The Economy of the Mughal Empire c. 1595: A Statistical Study

575 Pages·2016·16.508 MB·English

by  Shireen Moosvi

Title Pages
The Economy of the Mughal Empire c. 1595: A
Statistical Study
Shireen Moosvi
Print publication date: 2015
Print ISBN-13: 9780199450541
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2015
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450541.001.0001
Title Pages
Revised and Enlarged Edition (p.ii)
(p.i) The Economy of the Mughal Empire c. 1595
(p.iii) The Economy of the Mughal Empire c. 1595
(p.iv)
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Title Pages
YMCA Library Building, 1 Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110001, India
© Shireen Moosvi 2015
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First Edition published in 1987
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ISBN-13: 978-0-19-945054-1
ISBN-10: 0-19-945054-4
Typeset in Times New Roman 10/12
Typeset by Zaza Eunice, Hosur, India
Printed in India by Rakmo Press, New Delhi 110 020
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Maps
The Economy of the Mughal Empire c. 1595: A
Statistical Study
Shireen Moosvi
Print publication date: 2015
Print ISBN-13: 9780199450541
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2015
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450541.001.0001
Maps
The Mughal Empire c.1595
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Epigraph
The Economy of the Mughal Empire c. 1595: A
Statistical Study
Shireen Moosvi
Print publication date: 2015
Print ISBN-13: 9780199450541
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2015
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450541.001.0001
Epigraph
‘Moosvi’s training in statistics makes this book uniquely authoritative. She
also possesses the basic skills of an historian, such as an ability to analyse
qualitative data and a readiness to use very difficult primary materials (in
this case in Persian) critically yet also creatively. The combination of these
two attributes makes this a very important book indeed.’
—M.N. Pearson, South Asia, USA
‘Shireen Moosvi’s stimulating exercise in reconstructing the statistical
data of the Ain at 1595 … challenges conventional wisdom on the subject.
…’
—Barun De, Statesman
‘…this book represents a significant advance in the field.’
—Marc Gaboreau in Annales, Paris
‘Moosvi’s enterprise has been rewarding and it has certainly broken fresh
ground.’
—Amalendu Guha, Economic and Political Weekly
‘…We must be grateful to Moosvi for her breadth of vision and her careful
scholarship.’
John F. Richards in American Historical Review
‘This thoroughly researched work represents the most detailed
examination yet in quantitative terms of the structural composition of the
Mughal imperial economy.’
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Epigraph
—Sugata Bose, The Journal of Economic History, USA
‘The economy of words combined with an admirable precision of inferences
makes hers a very elegant work.’
—Harbans Mukhia, The Book Review
‘Massively researched and lucidly written, it deserves a place in the
bookshelf of every student of Indian history.’
—S.B. Bhardwaj, Hindustan Times
‘Moosvi’s study adds a wealth of material to the ongoing research in
unravelling the nature of economic change.’
—Samir Dasgupta, Amrita Bazar Patrika
‘This book should be regarded as a landmark in the quantitative study of
Indian history.’
—A.K. Bagchi, Indian Historical Review
‘…This book is likely to become a very important reference work on the
Mughal Empire for which Moosvi deserves our thanks.’
—Allan Heston, Economic History Review, U.K.
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Dedication
The Economy of the Mughal Empire c. 1595: A
Statistical Study
Shireen Moosvi
Print publication date: 2015
Print ISBN-13: 9780199450541
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2015
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450541.001.0001
Dedication
(p.v) To the memory of
Shahenshah Husain Musavi
Uncle, guide, guardian (p.vi)
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List of Maps and Figures
The Economy of the Mughal Empire c. 1595: A
Statistical Study
Shireen Moosvi
Print publication date: 2015
Print ISBN-13: 9780199450541
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2015
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450541.001.0001
(p.viii) List of Maps and Figures
Maps
I Uttar Pradesh: extent of gross cultivation in 1595 as % of gross
cultivation in 1909–10 52
II Gujarat: extent of gross cultivation in 1595 as % of gross cultivation in
1909–10 58
III Panjab: extent of gross cultivation in 1595 as % of gross cultivation in
1909–10 63
IV The Mughal empire: incidence of taxation by map area 150
V Parganas with suyūrghāl of 50,000 dāms and above 165
VI Parganas with suyūrghāl amounting to 5 per cent or above of jama‘ 166
VII Towns of Uttar Pradesh: size by population, 1881 168
VIII Archaeological remains in Uttar Pradesh (sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries) 169
IX Minimum expenditure of zamīndārs as percentage of jama‘ in the Ā’īn
184
X Uttar Pradesh: minimum expenditure of zamīndārs (by parganas) 188
XI Towns of the Mughal empire: size by taxation 317
Map of the ṣūba and sarkār boundaries of the Mughal empire at the
beginning of the volume.
Figures
12.1 Assumed pattern of expenditure by income level 285
