Mughal Land Revenue Apparatus

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This Volume, though dealing with the administrative units of the Mughal Empire, is a critical study of the entire Mughal land revenue apparatus. The Papers presented in this Volume give a comprehensive picture of the administrative jurisdiction, duties of the officials and the details of the working of the land revenue administration based on an in-depth study of the original Persian, English, Urdu and other sources found in different libraries and Archives in India and abroad.

Keeping in view that the success of the fiscal policy of the State rests primarily on the administrative apparatus and the working of the land revenue administration, Professor Grover has made a tremendous contribution in this regard by assessing the working of the various administrative and revenue officials.

An important aspect of the administrative jurisdiction discussed in these Papers pertains to the changes in the territorial circles and functions of the local officials that Professor Grover meticulously highlighted in his writings. Moreover, his writings reflect that there was a real need for a complete re- orientation of the existing theories and viewpoints to better understand the detailed workings of the Mughal land revenue administration.

Professor B.R. Grover, former Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research, with an academic and administrative career spanning more than 55 years, has left an indelible mark as one of India's most eminent and dedicated historians. He has left behind a massive wealth of historical research based on original Persian, Urdu, Ottoman Turkish, Punjabi and English sources. Known for doing intensive research in the archives and libraries of India, several European countries and the United States of America, Professor Grover had carved out a distinct position for himself as a moving encyclopaedia of source material on agrarian history of the Mughals, especially the land revenue administration.

This is the fifth volume of The Collected Works of Professor B.R. Grover which deals with the administrative units of the Mughal Empire as it developed in India. For the purposes of administration, the Mughal Empire was divided into Subahs. As far as possible, the effort was to make the Subahs more or less of equal dimensions keeping in view the administrative convenience and the natural frontier of the units. Each Subah was divided into Sarkars, each Sarkar into Parganas and Mahals, each Pargana into Tappas, and each Tappa into Mauzas. This volume is, in fact, an in-depth and critical study of the entire Mughal land revenue apparatus.

Professor B. R. Grover, a well-known scholar of history, particularly Agrarian history of India, was an untiring researcher who spent his whole life in search of un-tapped sources in several libraries and Archives of India and abroad as well as in the private collections of erstwhile Chiefs in order to get a clear and correct picture of the agrarian aspects of medieval Indian history. This is the precise reason why his unpublished writings are far more than the published ones. Nevertheless, the quality and quantity of his published works attracted great admiration of the academicians all over the world. Besides, there are perhaps very few historians who had the privilege of holding so many different posts and receiving so much honours as Professor B. R. Grover. I was lucky to have such a master as my 'guru'.

**Contents and Sample Pages**