Conclusion
CONCLUSION The extension of Mughal rule to Gujarat in 1572-73, on the whole, ushered a period of stability and profound peace in the suba undisturbed by foreign invasions or domestic strife till the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. During their rule, Mughals established their provincial administration in Gujarat involving a chain officers at various levels appointed from the imperial headquarters. At times, the provincial administrative structure was exact replica of other subas, but sometimes innovations were made to accommodate the peculiarities of the region. Under Gujarat Sultans, administrative structure was more or less modeled on pattern of Delhi sultanate. Assignment system was the basic structure around which whole administration was built up. Nobles holding territory as assignment was given both the administrative as well as fiscal rights over it and in return for this favour they fulfilled the obligation of serving the sultan with a contingent. Hereditary character of the assignment led to the division of sultanate into assignments of important nobles whose mutual conflicts facilitated the annexation of the sultanate to the Mughal Empire in 1572-73. For the local administration, the offices of kotwal and qazis were there but not much information is forthcoming about other spheres of administration especially about land revenue. It seems that bureaucratic administration did not have wide prevalence in that period. The sultanate of Gujarat faced a stiff resistance from the hereditary chiefs of the region. But sultans, one by one eliminated big chiefs like those of Junagarh, Jagat and Champanir by the second half of fifteenth century and most of their territories
221 were brought under the direct control of the sultanate. The lesser chiefs like those of Idar, Nadaut, Rajpipla, Jhalawar and Kutch were gradually forced to accept conditions of military service in return for banth, that is, one-fourth share of their original revenues, while talpad or three-fourths of the original revenues, were taken over by the central authority. After the conquest of Gujarat, Mughals imposed their provincial administration in the region. Under it, governor (also called hakim, nazim or subadar) was appointed on a regular basis from the centre. He was chief executive of the suba having wide powers and functions. He was responsible for the executive, defense and justice, regulation of trade and general supervision of the suba. He was, in fact, answerable to everything happened in the suba. In city administration, the offices of kotwal and qazi were almost present in every Mughal city. But the provision of two kotwals for the administration of provincial city, Ahmadabad was unique to Gujarat provincial administration. There were two kotwals- kotwal-i balda (or shahr) and kotwal-i lashkar, the former administering the city and the latter military encampment. Another officer, seems to be not present in other Mughal cities, was faujdar-i gird, policing the territory around the city of Ahmadabad. In the early eighteenth century, an officer called nagarsheth became part of city administration of Ahmadabad. He was mainly responsible for the collection of taxes from merchants. His emergence as an officer was in the
222 background of frequent Maratha raids on Gujarat during the first quarter of eighteenth century. Under the Mughals, Surat was the premier port of the empire. For administrative convenience, it was constituted into a separate unit, forming sub-division of suba but practically independent of its authority. Mutasaddi (called by English as Governor) appointed directly from the imperial court was chief executive of the Surat port. Sometimes, this office was given on farm (ijara) which brought many merchants and officials involved in mercantile activities to the helms of this office such as Mirza Ishaq Beg, Ali Akbar Isfahani, Mir Musa and Masih-uz Zaman. The wide powers of mutasaddi mainly included the collection of revenues from the various mahals of sa ir (custom house, mint, grain market etc) of port, its adjoining areas and responsibility for the defense and safety of the port. On few occasions, dismissal of mutasaddi was affected at the complaints of merchants of Surat. The custom house of Surat was under the direct jurisdiction of mutasaddi who appointed his agent (known as darogha-i furza or shahbandar or Customer) to collect dues on goods exported or imported. Sometimes, this office was also held by merchants like Haji Muhammad Zahid Beg, an influential local merchant of Surat. Other officers like diwan, qiledar, qazi, kotwal etc were also there to help mutasaddi in the general administration of the port. In the executive branch of provincial administration, the post of faujdar ranked next to the nazim (governor) whose primary concern was the maintenance of law and order. In Gujarat, the presence of kolis, kathis and
223 zor-talab zamindars had made the position of faujdar quite important and crucial in the administrative structure. Further, Gujarat had brisk mercantile activities both internal and external which demanded security on routes. Apart from their jurisdiction, faujdars were employed in the areas of disturbances. In Gujarat, three types of faujdars, based on variation of size and importance of jurisdiction, were found. Faujdars of Sorath used to be nobles of high rank while faujdar-i gird (of the environs of the city of Ahmadabad) was a very small faujdar. Between them were the average size faujdars which mostly comprised faujdars designated qila cha nashin (faujdar having qila.) Scrutiny of the Akhbarat reveals that payment of peshkash could influence the appointment and dismissal of the faujdars. In the same source, a number of complaints, both collective as well as individual, against the faujdars of the suba are recorded. Consequently, action was taken against the defaulters. Judicial administration mainly consisted of qazis at all levels provincial, sarkar, pargana, and city and even in some chiefdoms. In Gujarat, qazis jurisdiction was extended to civil, inheritance, marriages, criminal, mercantile disputes. In civil matters, all property transactions (sale deeds, gift deeds or transfer deeds) were to be registered with the local qazi irrespective of religion or community. But he was not given power to inflict capital punishment on anyone. His role was also crucial in regulation of trade and commerce like levy of tolls on goods in transit after his valuation. He registered contracts and agreements, and also attested and verified them. Officers like mir adl and darogha-i adalat were also there to provide justice to common people.
