FISCAL POLICY OF THE KEALM 29

ish severely the guilty exactors. The number of minor officials employed in realizing the recorded dues was diminished by one-half. The cultivators were to be made responsible, jointly as well as severally; the cultivators of fallow land were to be favoured for two years; advances of seed and money were to be made when necessary, arrears being remitted in the case of small holdings. Collectors were to make yearly reports on the conduct of their subordinates. Monthly returns were to be transmitted to the imperial exchequer. Spe- cial reports were to be sent up of any special calamities, hail, flood, or drought. The collectors were to see that the farmers got receipts for their payments, which were to be remitted four times in the year; at the end of that period no balance should be outstanding. Pay- ments were if possible to be voluntary, but the standing crops were theoretically hypothecated, and where need- ful were to be attached. Above all, there was to be an accurate and minute record of each man's holding and liabilities. The very successful land-revenue sys- tem of British India is little more than a modification of these principles." One special feature of Todar Mai's system was the enactment that all government accounts should be kept in Persian, instead of in Hindi, as heretofore. As Bloch- mann well says, " He thus forced his co-religionists to learn the court language of their rulers a circumstance that may be compared with the introduction of the English language in the courts of India. The study of Persian therefore became necessary for its pecuniary