Aurangzeb's Famine Tax: The Grain That Never Grew

Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History · Jun 4, 2026 · 6m · transcript

In 1660, just two years after Aurangzeb took the throne, a devastating famine struck the Mughal Empire. The emperor's response was not to waive taxes, but to impose a new one: the abwab-i-galla, or grain cess. This episode follows the mechanics of that tax through the Maasir-i-Alamgiri and the accounts of European travelers like Niccolao Manucci and François Bernier. We trace how this single policy — meant to fund the grain imports — became a symbol of extraction that deepened rural misery. We meet the qanungos, the local revenue officials who collected it, and the zamindars who…