Khalisa
Also called: Crown land · Topic: The Mughal Empire: Babur to Aurangzeb · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Khalisa, or crown land, was land whose revenue went straight into the emperor's own treasury. Mughal officials collected this revenue directly. It was not given out as jagirs, the land assignments that paid mansabdars. The share of khalisa land changed from reign to reign. A larger khalisa gave the emperor more money of his own, but left less land to pay his officers.
Example
Shah Jahan is known for enlarging the khalisa so that more revenue reached the imperial treasury directly. This helped pay for his costly building works, such as the Taj Mahal at Agra.
Don't confuse with
- Jagir: jagir land was assigned to a mansabdar, who took its revenue as his salary. Khalisa revenue went to the emperor.