the burning pepper pervading every corner of it. The crowd in the courtyard are speculating as to whether she will be able to hold out or not, and the mother is scolding in her shrillest tones. When a considerable time has elapsed the spectators begin to arge the irate dame to open the door, as the fumes of the burning pepper must have in a large measure become innocuous. She, thus counselled, opens the door and the girl is brought out into the fresh air, where she rapidly throws off the effects of the burning pepper. By the time she has recovered her breath her mother-in-law, for they now stand in the relation to each other of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law,-appears with a quantity of janhe,* with which she has mixed some oil. This she puts in the dhinki or large mortar and orders her daughter-in-law to pound it into flour. This, of course, owing to the presence of the oil is impossible, but a brave attempt is made and continued till the bystanders begin to indulge in uncomplimentary remarks directed against the older woman, and she feeling the force of them, or being ashamed to longer indulge her spite brings the exhibition to a close. She accepts the position and, as the story books say, all live happily together.

No price is paid for an Intrusion bride and there are no compulsory presents.

• Unhusked grain of Paspalum scrobiculatum,

VI.-The History of Orissa in the Seventeenth Century, reconstructed from Persian Sources.

II.-By Jadunath Sarkar, MA.

(Continued from issue of June 1916, pages 152-165.)

SECTION 10.-REVENU COLLECTION.

After taking effective possession of the province and restoring order in this way, Khan-i-Dauran, early in 1662, sent five elephants as his present to the Emperor on the occasion of the marriage of two of his (the Khan's) sons, together with two other elephants presented by the Sultan of Golkondā. (Muraqat, page 53.) These, as we know from the official history (Alamgirnamah, 751), reached the Court at the end of May. The forests of Telingana, immediately west of Orissa and lying in the Golkonda territory, were famous for elephants, and these animals formed the usual present from the governors of Orissa to the Padishāh. In May 1628 Shah Jahan received five elephants from Baqar Khan and in September 1636 eight others from Mutāqad Khān. (Abdul Hamid's Padishahnamah, I.A. 201 and I.B. 216.)

Elephants, however, were occasional presents. The normal revenue also began to be sent to the Imperial Court regularly from this time. Having "punished all the usurpers, oppressors, and lawless men of the province, and made them obedient," Khan-i-Dauran could report to the Emperor, "the revenue is being collected by our officers"; and, as a proof of it, he at once transmitted to the exchequer at Delhi "the accumulated revenue of 15 lakhs of rupees, kept at Katak and the parganās, together with seven pieces of cloth (parchah), one piece of scarlet

cloth, and two caskets of Chhani decorated in the Dutch style." These were escorted by his own men as far as Rajmahal,* whence they were to be sent to Court with the revenue of Bengal. (Muraqat, page 50.)

He next devoted himself to realizing the portion of the Golkondā tribute which "appertained to the province of Orissa," being paid from the Golkonda district of Chicacole. This money had naturally remained unpaid during the civil war between Aurangzib and his brothers. Its exact amount was also in dispute. The Qutbshāhi agent at Chicacole (Haidar Khan) asserted that he had paid the fixed sums of Rs. 12,000 and Rs. 1,000 during every year of Shuja's viceroyalty. But the papers sent from Delhi put the tribute at Rs. 20,000 a year. Khān-i-Daurān succeeded in collecting Rs. 80,000 out of the arrears under this head, and sent an agent to Chicacole to dun for the balance. (Page 51.)

Evidently all the financial records of Shuja's time had been lost or destroyed by dishonest officers (page 60), and this produced uncertainty about other imperial dues also. For example, the Emperor knew the tribute of the zamindars of Saranghara to be Rs. 8,000 a year, but could not say what additional sum they used to pay as succession fee. Khan-iDauran wrote in reply, "I find from the old records of the subah that they used to pay Rs. 10,000 as succession fee, but then their annual tribute was nothing like what your Majesty represents it. They used to pay something as nazar at intervals of two or three years [but no regular tribute]. I have now laid on Purushottam Dev Rs. 10,000 as fee for succeeding his brother [in the zamindāri], which has been fully realized." (Page 61.)

