1 Administration of Ranjit Singh. 113
2 of the jdgirddrs, who contributed nothing to the
3 State, exceeded a crore of rupees ; so that the total
4 resources of the kingdom of the Khalsa amounted, in
5 round figures, to two and a half crores of rupees, or
6 £2,500,000. The average rate of assessment for
7 land was two-fifths of the yearly produce, and was
8 usually paid in kind. The manner in which the
9 assessment was collected was unsystematic and
10 vexatious. The country was divided up into districts,
11 which were leased out to kdrddrs, or revenue-farmers,
12 who were responsible to the government for the
13 revenues of the areas over which they presided.
14 Within the neighbourhood of the capital, the kdrddrs
15 were subject to a certain amount of supervision,
16 but in the outlying provinces their rapacity was
17 practically unchecked. Ranjit Singh had himself
18 little taste for, and little time to devote to, the
19 detailed work of civil administration ; and pro-
20 vided his exchequer was kept well supplied, he left
21 the department of finance to manage its own affairs.
22 Nevertheless, he kept a watchful eye on the district
23 accounts, and the kdrddr whose payments were in
24 arrears could count on a swift and sharp punishment.
25 The kdrddr was not only a farmer of land
26 revenue ; he was also an excise officer, and the chief
27 magistrate of his district. Duties were levied on
28 almost every article in common use, and the poor
29 were as heavily taxed as the rich. The trader,
30 hampered on every side by tolls and State monop-
31 olies, was no better off than the cultivator. Both
32 were taxed almost to the limit of endurance, and
33 hence the resources of the country remained un-
34 (1,841) 8