Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/210

180 HISTORY OF AURANGZIB. [CHAP. IX. nue. Aurangzib and the higher officers also received a part of their salary in cash from the Imperial treasury. This was a fixed amount, not liable to variation with the agricultural condi- tion of the year, as was the case with the income drawn from jagirs. Chronic deficit : the Deccan a drain on the Im- perial Treasury. The land revenue actually collected was scanty and variable, and the arrears and remissions from the standard assessment large. Hence, the public income of the Deccan did not balance the expenditure, and the deficit had to be made good by sending money from the older and richer provinces of the empire to support the administration of the South. This had gone on for years. Once only Khan-i- Dauran had tried to reverse the process. By torturing the collectors and mercilessly stripping the peasants he succeeded in collecting a large sum, which he despatched to the Emperor with the boastful remark, "Other Governors had to get money from Hindustan; I am sending money there!" But the policy of killing the goose that laid the golden eggs soon failed. The desolation of the country and the misery of the peasantry became worse than before, and the bankrupt administration of the South had to be kept going by Imperial bounties from Malwa and