224 Under Mughals, Gujarat ports were entry points of silver imports in the form of bullion and specie to be converted into Mughal coins. As a result of this, and to cater to the needs of overseas trade, mints were established in Gujarat, among which Ahmadabad and Surat mints were the largest. Along imperial coins, local currency mahmudi was allowed to circulate till the 1640. Later on, mints were established at places like Junagarh and Islamnagar for the melting of mahmudis. In the mint administration, the main officers were darogha, amin, sarraf and mushrif, appointed from the centre, among other minor officials and skilled workers. About mode of assessment of land revenue, conflicting evidences are recorded in contemporary sources. Sometimes, it looks that zabt system was there; sometimes nasq was appeared to be practiced. But about measurement, a later independent source (in the form of report of English revenue Collector of Broach of 1776) established it beyond doubt that Gujarat was covered by measurement. There in no doubt regarding the higher incidence of revenue demand. It was close to three-fourths instead of one-half, the norm in northern India. Khalsa land was quite extensive in the province of Gujarat. In addition to it, Jagirs, territorial as well as markets of larger towns and ports, were assigned to favourite members of imperial family like Nur Jahan, Jahan Ara and high officials of the suba. For the collection of revenue from these lands, a chain of officials were appointed at all levels like amil, fotadar, karkun etc. The whole revenue machinery was headed and supervised by diwan of the
225 province. Information in the Akhbarat sheds light on practical working of the jagir system in Gujarat like resumption of jagirs on non compliance of branding and verification regulations etc.. As a general practice, ijara or revenue farming lay under official disapproval but was often practiced in both khalsa and jagir lands of Gujarat. Out of their jagirs, the princes sometimes granted jagirs to their own officials. Jagirdars, it seems, were oppressive on peasants, exacted illegal cesses (rahdari, mahi etc) from traders and obstructed working of imperial officials. In Gujarat, in the territories under direct imperial administration, both submissive and refractory zamindars existed. An agreement was made by the Mughal authorities with these zamindars by which villages of zamindars were divided into two portions, the revenue of one of which, the banth were to be retained by the zamindars, of the other called talpad were to be collected by the imperial authorities. This arrangement was in place, also, during the rule of Gujarat Sultans. But in Gujarat, Zamindar s total income in relation to land revenue was 30 to 35 per cent ( 15 to 20 per cent in other subas). It was due to higher rate of malikana (proprietary right). Zamindars were also a major support of the Mughal land revenue machinery. If they cooperated with administration and paid their peshkash regularly, they were accommodated in state machinery. The office of chaudhari or desai, at pargana level was mostly held by zamindar of the area. Although, his post was hereditary, but his appointment and dismissal was affected by an imperial order. In a farman addressed to diwan of Gujarat, Muhammad Hashim, issued in 1668-69, peasants were termed as malik and arbab-i zamin (land owners)
226 and full rights of sale and mortgage was invested in them. They were also given rights to permanent and hereditary occupancy. But the peasants did not possess freedom of mobility and right to refuse to cultivate if they wished. For Gujarat, many instances of migration of peasants from their original places have been reported in extant local documents. Through imperial farmans, they were ordered to return to their original places. Modern scholars have cited abundance of land and scarcity of peasants as reasons for this policy. Like the other regions of Mughal Empire, the institution of village community was in existence in Gujarat as well. Under it, village, not individual peasant, was considered as the fiscal unit for the assessment and collection of revenue and hereditary officials like muqaddam and patwari got the job done. There was also concept of village funds to meet revenue demands, fees of village officials etc. and revenue free lands (banth) to be granted to village servants. In Gujarat, both types of grant in cash and land were made to the certain favoured section of the people. These grants were also assigned to persons who serve the population in some way, for instance Parsi physician Mehr Tabib of Navsari who treated the poor and indigent. This grant was not even resumed when Aurangzeb ordered resumption of all grants held by Hindus through out the Empire. In addition to it, other communities like Jains, Parsis were also favoured with grants. Usually, in grants, half cultivated and half cultivable waste land was given. In Gujarat, in most of the cases, the entire area given in grant was consisting of fallow land (uftada). In Gujarat, cash grants were also made generously from sources of urban taxes like furza
227 (custom house), Ghalla mandi (grain market) etc. But land grants formed the bulk of the charities disbursed by the state in Gujarat. On the whole, Mughal Empire maintained friendly relations with the tributary chiefs /autonomous of various stature of the Gujarat. All the chiefs accepted the over lordship of the Mughals after some resistance in the initial years. They also paid personal homage to the Emperor Jahangir when he visited the suba of Gujarat in 1617-18. Chiefs of Gujarat also furnished their contingents to serve the Governor of the Gujarat whenever it was required. Once the imperial government had exacted military service or tribute from the chiefs, it left them free to manage their internal affairs as they wished. Unlike Rajputs, most of the chiefs of Gujarat did not entered imperial service and obtained mansabs or ranks. But some chiefs were granted permission to mint local coin of Gujarat mahmudi in the name of Mughals, for instance chief of Baglana till its annexation to imperial domains in 1638. Chiefs of Kutch (chiefs of Bhuj and Navanagar) were also allowed to continue their circulation of mahmudis till the reign of Jahangir. In the reign of Aurangzeb, there was imperial intervention in some chiefdom but over all no major uprising or rebellion was taken place. It was after the death of Aurangzeb and weakening of imperial authority, chiefs started asserting their authority and becoming independent.