15.1 Five-yearly histogram of Mughal rupees from North Indian mints.
Based on coin finds in U.P. 366
15.2 Five-yearly histogram of Mughal rupees from North Indian mints.
Based on catalogued coins 367
15.3 The silver value of gold and copper (to 1640) 377
15.4 Prices implied by dastūrs of ṣūba Agra 379
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List of Maps and Figures
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Preface to This Edition
The Economy of the Mughal Empire c. 1595: A
Statistical Study
Shireen Moosvi
Print publication date: 2015
Print ISBN-13: 9780199450541
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2015
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450541.001.0001
(p.ix) Preface to This Edition
Shireen Moosvi
In the preface to the first edition of this book published in 1987, I sought to
define the objective, scope, and methodology of the work. The objective was to
examine the main features of the Indian economy, c. 1595, and compare these to
conditions in 1900–1. The reasons behind this were twofold. In order to
understand how colonial rule had changed Indian economy, it was important to
compare India of the time when colonial control had reached its apex with an
earlier situation well before the onset of colonial conquest. Secondly, owing to
the richness of the statistics contained in Abū’l Faẓl’s Ā’ῑn-i Akbarῑ, 1595
happens to be the only year of the pre-colonial era where economic data are
available in adequate profusion to enable us to construct a quantitative portrayal
of the economy, while in the later period, 1900–1 is the year by which official
statistics had been gathered and critically appraised sufficiently to enable us to
be confident about the picture built on their basis: Fred J. Atkinson had
attempted in 1902 an estimate of India’s national income of the year 1895; and
S. Sivasubramonian’s standard calculations of Indian’s national income (revised,
2000) begin with 1900–1.
As far as possible, I sought in my book to apply modern statistical methods to
analyse the data contained in the Ā’ῑn-i Akbarῑ, along with those in other sources
including numismatic evidence. As far as the Ā’ῑn-i Akbarῑ is concerned, I had to
go to its early manuscripts to establish the original figures in the text, so as to
avoid the effects of misprints or tabular misrepresentations in the printed
versions. I also did my best to explain the arithmetic involved at each stage of
my calculations.
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Preface to This Edition
As a result of this work, I was able to build up estimates of the size of
agricultural and craft production, the pattern of distribution of surplus among
various classes, the total value of external trade, the structure of wages and
trends of price movements, and, finally, the size of population.
When my book came out, it received many reviews from scholars, both peers and
seniors. By and large, there was approval of my textual research and arithmetic.
There were also criticisms on several matters, which, to the best of my ability, I
have considered in my revision of the book. Dr Najaf Haider has more recently
shown that the name of tanka was not transferred to the dām after 1605, as I,
along with other historians, had taken to be the case; and this has naturally led
to my reframing the presentation of data on copper values.
(p.x) A matter of greater weight has been my recalculation of the value of
manufactures, which has caused me to reshape Chapter 13 and substantially
revise Chapter 16. The basis for the fresh estimate has been laid out there and
partly in the new Chapter 18, so I need not spell it out here.
Finally, after much thought and after publishing a paper (which I would now
entirely recast!), I have decided to take the plunge and add a final chapter (18)
devoted to the task of estimating the GDP c. 1595. A reviewer had taxed me for
not attempting a conclusion in my first edition; I hope my chapter on GDP will
now meet this objection.
For transliteration I have generally, but not exclusively, followed the system of
spelling and diacritical marks adopted by Steingass for his Comprehensive
Persian-English Dictionary. For geographical names I have followed Irfan
Habib’s Atlas of the Mughal Empire; I have dispensed with the diacritical marks
in place names, since these are provided in the index to the Atlas.
In my revision and enlargement of the book I have continued to draw on the
advice and counsel of my original Supervisor, Professor Irfan Habib. Professor
Ishrat Alam and Dr S. Nadeem Rezavi have also been of help to me in various
ways.
I am grateful to the staff of the library of the Department of History, especially
Mr Bansidhar Sharma and Mr Javed Akhtar, successive librarians, for their ready
and courteous assistance all the time. Ms Joytsna Arora and her colleagues at
the splendid library of the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi,
have also been most helpful to me. The reproduction of part of a statistical table
in the Ā’ῑn-i Akbarῑ from a manuscript in the Maulana Azad Library, AMU, was
made possible by the courtesy of Ms Shayista Khan and Mr Asrar Ahmad Khan.
My text has been processed by Mr Muneeruddin Khan and, at a later stage, by
Ms Nazima and Mr Zeeshan Khan. Mr Faiz Habib has redrawn afresh the map
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