The Ain-i Akbari of Abu’l Fazl Allami

1. Ain-i Akbari is a compilation of imperial regulations and a gazetteer of the empire.
2. It is a part of the Akbar Nama and was completed in 1598, after having gone through five revisions.
3. The Ain gives detailed accounts of the organisation of the court, administration and army, the sources of revenue and the physical layout of the provinces of Akbar’s empire and the literary, cultural and religious traditions of the people.
4. The Ain is made up of five books (daftars), of which the first three books describe the administration.
5. The first book, called manzil-abadi, concerns the imperial household and its maintenance. The second book, sipah-abadi, covers the military and civil administration and the establishment of servants. This book includes notices and short biographical sketches of imperial officials (mansabdars), learned men, poets and artists.
6. The third book, mulk-abadi, is the one which deals with the fiscal side of the empire and provides information on revenue rates, followed by the “Account of the Twelve Provinces”.
7. The Ain remains an extraordinary document of its times. By providing fascinating glimpses into the structure and organisation of the Mughal Empire and by giving us quantitative information about its products and people.

The Feudal system in Europe had a graded; organisation which is sometimes called “Feudal Pyramid”.
The main features of the social organisation of the Feudal system in Europe are described below:
(i) The King: The king was on the top of this organisation (Feudal system). All the feudal lords were under the king. He
used to take a part of the revenue collections which the feudal lords had from their areas or lands of agriculture.
(ii) Dukes and Earls: The second powerful class of the "Feudal system" consisted of the "Dukes" and "Earls". The king
bestowed the estates on a number of the Dukes and Earls who owned loyalty to the king.
(iii) Barons or lower lords: The Earls and Dukes distributed the parts of their estates to the lower lords called “Barons”. In
return for that, they provided military support to the Dukes or Earls whensoever required or needed.
(iv) The Knights: The knights formed the lowest category of Feudal lords. Mostly they were the vassals of the Barons and
provided them military service. The knights had no direct links either with the Dukes or the Earls.
(v) The Peasants: The peasants formed the lowest class in the feudal society. They cultivated and managed the land
which they received from their lords. The Peasants were divided into three classes: (i) The Independent peasant (ii) The
Slave Peasants (iii) The Bonded peasants (serfs).