Severe measures had to be taken with the revenue collectors and zamindārs lest they should defraud the Government of its dues. Khan-i-Dauran writes thus to Muhammad Jan, a former diwan of the province, whom he had appointed (page 196) land-steward or factor (sahib-i-ihtamām) for his fiefs from

• Later, the Orissă revenue used to be delivered to the faujdar of Burdwan for transmission to Court. (Page 189.)

Bhadrak to the southern limit of Orissa :-" Balabhadra and Brajanath qanungos, who have been released from prison, and Paramananda, the zamindar of Rähmachnan (?), are sent to you in chains under a bailiff (sazawal) as asked for by you....If you fear that before my arrival near Katak the zamindars will carry off the crops, then write urging the amils to collect the dues and attach the standing crops. Appoint men to guard the grain." (Pages 163, 164.) And, again, to Man Singh, the faujdar of Remuna :-" Send select men to hasten the gathering in and guarding of the crops and the collection of the Government dues... Send them quickly that the revenue (i.e., Government share) of the autumn harvest may not be removed." (Page 182.)

The inference naturally suggested by the above passages, namely, that in Mughal times the revenue of Orissa was collected in the form of rice, is definitely supported by a letter from Murshid Quli Khan to Aurangzib written about 1704: "The revenuecollection of Orissa depends on the autumn harvest, which has to be kept stored for a long time, and, in spite of all my devices, cannot be sold." To this the Emperor replied, "I have heard that traders take the crop and in return for it they bring from the ports whatsoever is in demand." (Inayetullah's Ahkam-iAlamgiri, Rampur MS., 2196.) Khan-i-Dauran says the same thing," In this country the realization of the landrevenue of the whole year depends on the three months of autumn." (Page 65.) "As for the malangi boats for loading rice in, they have not been procured owing to the bad conduct of the darogha of the port. Get boats from the zamindars of the mahal, and send the rice to the port to be shipped in the sailing season." (Page 165, see also page 146.)

Some incidental light is thrown on the State purchase of local industries. Khan-i-Daurān writes to Muhammad Jan, "The officers of the Imperial Government have reported that 210 kudi of cloth, of the sahan, barbarah, do-suti and thati varieties, 20,000 maunds of rice, 300 maunds of mustard oil (' yellow oil'), 260 maunds of sesamum, 100 maunds of galmosafr

are required for provisioning the ships [of the State]. According to the schedule attached to this letter, urge the officers of Jajpur, Bhadrak and other mahals in your faujdāri to get them ready quickly and send them before the sailing season to the port of Baleshwar to Muhammad Baqar, the darogha of ship construction." [This is evidently a reference to Shaista Khan's vigorous naval construction programme with a view to his conquest of Chittagong in 1665.*] "The price of these things will be deducted from the amounts due from the amlas."

"The amlas should advance to the weavers, artisans, oil vendors, etc., money for the things ordered. First, settle the price with the help of brokers. Then, take bonds with the attestation of the brokers for the delivery of the goods in time. Send the do-suti before the other articles to the darogha that he may make sails with them. All the kalapatis and najārs,-master craftsmen and blacksmiths,-living at the port of Harishpur and other places, should be won over and sent to Baleshwar, to engage in shipbuilding [for the Government] there. Dated 28th December, 1664." (Pp. 173-175.)

We also learn that "Rs. 39,000 was due from the chaudhuri and qanungo of Chakla Medinipur, on account of the tagāvvi loan and pattan to the peasants." (Page 189.) A much larger amount must have been granted by the State for this purpose.

SECTION 11.-COMPARATIVE REVENUE RETURNS.

No useful or very reliable return of the total revenue of Orissa during the seventeenth century can be constructed, first because the area under imperial rule varied considerably from time to time, and, secondly, because the Persian statistical books (Dastur-ul-am?) now extant are very badly written and occasionally drop certain figures out of a sum and thus give palpably wrong amounts. In these MSS. arithmetical figures are not represented by the Arabic numerals (as in all modern countries), nor by letters of the alphabet (as in the Roman system of notation and

*Seo J.A.S. B., 1907, p. 406, and my History of Aurangzib, III., 231.