SIND IN THE MUGHAL EMPIRE (1591-1740): A STUDY OF ITS ADMINISTRATION SOCITY, ECONOMY AND CULTURE ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Bottor of $t)tIo£!opI)p IN HISTORY BY AMITA PALIWAL Under the Supervision of PROFESSOR SHIREEN MOOSVl CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2010 ABSTRACT Sind in medieval India was one of the very few geographically distinct regions of Indian subcontinent comprising the lower Indus Basin, Baluchistan Hills and Thar Desert, in its east and west, and the Sukkur gorge providing practically the only opening from the north. Although sequestered in the extreme western comer of the South Asian subcontinent, and thus to some extent, enjoyed a peculiar aloofness from the developments, that were taking place in the neighboring regions. However, its position as junction of land and sea routes, made it accessible to the major changes that were taking place in Central and Western Asia. The geographical features of Sind put it in the category of the great river-desert basins as of the Oxus, Helmund and Nile. Before the present canal system it had a fairly narrow agricultural zone, which resulted in an interaction throughout its history between sedentary population, and nomads of the desert and steppes, on its east and west. This aspect of Sind is very well covered in the seventeenth century t • gazetteer Mazhar-i-Shdhjaham, written by Yusuf Mirak in the year 1634. The present thesis is divided into eight chapters, which deals with administration, society, economy, and culture. Introduction covers topography; which includes major physical features of the region of Sind. In this, the first part covers the physical division of Sind, including its main hills, desert, rivers, and doab, along with the description of its soil, main crops, mines, and minerals. It also covers the political boundaries of Sind, and major shifts within it under different regimes. The second part deals with the Arghun and Tarkhan regime, who ruled Sind prior to its annexation by the Mughal Emperor Akbar. The third part deals with the contemporary sources, which comprise official histories, or private accounts, and some private documents and numismatic evidence. The Chapter I focuses mainly on the attempts for introducing the centralized Mughal Imperial administration in Sind. It also discuss the policies during the transitional phase immediately after the conquest, when the erstwhile ruler of Sind, on accepting the suzerainty of Akbar was given a mansab, and taken into Mughal nobility, and was even made nominally the Governor of suba Multan comprising Sind. But its ruler was not allowed to exercise real power. and was not even allowed to visit Sind. He was practically was detained at the court. The imposition of centralized administration, with the appointment of Imperial officers in Sind, is dealt in part third of the chapter. An attempt is been made to show that despite Sind being a peripheral region, centralized Mughal administrative pattern was fully in vogue here, with the presence of all the Imperial officers as in other provinces of the Empire. Chapter II deals with the fiscal system, which is divided into two parts again. The first, deals with rural taxation and land revenue; mode of assessment, magnitude of state demand, and its realization through the intermediaries. The salaries and perquisites of the intermediaries have also been discussed. Interestingly enough the Mughal administrative machinery functioned in the same manner in Sind, as in the other parts of Mughal Empire. The second part deals with the urban taxation; which includes custom duties (dharat), town tax {misrt), taxes on merchants, and on trade as boat tax (chahal-yak), and other taxes as zakat (toll tax), muhfT{ for fixing the seal) ,as well as mariners' share, and seigniorage at mints. Ill Chapter III covers the agrarian society of Sind under the Mughals, here zamTndars and Peasnts have been discussed separately. The first part deals with the landed potentates i.e. the zamTndars and their relation with the Mughal State, their contribution in rural economy is been discussed in detail. The peasants, their stratification, and their relations with the zamTndars, are discussed in second part. Agrarian society of Sind seems to have a unique feature, where the peasants and the zamTndars often belonged to same clan, which sometimes created trouble for the Mughal administration. These problems have been dealt in detail. Society of Sind during the period under study, had a population comprised of tribes, some of whom were nomads, and others sedentary. The tribes of Sind, their organizafion, territorial division, and their occupation have been dealt in Chapter IV. Their relations with the Imperial authorities and with the sedentary population have also been studied here. Sind was an important trading centre and Chapter V, deals exclusively with the important towns and ports of Sind. It covers their strategic location, main products, and their contribution