Note 31 — INTRODUCTION.

Introduction. Condition of Gujarát, a.d. 1297–1760. Under the Mughals, 1573–1760. Besides lightening the state demand the emperor Akbar introduced three improvements: (1) The survey of the land; (2) The payment of the headmen or mukaddams of government villages; and (3) The restoration to small superior landholders of the share they formerly enjoyed in the lands of government villages. The survey which was entrusted to Rája Todar Mal, the revenue minister of the empire, was completed in a.d. 1575. The operations were confined to a small portion of the whole area of the province. Besides the six tributary districts which were unaffected by the measure, Godhra in the east, the western peninsula, and a large portion of the central strip of directly governed lands were excluded, so that of the 184 sub-divisions only 64 were surveyed. In a.d. 1575, of 7,261,849 acres (12,360,594 bighás), the whole area measured, 4,920,818 acres (8,374,498 bighás) or about two-thirds were found to be fit for cultivation, and the remainder was waste. In those parts of the directly governed districts where the land was not measured the existing method of determining the government share of the produce either by selecting a portion of the field while the crop was still standing, or by dividing the grain heap at harvest time, was continued. In surveyed districts the amount paid was determined by the area and character of the land under cultivation. Payment was made either in grain or in money, according to the instructions issued to the revenue-collectors, ‘that when it would not prove oppressive the value of the grain should be taken in ready money at the market price.’31 The chief change in the revenue management was that, instead of each year calculating the government share from the character of the crop, an uniform demand was fixed to run for a term of ten years.