Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/131

Rh the Áín-i Akbarí, some of which were certainly restored or increased by the time of Aurangzíb's accession. That Emperor himself began his reign by remitting nearly eighty taxes, to relieve the poverty produced by the civil war and the famine that followed it. These taxes are vaguely stated by Kháfí Khán to have brought in crores of rupees to the public treasury .' But it is added that the local officials paid little heed to the imperial edict of remission. Later in the reign, all import duties on the goods of Muhammadan traders were abolished; but this was modified in so far that the 5 p. c. duty on Hindú goods was reduced to 2½ p. c. on those of Muhammadans. It is evident that the numerous tolls, taxes, and cesses outside the land-tax were variable sources of revenue, and no returns of their totals seem to have been preserved. Again, one would expect a considerable rise in the revenue after the re-imposition of the jizya or poll-tax in or about 1675; for it is recorded that the city of Burhánpúr alone paid 26,000 rupees on account of this tax, and the total for all Hindústán must have been enormous, if the tax was ever strictly enforced, which is doubtful. Of the sum derived from this and all other taxes, except the land-tax, the native historians give no definite account. Nor are we able to form any estimate of the amount received from the Emperor's title to the effects of the mansabdárs from confiscations, or from that perennial source of wealth, the constant and