Mughal state formation: The Mewati counter-perspective

Indian Economic and Social History Review

Volumn 34, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 169-194

  Mayaram, Shail ^a  

^a Institute of Development Studies   (India)

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EID: 21944434926     PISSN: 00194646     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/001946469703400202     Document Type: Review

References (97)

1. Edward Said, Orientalism, London, 1985 (1st Edn 1978);
2. and 'Orientalism Reconsidered', in Race and Class, Vol. 27, 1985, pp. 1-15.
3. I have analysed Minhaj-us Siraj's Tabaqat-i Nasiri;
4. Barani's Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi;
5. Ferishta's Tarikh-i-Ferishta;
6. Nizamuddin Ahmad's Tabaqat-i Akbari;
7. Yahya bin Ahmad's Tarikh-i Mubarak Shahi;
8. and Al-Bada'uni Muntakhawbu-t-Tawarikh in my chapter, 'Towards a Critique of Persian Historiography', in the ms mentioned in the acknowledgements.
9. The Shah Jahannama of 'Inayat Khan, An Abridged History of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, compiled by his royal librarian, ed. (and completed by) W.E. Begley, Delhi, 1990, p. 151.
10. Farman No. 76, 16 July 1650.
11. The Shah Jahannama, p. 148.
12. According to farman no. 77, 28 September 1650. See Nurul Hasan, 'Further Light on Zamindars under the Mughab - A Case Study of (Mirza) Raja Jai Singh under Shah Jehan', Indian History Congress Proceedings (hereafter IHC Progs), Vol. 39, 1978, p. 498.
13. I have argued elsewhere that the Mewati oral tradition is counter-cultural not only with respect to the Mughal Empire but also with regard to the British colonial state and the Naruka Rajput and Jat princely states of Alwar and Bharatpur.
14. Shaykh Abu al-Fazl 'Allami ibn Shaykh Mubarak Nagawri', A'in-i-Akbari, Vol. 2, trans., Blochmann, Delhi, 1965, pp. 202-6. The A'in shows the substantial strength of the Meos with landholding in the following areas: 12 out of 43 parganas in sarkar Alwar; 14 out of 18 parganas in sarkar Tijara, and in all 4 parganas of sarkar Sahar. In the remaining parganas they did not possess any significant zamindari rights, and had virtually none in the parganas of Rewari and Narnaul.
15. Irfan Habíb, 'Jatts of Punjab and Sind', in Harbans Singh and N. Gerald Barrier, eds, Essays in Honour of Dr. Ganda Singh, Patiala, 1971;
16. Chetan Singh, Region and Empire: Panjab in the Seventeenth Century, Delhi, 1991.
17. H.K. Naqvi mentions 144 uprisings during Akbar's rule. Urbanization and Urban Centres under the Great Mughals, Simla, 1971, pp. 160-86.
18. See Muzaffar Alam, 'Aspects of Agrarian Uprisings in North India in the Early Eighteenth Century', in S. Bhattacharya and R. Thapar, eds, Situating Indian History, Delhi, 1986, pp. 146-70.
19. Also his The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India: Awadh and the Punjab, 1707-1748, Delhi, 1986;
20. R.P. Rana, 'Agrarian Revolts in Northern India during the Late 17th and Early 18th Century', The Indian Economic and Social History Review (hereafter IESHR), Vol. 18, 1981, pp. 287-326.
21. Like the Panch Pahar, Papadu is an anti-imperial narrative of a folk hero's rebellion against the Muslim urban nobility and the Telugu aristocracy of the Golconda kingdom. J.F. Richards and V.N. Rao, 'Banditry in Mughal India', IESHR, Vol. 17, 1980, pp. 95-120.
22. S.P. Gupta, The Agrarian System of Eastern Rajputana (c.1650-c.1750), Delhi, 1986, p. 10.
23. Farman R.Y. 4 of Shah Jahan/1631 according to which Jai Singh was given a sawar rank of 4,600 and 50,200,000 dams in in'ām. Satish Chandra, Mughal Religious Policies: The Rajputs and the Deccan, Delhi, 1993, p. 105n.
24. The Amber ruler was further promised Khori and Mathura if he suppressed the Jats. See vakil report 140/130, 24 Ramazan 1099 H./13 July 1688. Later he also obtained the jagir of Toda Bhim according to vakil report 251/369, 28 Shaban H./17 May 1691. Bhangarh was obtained with a grant of Rs 58,350 from revenue; Naraina and Alwar with a revenue of Rs 80,413; and Narnaul and Kothputli were exchanged with the Mughals for Tijara in return for Rs 2,500,000 a year. H.C. Tikkiwal, Jaipur and the Later Mughals, Jaipur, 1975, p. 52.
