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MUGHAL SUBA Or" THE DJSCCAN (1636-56) Ahmadnagar kingdom was annexed to sthe Mughal l^pire during the reign of Shah Jahan, After its annexation the Mughal aathority In the south had entered a new phase of its development. Resistance in Berar had come to an end and inten­ sive exploitation of the Deccan had started. Major revenue refoims were introduced during this period and significant changes were introduced In other spheres of administratia>n. This thesis is a humble attempt to investigate the impact of Mughal rule on the political and socio-economic trends in the Deccan during this period in the light of documents available in the State Archives at Hyderabad, Most of the archival material on which this thesis is based had not been utilised so far. The study does not deal with the entire Deccan, but only with that part of the Deccan which formed a part of the Mughal Empire till 1656, The first Chapter deals with the political, physical and ethnic geography of the area. In this chapter, Mughal pene­ tration right from the time of Akbar till 1636, has been traced. With the appointment of Prince Aurangzeb, as the Viceroy of the Deccan in 1636, the area started to feel the impact of Mughal adminis tration. * li - It has been shown that there was no major change in the boundaries of the jg^rKftTS or PMMmM* "J^ii® p^yg^ag assigned to a sarkar were rarely transferred from one to another. The number of pareanas attached to a sarkar was also left almost untouched. The Mughal administrative units were made to follow the physical contrours of the region, Ethnologically, this area was inhabited by people belong­ ing to different ethnic groups, with different religious back­ grounds, custans, rites and rituals, and speaking different languages and dialects. There were marked disparities in the econcMnic position of these groups. On the one hand was the aboriginal tribe of Gonds, occupying the lowegy rung of the~ social ladderJ on the other were the Marathas, better placed economically and struggling for greater political and economic gains. The second chapter deals with economy of the region. Cotton, indigo and rice formed the buck of the agricultural produce. The area contained a number of diamond, silver and steel mines. Textile industry received a boost, and textiles became the main articles of export, ^arais formed one of the necessities of inland travel. The third chapter deals with administration at provincial and local levels. The V'iceroy's period of tenure was not fixed, but he was expected to retire within three years. This policy - ill - was adopted in order to keep him in check and eliminate chances of his developing local connections and strengthening his position against imperial interests. Distantly situated as the Deccan was, the l^taperor had perforce to the Viceroy greater freddom of action and initiative. The appointment of princes to the Viceroyalty of the Deccan was, In fact, Intended to meet the dangers inherent in this situation. For purposes of revenue administration, the Mughal Deccan was divided into two portions, each with its own Diwan. The Painghat comprised the whole of Khandesh, and one-half of Berar, while the other 2^ sub as formed Balaghat. The fourth chapter deals with the mansa|b system as it functioned in the Deccan during this period. A list of mansabdars posted in the Deccan during this period has been prepared with the help of the military and revenue documents preserved in the State Archives, at Hyderabad and the biographical dictionaries of the period. The Deccanis are found receiving mansabs in large numbers in the imperial army. Although the Maratha desertions were comparatively more than those of the Dakhnis and Habashis^ the latter ifcBxa received higher ranks in the Mughal service. The Mughals had realised that in any political arrangement in the South, it was not possible to ignore the Deccanis. The Marathas formed the weaker secti6n of the Mughal nobility. The fifth chapter deals with the army. ^^ r**&^P'®^ ^® based mainly on the military papers preserved in the -Organisation, • iv - The army organisation rested on something like khanazad system. Family appears as a unit of the contingent of nobles. The branding regiilations were not practised. The regulations for the maintenance of different racial proportiOBS among the troopers were also not being adhered to. It appears that all the troopers serving under a noble did not belong to one race either but to ' various races. There appears to be no specific proportion existing between the noble and his troopers on racial basis. The attitude to recruit the troopers belonging to one's own race also does not appear to have existed. Only in the case of South Indian troopers we find a tendency to recruit themselves only •under the nobles of the South Indian domicile. The troopers from other lands were much