Mughal Census and Survey: Statistics of an Early Modern Empire
The Mughal empire, in the high period of its administrative achievement, was one of the most thoroughly surveyed empires of the early modern world, and the statistical and survey tradition developed under Akbar and his successors anticipated by more than a century the modern census tradition that the British Indian government inherited. The Ain-i-Akbari of Abu’l Fazl, the principal text of Mughal administration, contains a substantial body of statistical information, including counts of the mansabdari ranks, surveys of the agricultural land, counts of houses and tradesmen, measurements of the sarkars and the parganas, and detailed schedules of revenue and expenditure. The present page treats the Ain-i-Akbari’s statistical accounts, the counts of the mansabdari ranks, the surveys of agricultural land, the counts of houses and tradesmen, the imperial gazetteer tradition, the role of Abu’l Fazl, and the limitations of Mughal statistical practice. The broader administrative framework is surveyed in the Mughal administration overview, and the revenue side is treated in the land revenue administration page.
The Ain-i-Akbari’s Statistical Accounts
The Ain-i-Akbari, the third book of the Akbarnama of Abu’l Fazl, is the principal source for the statistical and survey tradition of the Mughal empire, exceptional in its detail and scope. The Ain is divided into five principal sections, the imperial household, the military-administrative establishment, the revenue administration, the administration of the provinces, and the religious and learned classes, and each section contains a substantial body of numerical information.
The first section, the imperial household, contains counts of the emperor’s household officers, the khadim-i-khas, the mir saman, the kitchen staff, the stable, the garden, the workshop, the elephant house, the camel house, and the khwabgah or bedchamber staff. The section includes counts of the emperor’s horses, elephants, camels, mules, bullocks, carts, palanquins, and other items. The second section, the military-administrative establishment, contains the detailed schedule of the mansabdari ranks, the zat and sawar distinction, the schedule of jagirs, and the schedule of salaries. The third section, the revenue administration, contains the schedules of revenue, the zabti rates, the soil classifications, the crop rates, the nasaq estimates, and the provincial revenues. The fourth section, the administration of the provinces, contains the enumeration of the subahs, the sarkars, the parganas, the towns, the villages, and the principal officers. The fifth section, the religious and learned classes, contains counts of the learned, the ulama, the sufis, the mullas, the qazis, the sadrs, and the institutions of learning.
The Ain-i-Akbari was supplemented by the historical narratives of the reigns of Akbar’s successors, the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri of Jahangir, the Padshahnama of Shah Jahan, and the Maasir-i-Alamgiri of Aurangzeb.
The Counts of Mansabdari Ranks
The Ain-i-Akbari contains a detailed enumeration of the mansabdari ranks, and the enumeration is the principal source for the size and composition of the Mughal service nobility. The Ain records the mansab of each holder, the zat and sawar, the jagir assignment, the salary, the nativity, the religion, the caste in the case of the Hindu nobles, the date of appointment, and the date of the latest promotion. The enumeration is not a complete census in the modern sense: the Ain records the mansabdars of mansab 500 and above in detail, and the lower ranks are summarized by category.
The enumeration was supplemented by the Akhbarat or daily news bulletins of the reign, the Akhbaraat-i-Darbar-i-Mu’alla, which recorded the appointments, transfers, and promotions of the nobility. The combined source material makes the mansabdari system one of the best-documented service nobilities of the early modern world, and the documentation is the basis of the modern study of the system treated in the mansabdari system page.
The Surveys of Agricultural Land
The Ain-i-Akbari also contains detailed accounts of the surveys of agricultural land carried out under the zabti system. The Ain records the area of each sarkar and pargana in bighas, the breakdown of the area by soil class (polaj, parauti, chachar, banjar), the revenue demand per bigha by crop, the total revenue demand, the customary rent, the customary produce, and the schedule of nasaq estimates.
