8 Translations from the Tdrihh i Firuz Shdhi. [No. 1, 



evasion or subterfuge in levying the tax, and the burden of the strong 

 might not fall upon the weak, but that both to the strong and to the 

 weak there might be but one law for the payment of the revenue. 



On tliis duty, and in calling to account those functionaries, clerks, 

 overseers, and agents, who were in the habit of taking bribes and 

 committing embezzlements, Sharif i Qayini,* Naib Wazir of the Em- 

 pire, who had not his equal in the art of caligraphy throughout the 

 whole Kingdom, and was conspicuously distinguished for his judg- 

 ment and ability and his elegant composition, was several years 

 employed. He used the greatest efforts, until he made all the villages 

 around the capital, the towns and districts in the Diuib, from Biyauah 

 to Jhayin, from Palam to Deopalpur, and Luhur, all the territories 

 of Samanah and Sunnam, from Rewari to Nagor, from Karah to 

 Kanodi, and Amrohah, Afghan pur, and Kabar, from Dabhai to Ba- 

 daon, and K'harak, and Koelah, and the whole of Katehar,f — until he 

 made all these places, with regard to the payment of revenue, subject 

 to one standing regulation of measurement and [the full value of the 

 produce per bisivah, and of a house tax, and] the grazing tax, as if 

 they were but one village. 



He carried out the system so well too, that contumacy and rebel- 

 lion, and the ridingj of horses, carrying of weapons, wearing of fine 

 clothes, and eating of betel, went out entirely among the Chowdries, 



animal that gives milk, from a cow to a she-goat. And this grazing tax was 

 established. Also, for every house, they should demand a dwelling tax, so 

 that no opportunity, &c.' The difficult words are az pas i har Tchdnah sultiinat- 

 gari talab numdyand. Zia, as shall be shewn below, is a most miserable 

 writer, as far as style is concerned. His language is Hindi literally translated 

 into Persian. Even in his work on the History of the Barmakides his style is 

 very poor. Az pas i liar klidnah is idiomatic Hindi or Hindustani, har g'har 

 he piclilie, behind every house, i. e. for every house, per house. That a new 

 tax is meant is clear from p. 288, 1. 10 and p. 323, 1. 10, where fg&S is either 

 ^'SS, or t^sj^, from l^S (*j£), or j£, a house. 



* So according to Major Fuller's MS. Qayin f ^li ) is the well known in 



Persia. 



f Samanah and Sunnam occur often together. They belong to the Sirkar of 

 Sarhind ; Dabhai ( ^jl^jjj, or with a nasal n, ^L^xi.i ) belongs to the Sirkar 

 of Kol, and must not be confounded with U4JJ, L>ehba, (now &*A^ Dahrnah) in 

 the Sirkar of Ghazipur. Kdnaudi, or Kdnaudah, belongs to the Sirkar of 

 Narnaul ; Katehar is Eohilcund. Kabur is in Sambhal ; another Kabur belongs 

 to the Sirkar of Bihar in Bihar. Amrohah lies in Sambhal. For vfJi-frS' Major 

 Fuller's MS. had £)yx? (?). 



X Compare J. A. d." B. ; 1869, I., p. 121, 1. 15. 



