1873. J H. Bl'ochmanu —Geography and History of Bengal. 219 
fisheries, of 253,482,100 dams, or Rs. 0,337,052.* According to Grant, the 
value of the jagir lands was fixed at Rs. 4,348,892, so that we have, in 
1582, A. D., as total revenue of Bengal, in its then circumscribed limits, the 
sum of Rs. .10,085,944. This was levied from the ryots in specief as the 
equivalent of the rub\ or fourth share, of the entire produce of the land, 
claimed by the sovereign as despotic proprietary lord of the soil. 
This rent-roll remained in force during the reign of Jahangir. The 
remittances from Bengal to Dihli were, it is true, not very regular, nor up 
to the sums levied, so much so that Jahangir appointed, in the end of his 
reign, Fidai Khan, governor of Bengal, merely because he promised to send 
regularly one million of rupees to court. Under Shahjahan, the boundaries 
of Bengal were extended in the South-West, Medinipur and Hijli having 
been attached to Bengal, and in the East and North-East by conquests in 
Tiparah and Koch Hajo ; and when Prince Shuja’ was made governor, he 
made, shortly before 1658, a new rent-roll, which shewed 34 Sirkars and 
1350 Mahalls, and a total of revenue, on khalsa and jagir lands, of Rs. 
13,115.907. Shuja’s rent-roll remained in force till 1722, an addition having 
been made after the conquest of Chatgaon. In that year, Nawab Ja’far 
Khan (Murshid Quli Khan) issued his Kamil Jama ’ Tumdri , or ‘ Perfect 
Rent-roll,’ in which Bengal wa sdivided into 34 Sirkars, forming 13 Chaklalis, 
and sub-divided into 1660 Parganahs, with a revenue of Rs. 14,288,186. 
It was, however, only after the rule of Nawab Ja’far Khan that the 
Abwdb revenue J gradually appeared in the books. Though vast sums had 
been levied on this head, they had been looked upon as private emoluments 
of office. As early as in the tenure of Shuja’ Khan, Nawab Ja’far’s 
successor, we find the Abwabs entered as yielding Rs. 2,172,952, and they 
rapidly increased under ’Ali Yirdi Khan and Qasim Khan, so that, when 
the E. I. Company in 1765 acquired the Diwani, the net amount of all 
revenue collected by authority in Bengal was Rs. 25,624,223. 
It is not my intention to enter here further in the historical portion 
of the revenue question of Bengal, nor shall I minutely describe the 
Sirkars and the Mahalls or detail the historical and geographical 
* Grant’s total is Rs. 6,344,260, or Rs. 7,208 more, chiefly on account of the 
higher sum given by him for Sirkar G’horag’Mt. Yth Report, p. 258. 
f “The ryots ( ra’iyyat ) of Bengal are obedient and ready to pay taxes. During 
eight months of the year they pay the required sums by instalments. They personally 
bring the money in rupees and goldmuhurs to the appointed place. Payment in 
kind is not usual. Grain is always cheap. The people do not object to a survey of 
the lands, and the amount of the land tax is settled by the collector and the ryot 
( nasaq ). His Majesty, from kindness, has not altered this system.” Am i Akbari . 
J Imposts as fees on the renewal of annual leases of zamindars (khaqnawisi) ; 
nazranahs ; fees for remission of imperial revenue ; zar i mahaut , or imposts levied for 
the maintenance of the Nawab’s elephants j and many more. 
