1904] 
W. Irvine —The Later Muahals. 
303 
‘Alamgir’s rules were, no doubt, revived upon its re-introduction 
through ‘Inayatullali Khan: and here, as in many of his other regula¬ 
tions, Alamgir, a bigoted Mahomedan, studied to imitate as closely as 
possible the methods laid down by the orthodox doctors of that religion. 
The exemptions seem to have been numerous. They comprised men of 
Rum possessing revealed Scriptures ( i.e ., Jews and Christians), the 
“idol worshippers of ‘Ajam and of ‘Arab” (whoever they were), 
apostates, minors, women, slaves, the helpless, the maimed, the blind, 
the blemished, or the aged poor. 
Persons paying the yearly impost were divided into three classes • 
(I) The poor, (II) the middle class, (III) the rich. The rates were 
respectively 12, 24, and 43 dirhams. But as there was no dirham 
current in India, uncoined silver was to be taken : from the first class, 
3 tolchah, If masha, double that weight from the second, and four times 
from the third class. Rupees were not to be demanded. But if anyone 
offered them, they were to be received equal to the above weight of 
silver. 1 
Poor, middle class, and rich were defined as follows : a poor man was 
he who had either nothing at all, or property worth two hundred dirhams; 
a middle class man, he who had property worth between 200 and 10,000 
dirhams ; a rich man, he who had over 10,000 dirhams’ worth of property. 
A poor man, who had nothing but the strength of his own right arm to 
rely on, or who had many children, was to be excused. 
Precise rules for the manner of collection were laid down. These 
must have been exceedingly galling to the better class of Hindus, and 
here, no doubt, is to be found a substantial reason for the exceeding 
unpopularity of the tax. The person paying (styled, of course, a 
zimmi , in itself a stigma) must appear in person, bare-footed, the 
collector being seated and the tax-payer standing. The collector, 
placing his hand upon the zimmi’s hand, lifted up the money, and 
pronounced a formula in Arabic, signifying, “I accept the poll-tax from 
this dependant.” Money sent through another person must be refused. 
Collection was made from the first class in four, the second class 
in two, and the third class in one instalment. The tax ceased either on 
1 As to the dirham , see C. J. Rodgers’ “ Catalogue 'of Lahor Museum,” p. 206, 
for a coin stamped dirham shara ( i , or legal drachma, struck at Labor in Farrukh 
slyar’s 6th year (1129 H.), possibly in connection with the revival of the jaziyah tax 
in that year. It is a square coin weighing 41£ grains. Taking Farrukhsiyar’s rupee 
as equal to 176 grains, the value of the dirham comes out at *23 of a rupee, or 3 annas 
and 8 pies. But the weight of silver claimed makes the three classes of the tax 
equivalent to Rs. 3-3-6, Rs. 6-7-0, and Rs. 12-14-0, respectively, instead of Rs. 2-12-0, 
Rs. 5-8-0, and Rs. 11-0-0 as they would be by the above dirham-i-shara'i. 