in the urban iv economy, as Sind was an important trading centre. The emergence of the new towns and consequent dechne of the old ones, and the factors responsible for it, has also been discussed. Trade, commerce, currency and exchange mechanism is covered in Chapter VI. This Chapter has two parts; in first part trade, commerce, major export and import items, have been discussed. The establishment of the Mughal mints, and their share in the currency circulation, regional currency (of lower intrinsic value), and the exchange mechanism in Sind, has also been included in this part. The second part covers trading classes, and instruments of trade. It also discusses the inland and overland trade routes, and mode of transports. The rivalries between the Portuguese, English and Dutch have been discussed. The establishment of English Factories in different parts of Sind, the Portuguese monopoly prior to the English, and the Dutch attempt to establish Factory in Sind, is also covered. Chapter VII covers the aspect of architecture of Sind, which has two major divisions. In section first, major buildings of Sind built during the Mughal Empire, has been covered. The second part is assigned to find the differences, and similarifies between the classical Mughal architecture, and the buildings of Sind built during the Mughal period. Here an attempt has been made to find the assimilation of Mughal architectural pattern on Sind buildings, and the extent to which these buildings had incorporated the Mughal Imperial features, or they remained regional in character. The development of regional poetry, literature and high culture are major thrust areas in Chapter VIII. Royal patronage given to the men of erudition, skills during Arghuns, Tarkhans, and Mughal period, famous academic institutions, have been discussed here. Besides this, contribution of previous rulers for the development of regional poetry, impact of Mughal court language, of bhakti, and sufi movements on h, along with the champions of regional poetry, have also been discussed in detail. The contributions of Sindhi calligraphers to Mughal buildings, and of writers to court histories and the regional histories, with the consequent growth of high culture in Sind has been studied here. VI SIND IN THE MUGHAL EMPIRE (1591-1740): A STUDY OF ITS ADMINISTRATION, SOCITY, ECONOMY AND CULTURE THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Boctor of pi)tIo£(opl)p IN HISTORY BY AMITA PALIWAL Under the Supervision of PROFESSOR SHIREEN MOOSVI CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2010 .,^^--^=^^ « /tec. 1^9 ^AT * . cc? 2314 2 vui T8137 TO MY PARENTS CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY Department of History Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh- 202 002 This is to certify that the thesis 'Sind in the Mughal Empire (1591-1740): A Study of its Administration, Society, Economy and Culture' by Ms Amita Paliwal, is the original research work of the candidate, and is suitable for submission for the award of the Ph.D. degree. ' (Shireen Moosvi) Supervisor Telephones: (0571)2703146; Fax No. (0571)2703146; Internal: 1480 and 1482 APPENDIX A. Dasturs of sarkar Sehwan 110-111 B. Dasrurs of crop-sharing in Sehwan 111 C. List of custom duties, and other taxes. 121 -124 CHAPTER III: AGRARIAN SOCIETY 3.1 Landed Aristocracy: The ZamTndars , and their relations with 125-137 the Mughal State. 3.2The Peasantry: Peasants relationship with the JagTrdars, 138-152 and ZamTndars. CHAPTER IV: THE TRIBES: THEIR CONFLICT WITH THE SEDENTARY POPULATION, AND WITH THE IMPERIAL OFFICERS. CHAPTER V: THE TOWNS IN SIND. 174-191 CHAPTER VI: URBAN ECONOMY. 6.1 Trade and Commerce: Major Export and Import items. 192-217 6.2 Trading Class and Instruments of Trade in Sind. 218-232 APPENDIX A. List of prices of commodities 215-216 B. List of weights and measures. 217 CHAPTER VII: ARCHITECTURE. 7.1 Major Buildings ; Built during Mughal Era. 233-262 7.2 Resemblances and Differences between the Classical 263-270 Mughal Architecture, and Sind Architecture. CHAPTER VIII: DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL POETRY, 271-287 LITERATURE ,AND HIGH CULTURE IN SIND. BIBLIOGRAPHY 288-299 ACKNOWLEDGMENT I owe the idea, inspiration and guidance for this thesis to my supervisor. Professor Shireen Moosvi, who despite of her busy schedule and commitment to academics, could pay full attention to the progress of my work. Her positive criticisms undoubitedly helped me to improve my work for better. It is because of her constant persuasion and perseverance that I could finally complete my thesis even after a long gap, I consider myself to be very lucky to have an additional and extremely precious encouragement and advice of Professor Irfan Habib (Professor Emeritus, History). I am highly indebted to him for teaching me Persian, and thus made it possible for me to consult Persian sources. His invaluable insights have helped me in looking at many topics of this thesis from various perspectives.