25. Ijara meant that a contract to farm the revenue of a particular tract that was usually part of a jagir was given for a short while. The amount due from the ijaradar was stipulated in the patta or document of lease. 16 These were held till 1678 when the mansab was reduced.
26. In 1802-3 it had an estimated income of 10 million rupees. V.S. Bhatnagar, Life and Times of Sawai Jai Singh, 1688-1743, Delhi, 1974.
27. Chitthi to the amil, pargana Khohri, Asadh Vadi 4, Vikrami Samvat (henceforth V.S.) 1797/1740.
28. See Suraj Bhan Bhardwaj, 'Socio-economic Conditions in the Mewat Region (1650-1750 AD)', unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 1990, pp. 16-17, 139-40, 220-30.
29. See Rana, 'Agrarian Revolts in Northern India', p. 290.
30. Satish Chandra and Dilbagh Singh's study of the yaddashti documents highlights the differential rates that were applied to the lower and higher castes. Rajputs generally paid about one-third and Brahmans 12 per cent. Minas, Gujars, Jats, Muslims, Chamars, Kolis and others, on the other hand, paid 76 per cent. 'Structure and Stratification in the Village Society of Eastern Rajasthan', IHC Progs, Vol. 33, 1972, pp. 196-203.
31. Gupta's work on the arhsattās similarly highlights the strain on the peasantry. He writes that 'on the whole the total taxation was over 44 per cent of the produce. In addition, a tenth had also to be paid directly or indirectly by the peasants'. Gupta, Agrarian System, p. 148.
32. See also Dilbagh Singh, 'Caste and Structure of Village Society in Eastern Rajasthan during the Eighteenth Century', Indian Historical Review, Vol. 2, 1976, pp. 299-311.
33. Bajekal argues that a strong state was required to appropriate the agrarian surplus. See Madhavi Bajekal, 'Rural Disputes in Eastern Rajasthan in the Eighteenth Century', unpublished M.Phil thesis, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 1980.
34. Bhardwaj, 'Socio-economic Conditions in the Mewat Region', pp. 40-41, 103-8.
35. Cited in Bhardwaj, ' Socio-economic Conditions in the Mewat Region', pp. ibid., pp. 190, 231.
36. Chitthi to the amil, Asadh Vadi 8, V.S. 1722/1665.
37. These documents of the Mahakma Khas reveal a recurring concern with Mewati rebellion. They include khatt (letters) and 'arzis (petitions) written by amils and faujdars and articulate either the complaints of the people or of the officials. The amil chitthis are also highly informative about the popular perception of authority. Written by the diwan to the amil they were based on people's complaints regarding the violation of their land rights. The vakil reports addressed to the rulers of Jaipur were statements written by vakils who were virtually ambassadors at the imperial court. These give a strong sense of the responses of the regime to the growing problem of zamindaran-i zortalab (rebellious zamindari).
38. See respectively, 'arzdashts 2480 (n.d.) and 2320, 1154/H/1709 AD.
39. 'Arzdasht 1359, Jammadalawwal 1141 H./1709 AD.
40. 'Arzdasht 2234, 25 Moharrum 1131/7 December 1718.
41. 'Arzdasht 2320, 1155 H./1709 AD.
42. Vakil report, Mangsir Vadi 9, V.S. 1769/1712 AD.
43. The use of binary counter-concepts (Greek/Barbarian, Christian/Heathen) in historical representation has been developed in Reinhart Koselleck's Futures Past: Or the Semantics of Historical Time, trans., Keith Tribe, Cambridge, Ma., 1985.
44. The word mufsid means one who is mischievous, pernicious, corrupter, depraver, destroyer, author of evil, seditiousness. F. Steingass, A Comprehensive English-Persian Dictionary, London, 1957, p. 28.
45. It occurs in the Qur'an frequently, for example, as in Sura ii: 219, 'God knoweth the foul dealer (mufsid) from the fair dealer (muslih)'. See Encyclopedia of Islam, Leiden, 1960 S.V., 'mufsid'.
46. J.C. Heesterman, The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society, 1985, pp. 162-63, 167-69.