less in number compared to the indigneous troopers, ^he foreigners possessed the horses of higher breed more than their Hindustani cotmterparts. The quality of the horse decreased with the South Indian troopers. There seems to be no fixed retirement age for the ordinary troopers. The study points to the existence of a certain discrimination against the indigenous troopers and particularly against the South Indians. It also points to the existence of regional tendencies of the South Indians, This situation resulted in the lack of mutual understanding between the Mughals and the Deccanls, It resulted in failure of the attempt to acccommodate the Deccanls in the imperial fold and ultimately proved harmful for the Mughals themselves. - V - The sixth chapter deals with the revenue administratifen. Measurement as the method of assessment of assessment was introduced on a very wide scale by Murshid Quli Khan* It appears that crop sharing was adopted at the beginning to help in fixing workable rais and dasturs for the different crops, Ihe reforms of Murshid Quli Khan had increased the extent of cultivation considerably and agriculture had improved generally, increasing in its turn the share of the state demand. The characteristic feature of this period was the pressure of keen competition for the acquisition of the mansabs and .iagirsi which resulted in the form of a crisis in the .laeirdari system. The appointment of Murshid Quli Khan as the Di^wanf first of Balaghat and then of the entire Deccan may be seen in this context. Aurangzeb, the Viceroy of the Deccan, after realising the disparity between the .lama and hal«i has 11 figures and its consequent bearings on the -1 agirdari system made great efforts to save the situation from utter collapse. Although he succeeded in his attempt to a remarkable extent, but the defects inherent in the practical working of the -laeirdari system itself and the troubled conditil>ns in the Deccan after the accession of Aurangzeb to the thronej told hard on the Mughals, Although due to the agrarian reforms of Murshid Quli Khan just before the close of this period, Aurangzeb succeeded to a great extent in checking the tendency towards inflated .lama and - vl - in maintaining a workable relationship between the .lama on the one hand and hal»i hasil on the other, he failed to maintain that very workable relationship between hal^-i hasil and the total number of mansabdars and troopers employed in the Imperial service. Throughout this period we find -lagIrs being constantly transferred. Although it resulted in keeping the landed aris­ tocracy in check, it also led to the rack-renting of the zamindars and the peasants, to the ruin of cultivation and also to the increase in the number of mapsabdairs. Aurangzeb gave a boost to the agricultural produce towards the close of this period, but he did not stop the practice of the transfer of SMXSM.* It resulted in an increase in the burden on the excheque created a sense of insecurity in the mansabdars and impaired the efficiency of the imperial army onwards. [ugljal ^uba of tl)t Mtttm 1636-56 A Study of Mughal Administration in the Reign of Shahjahan THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY By RAFl AHMAD ALAVI Under the Supervision of Professor S. Nurul Hasan CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ALiGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH T1355 Y\3^5 fO JUW^BlS ^r "- ;>\ ' ' :':Ju>aiifcgf ^ CHECl^D-2002 ^C ^^O ^^^^^^, CONTENTS Preface ' " "". --^ ''f Introduction Chapter I GEOGBAPHY OF THE MUGHAL DECCAN Chapter II ECONOMY Chapter III ADMINISTRATION PROVINCIAL & LOCAL Chapter IV MANSABI^RSIN THE DECCAN Chapter V ARMY ORGANISATION Chapter VI REVENUE AM IN IS TRAT ION RESUME AND CONCLUSION Appendices As LIST OF MANSABDARS POSTED IN THE DECCAN DURING 1636 - 56. B : TABLES SHOWING PROPORTION BETlvEEN NOBLES, TROOPERS AND HORSES. C s JAMA. STATISTICS OF ALL THE MAHALS OF THE MUGHAL DECCAN. Bibliography MAP MUGHAL SUBA OF THE DECCAN (1636-66). £, R S F 4 g B Notv;ithstanding the fact that the structure of provin­ cial administration of the Mughals vith reference to different region has been attempted by scholars, a study of the Mughal suba of the Deccan under Shah Jahan has been a great desi­ deratum. It was during the reign of Shah Jahan that Ahmadnagar was finally annexed to the Empire and Mughal authority in the south entered a new phase of its development. Resistance in Berar came to an end intensive exploitation of the Deccan began. Major revenue reforms were introduced during this period and significant changes were Introduced in other spheres of administration. This thesis is a humble attempt to investigate the impact of Mughal rule on the political and socio-economic trends in the Deccan during this period in the light of documents availaole in the State Archives at Hyderabad.

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