Medieval Indian History:

• The medieval state derived the largest share of its income from land revenue. An elaborate mechanism of land revenue administration gradually developed due to efforts of medieval rulers like Alauddin Khalji, Sher Shah Suri and Akbar. In its developed form, the land revenue administration involved wellformulated policies.
• During the medieval period, different methods of revenue assessment and collection were used. The most simple and basic method was crop sharing or batai. In this system, the produce was divided between the peasants and the state in a fixed proportion decided by the State. In this method out of the total production, the state share was collected by the designated official. Here the measurement of land had no bearing on revenue collection. The actual product was the main focus of attention.
• In Kankut system the measurement was important. In this method, the land was first measured. After the measurement, the productivity of land was estimated to fix the revenue demand per unit of the measured area. Sher Shah improved the method of assessment. For estimating the productivity sample cutting from three types of land i.e. good, middling and badlands was taken and the average yield was obtained. The State demand was fixed at 1/3rd of the average yield.
• The problem of compiling fresh rates every year for different localities was overcome through the adoption of Dahsala or ten years revenue rates. Akbar instituted a new system called the dahsala. Under this system, the average produce of different crops as well as the average prices prevailing over the last ten (dah) years were calculated. One-third of the average produce was the state share. The state demand was, however, stated in cash. This was done by converting the state share into money on the basis of a schedule of average prices over the past ten years. The dahsala system was a further development of the zabti system.