47. The raiyati and mawas contrast is a classical Indian opposition between settled agriculture and the wastes/forests inhabited by the warrior and his war band. 'Mawasi' refers to 'cattle' or 'the life and practices of a mavas or leader of a horde of banditti'. Heesterman's contrast is not altogether correct since raiding was as characteristic of peasant society as of transhumance or pastoral-nomadic social formation. Frequently agricultural cultivation and raiding were alternating activities dependent upon the agrarian cycle. In Andre Wink's conception fitna is used to describe Mughal exploitation of local conflicts to extend their sovereignty. Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World I: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7th-11th Centuries, Delhi, 1990.
48. See vakil report 300/234, Ramazan 1103 H./13 May 1692 from Megh Raj to Raja Ram Singh.
49. Vakil report 469/837, 24 Muharram 1105 H./18 June 1693 from Megh Raj to Raja Ram Singh.
50. Vakil report 547/857, 15 Ramazan 1105 H./30 April 1694 from Megh Raj to Raja Ram Singh.
51. Vakil report 643/1050, 16 Shawwal 1111 H./7 April 1699 from Kesho Rai to Maharaja Ram Singh.
52. 'Arzdasht 2348.
53. 'Arzdashts 2234 and 1359.
54. See Bhatnagar, Life and Times of Sawai Jai Singh, p. 175.
55. 'Arzdasht 2336.
56. 'Arzdasht 1621, n.d.
57. Khatt 2480, n.d. Peshkash was the offering generally given at the time of the ruler's accession or at the time of the grant of the jagir.
58. 'Arzdasht, Sawan Sudi 13, V.S. 1750/1693 AD.
59. See arhsattas of parganas Pindayan, Mojpur, Bharkol, Mandawar, and Naharkhoh, V.S. 1806/1749 AD.
60. 'Arzdasht, Fagun Sudi 14, V.S. 1749/1692 AD.
61. Amber Records, Fagun Sudi 2, V.S. 1722/1665 AD. Also Chait Sudi 3, V.S. 1722/1665.
62. See vakil report 271/234, 7 Rabiulawwal 1103 H./18 November 1691 from Kesho Rai to Raja Ram Singh. This informs the Maharaja that in spite of several requests from the writer constant complaints are being made of the oppression unleashed on the zamindars.
63. 'Arzdasht 3139, V.S. 1790/1733 AD.
64. 'Arzdasht 1579 of 13 Rabiul-awwal 1124 H./9 April 1712. Vakil Megh Raj refers in particular to the Mewatis' complaints against the interference of Hathey Singh. Vakil report 489/841, 3 Rabi-ul-Akhir 1105 H./22 November 1693.
65. 'Arzdasht 143, 1 Jyeshtha Sudi 1759/1 May 1702.
66. 'Arzdasht No. 587/144, n.d.
67. 'Arzdasht 2320, n.d.
68. Akbarabad is the old name of Agra. This was the Mughal capital until Shah Jahan shifted it to Shahjahanabad, Delhi, in 1648. The reference to both capitals indicates a compression of time and space.
69. Adli refers to the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan. That is, the Badshah, it is implied, should be both true and just.
70. Rajab Ali (a Saiyyad) was the sipah salar, in charge of the Badshah's treasure (māl khazānā) which was brought from outside, i.e., the booty of conquest. Possibly this is the name of the survivor who makes the complaint.
71. The south meaning the south of Delhi.
72. The term 'Adlīpat' derives from the Iranian theory of kingship in which the ruler is the giver of justice. See Douglas Streusand, The Formation of the Mughal Empire, Delhi, 1989, p. 27. In this sense it represents the symbolic construction of the ruler as upholder of order and justice. 'Anīti' is then the violation of the order.
73. There is evidence that many Meos were co-opted into the imperial system. The A'in reports that 1,000 Meos (Mewras) worked as fine couriers in the imperial infantry and were also excellent spies. Shaykh Abu al-Fazl 'Allami ibn Shaykh Mubarak Nagawri, A'in-i Akbari trans., Blochmann, Delhi, 1965, p. 262. Some also worked as post carriers and messengers for the Amber rulers.
74. Khakla is a kharif fodder crop from wheat or jau (millet). The crop failure suggests both a food and fodder famine.
75. The narrative gives a fairly accurate picture of revenue collection under the Mughal Empire. See Irfan Habib, Agrarian System of Mughal India 1556-1707, Bombay, 1963.