The surveys were carried out by teams of imperial officers, the amil, the qanungo, the bitikchi, and the jarib-andaz or measurers, who visited each village, measured the cultivated area, classified the land, recorded the customary produce, and prepared the village register, the wajib-ul-arz. The surveys were repeated at intervals of five to ten years, and the surveys were supplemented by the nasaq or annual estimate of the standing crop and the bahikhata or annual account. The combined material is the principal source for the agrarian history of the Mughal period, and the surveys are treated in detail in the Akbar’s revenue reforms page.
The Counts of Houses and Tradesmen
The Ain-i-Akbari also contains counts of houses and tradesmen in the principal cities, the principal source for the urban geography of the empire. The Ain records the number of houses in each principal qasbah and city, the number of mosques, the number of temples, the number of madrasas, the number of caravansarais, the number of bazaars, the number of mandis or markets, and the number of kothis or merchant houses. The Ain also records the principal trades of the city, the leading merchants, the principal religious figures, the leading ulama, the principal sufis, and the principal physicians.
The counts are supplemented by the descriptions of the cities in the chronicles, the European travel accounts, the bayaz or commercial records of the mahajans, the inscriptions, and the architectural remains. The combination of the statistical and the descriptive is the basis of the modern study of the Mughal city.
The Imperial Gazetteer Tradition
The Ain-i-Akbari was, in effect, the imperial gazetteer, and the Ain was supplemented by a substantial tradition of provincial and district gazetteers. The provincial gazetteer, the rahnama-i-subah, was prepared for each subah of the empire, recording the area, the population, the revenue, the principal officers, the principal institutions, the principal cities, and the principal features of the subah. The district gazetteer, the rahnama-i-sarkar, was prepared for each sarkar. The tradition was continued by the British Indian government, and the British Imperial Gazetteer of India was the culmination of a tradition that began with the Ain-i-Akbari in the 1590s. The British gazetteer drew heavily on the Mughal rahnamas and included substantial extracts from the Ain-i-Akbari. The tradition of the district gazetteer is treated in connection with the provincial administration page.
The Role of Abu’l Fazl
The principal architect of the Mughal statistical and survey tradition was Abu’l Fazl, the principal biographer of Akbar and the author of the Ain-i-Akbari and the Akbarnama. Abu’l Fazl was appointed to the office of sahib-i-daftar or keeper of the records in 1575, and Abu’l Fazl held the office of wazir-i-kul or chief minister in the 1590s. Abu’l Fazl’s statistical method combined the Perso-Islamic administrative tradition with the Indian and Rajput practices, and Abu’l Fazl drew on the work of the qanungos, the amils, the bitikchis, and the jarib-andazs of the imperial survey. Abu’l Fazl’s role in the imperial administration is treated in detail in the Akbar the Great page.
The Limitations of Mughal Statistical Practice
The Mughal statistical and survey tradition had several important limitations. The first was the limited reach of the formal survey: the surveys were carried out most thoroughly in the core provinces of the north, in the Punjab, the Doab, Agra, Awadh, and parts of the east, while the surveys of the Deccan, Bengal, Gujarat, and the south were less complete. The second was the variable quality of the surveyors: the qanungos and the amils varied in their competence.
The third limitation was the dependence on the official sources: the Ain draws on the official records, compiled by officials who had an interest in presenting the administration in a favourable light. The fourth limitation was the absence of a population census: the Ain’s counts of houses, tradesmen, and nobles are not based on a population census, and the Ain’s numbers cannot be converted into population estimates with any confidence. The Ain’s figures are, however, the best available for the period.
The Mughal statistical and survey tradition was, despite its limitations, a remarkable achievement for the early modern period. The British, when they took over the administration of India, encountered the Mughal tradition as a working institution, and the British built on the Mughal foundation in the development of the Indian census of 1872, the Indian survey of the nineteenth century, and the Indian statistical tradition of the late colonial period. The Mughal statistical and survey tradition is an important chapter in the longer history of Indian administration.
Sources
- Abu’l Fazl, Ain-i-Akbari, trans. Blochmann/Jarrett (1873–1927), vol. II (Jarrett), on the revenue survey.
- Irfan Habib, The Agrarian System of Mughal India (1963; rev. 1999), ch. 4.