been analysed. The third chapter is concerned with the general features of economy like crops and method of cultivation mines, minerals and manufactures trade and comnerce. Further it deals with the revenue administration of the Subah; society, education, architecture and Akbar's rela­ tions with Sikh Gurus. Lastly, I have included two appendices (A) a Brief Biographical Sketches of the governor of Punjab, (B) A ooiit>lete list of administrative divisions (i.e. Sarkar) and their resnective Mahals (Parqanahs). in the preparation of the pres^it work I have mostly relied on the oontenporary persian sources and have tried to corporate those account with the help of informa­ tion available In latter sources. Akbamama of Abul Fazl, Takmil-i-Akbarnama by Inayatullah, Muntakahb-ut-Tawarikh of Mulla Abdul Qadir Badaunl^ Tabagat-i-Akbari o£ Khwaja Nlzamuddin Ahmad are utilized for the details of the political condition of Punjab aubah and the details of eminent scholars and learned persons of the subah of Punjab, Tarikh-i-Akbarl of Haji Muhammad Arif Qandhari gives first hand informa­ tion about the rebellion of Bairam Ktan.
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