Aurangzeb's Fiscal and Tax Squeeze

Timeline

1. 1661–1669Core region of North India · Ganges PlainAurangzeb assigned large tracts of productive farmland to the emperor's direct khalisa domain, with central officials collecting land tax directly, bypassing the local zamindar intermediaries. This improved revenue transparency but eroded the interests of traditional local elites, provoking tax resistance and flight in some provinces.
2. 1663–1669Deccan campaign front · DeccanTo sustain the ongoing wars against the Marathas and Bijapur, the empire raised average land tax rates and shortened assessment cycles, compelling peasants to pay in silver coin. Military pay, gunpowder, and warhorse procurement consumed much of the new revenue, shifting fiscal pressure onto the rural grassroots.
3. 1665–1670Surat and major trading ports · GujaratThe empire tightened customs inspections and transit duties at ports like Surat, attempting to recoup trade losses after the sack of Surat. European trading houses complained of heavier taxes, and some trade shifted to English posts like Madras; excessive rural land tax laid structural weaknesses for the Mughal fiscal collapse of the 18th century.