( ISSN 2277 - 9809 (online) ISSN 2348 - 9359 (Print) ) New DOI : 10.32804/IRJMSH

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STUDY OF SMALL TOWNS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SUBA OF BIHAR: SOME CONSIDERATIONS

    1 Author(s):  MAHESH KUMAR SINGH

Vol -  11, Issue- 1 ,         Page(s) : 314 - 323  (2020 ) DOI : https://doi.org/10.32804/IRJMSH

Abstract

In the present paper we are concerned with the lesser known small towns which we generally tend to ignore in urban history in favour of prominent ones. But in this kind of study we face the problem of identification of these small towns. Our indigenous medieval sources are not directly helpful in this respect. In the Ain-i Akbari , the author, Abul Fazl refers to 2737 qasbas about which we have no substantial information.1 The indigenous sources (particularly the Persian sources) tend to ignore trade, commerce, towns and manufacturing activities in particular. The primacy of agrarian economy may be reason behind this tendency. The other options we have are in the form of the sources of foreign origin. The European travelers of 16th -17th centuries were primarily concerned with the opportunities in trade and commerce activities in India. They have left behind a good deal of information in this regard. The foreign observers had their own limitations of being alien to this land. Nonetheless they provide significant clue and are helpful in identifying settlements as towns. Although, town becomes a generic concept in this way. However we can dilate upon the issue of settlements which are non- rural and look forward for their nature and role in society.

1. Abul Fazl, Ain- I Akbari,(trs.)  H. S. Jarret and  J. N. Sarkar, vol. II -III, Low Price Publication, Delhi, reprint 2001, p.129 (hereafter Ain)
2.  For clear view of the route in larger perspective see, Irfan Habib, An Atlas of the Mughal Empire, Oxford, Delhi, 1982,  sheet 10 B; Joseph E. Schwartzberg (ed.) A Historical Atlas of South Asia, Chicago, 1975, p.49.
3. John Marshal, John Marshal in India, Notes and Observations in Bengal, 1668-1672, (ed.) Shafat Ahmad Khan, London, 1927, (hereafter Marshal)
4. Marshal, p.77.  This bridge seems to have been a brick bridge over river Punpun. See Irfan Habib, An Atlas…(op.cit) p.41, Sheet 10 A notes; See also F. Buchanan, An Account of the Districts of Bihar and Patna in 1811-12, Bihar & Orissa Research Society, Patna, p.76.
5. Marshall, p.126.
6. Ibid., pp. 95-125.
7. Ibid., p.76; Surajgarh was a pargana in sarkar Munger, See  Ain., p.167.
8. Marshal, p.74. According to Marshal the bridge was about 40 yard long, 15 to 20 yard high and 6 or 7 yard broad.
9. Ibid., pp.74, 122; Jangira was made a paragana in Sarkar Munger some time in the seventeenth century. It is mentione in the Kagdat-i Mutafariqa (1712-36) as a pargana but does not exist in Ain’s list. A. R. Khan, “Revenue Statistics of Bihar 1526-1707)”, in Comprehensive History of Bihar, vol. II, part II, 1987, p.540.
10. Marshal, pp.74, 122; Masdi was a pargana in sarkar  Munger, Ain., p.167.
11. Marshall, pp. 72-73.
12. Ibid., pp. 72, 96, 97.
13. Ibid., p .72.
14. K. N. Chaudhary,‘Some Reflections on the Towns and Country in Mughal India’, in Modern Asian Studies, 12, 1 (1978), pp. 78-79.
15.  Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, Pearson, Delhi, 2008, pp. 133-135.
16.  B. P. Ambasthya, (ed.), Beams Contribution to the Political Geography of the Subas of Awadh, Bihar, Bengal and Orissa in the Age of Akbar, Patna, 1976.
17.  Irfan Habib,  An Atlas…(op.cit), p. 40, Sheet 10 A notes.
18.  Ain., p.162
19. Irfan Habib,  An Atlas …(op.cit), Sheet 10 A and B.
20. O.H.K. Spate and A.T.A. Learmonth, India and Pakistan: A General and Regional Geography, London 1967, p.564.
21. Ain, pp. 162-164
22  O.H.K. Spate and A.T.A. Learmonth, India… (op.cit), p.565)
23. This understanding is based on the coverage shown by Irfan Habib, An Atlas..., (op.cit), sheet 10 B.
24. Irfan Habib, An Atlas... (op.cit), p. vii.
25. Irfan Habib, Agrarian System of  Mughal India,  Bombay, 1963, pp. 400-402.
26. Nizamuddin Ahmad, Tabqat-i Akbari, (tr.), B. De, revised and edited by Beni Prasad, Delhi (reprint,1990), p.160.
27. Peter Mundy, The travels of Peter Mundy in Europe and Asia, c. 1608-1667,  (ed.) R.C. Temple, London, 1914. vol.II., Travels in Asia (1628-34), pp.128-134; Jean-BaptisteTavernier, Travels in India, (tr.), V. Ball, (ed.), William Crooke, vol. I, New Delhi, 1977, pp.98-100, (hereafter Tavernier); also see Irfan Habib, An Atlas... (op.cit), Sheet 8B,10B.
28. Marshal, p.161,196; Tavernier, II, pp.204-205).
29. Niccolao Mannuci, Storia Do Mogor or Mogul India, 1653-1708,  (tr.), William Irvine,  London, 1907-08, vol. II, p.96 ; Fray Sebastien Manrique, Travels of  Fray Sebastien Manrique (1629-1643), vol.II, (eds.), C. Eckford  Luard and H. Hosten, Orford, 1927, p.146 (hereafter Manrique).

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