76. The description of the kaband comes from old myths where the corpse keeps moving even after it has been decapitated.
77. Alakh, in fact, refers to one of the gurus of the Naths. The water from the well is locally believed to have healing powers. The Naths represent a movement that emphasised sādhanā and tantric ritual and in face of persecution was concentrated in eastern and western India.
78. Both koś (treasure) and senā (army) are among the attributes of statehood in traditional Indian political theory. Kautilya's Arthashastra has a far more exhaustive classification of the elements of the state in contrast to Western political science which mentions only population, territory, sovereignty and government.
79. Ahlad Singh states, 'fighting and killing we do daily, it is the work of Rajput clans' (larno ghurno katno to dhedhī hain ye rajpūtan ko kām).
80. That is, for half the day in contrast to the Meo 'courtiers'.
81. Ahlad Singh repeatedly says to the latter, 'sunyo rājā rai bhān' (Listen Raja Rai Bhan).
82. Chitthi to the faujdar, Mangsir Vadi 6, V.S. 1784/1727.
83. In Rajputana a large number of battles and disputes have been centred on the dhol such as Bundi's conflict with Deogarh and Rao Jodha's with Bhikaji of Bikaner. In one account from the Patta Parwana Bahi (ledger) the Oswal right to the dhol was challenged by the upwardly mobile Maheshwaris. The latter's newly acquired land control gave them a status that led them to question the Oswal right to the dhol that had symbolised their dominant social status and control of the pateli. I am grateful to Dr Rajendra Joshi for this account.
84. C.A. Elliott, ed., Asli Alhakhand 23 larai, Farrukhabad, 1970 (1st Edn 1865). In this text each episode is centred on a lar + (Combining dot below sign)āī (battle).
85. Interview, Dalpat Khan, Alwar.
86. A contemporary verse puts it in a different genre: kahān̄ dhūn̄dūn̄ vahī hastī jo bar hamlāvāroṅ se takrāī sahansāhon se bhī kabhī māt nā khāī kahān̄ dhūn̄dūn̄ vahī hastī jo balban se takrāī jalāluddīn akbar se kabhī to māt nā khāī
87. S.N. Eisenstadt, The Political System of Empires, New York, 1969, pp. 10-12.
88. Stephen P. Blake writes that patrimonial domination originates in the patriarch's authority over his family. 'The Patrimonial-Bureaucratic empire of the Mughals', Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 39, 1979, p. 79.
89. Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph point out that the system was quite different from the absolute state that emerged in Europe in the fifteenth century as there was a large degree of decentralisation within the Mughal Empire. 'The Subcontinental Empire and the Regional Kingdom in Indian State Formation', in Paul Wallace, ed., Region and Nation in India, New Delhi, 1985, pp. 40-59;
90. J.C. Heesterman argues that the roads and market towns provided the basic framework of the empire. The Inner Conflict of Tradition, pp. 166-67.
91. Douglas E. Streusand likewise asserts, 'The Mughal regime in the provinces thus did not reach the individual peasant, or even many villages. It consisted of the series of relationships between Mughal officials and the zamindars'. The formation of the Mughal Empire, pp. 34-35, 72, 74. For a review of the positions of the Aligarh school and 'Western' scholars,
92. see M. Athar Ali's 'The Mughal Polity - A Critique of "Revisionist" Approaches', IHC Progs, 52nd session, 1991-92, pp. 303-12.
93. Heesterman, The Inner Conflict of Tradition, p. 162.
94. Streusand, The Formation of the Mughal Empire, p. 14.
95. Iqtidar Alam Khan, The Political Biography of a Mughal Noble, Mu'nim Khan Khan-i Khanan 1497-1575, New Delhi, 1973, p. xvi.
96. Also Streusand, The Formation of the Mughal Empire, p. 152.
97. It is repeated, for instance, in southern India's Vijaynagar Empire where the nadu system underwent a decline. Burton Stein, Rural India: Land power and society under British rule, SOAS Collected Papers on South Asia, London, 1983.