________________
ous persecution of a section of his subjects. The Jazzia, or the pilgrims Tax, abolished by Akbar, at no loss to the Imperial Treasury, was, it is true, restored for a time by Aurungzebe; but it can hardly be claimed by the most infatuated of the admirers of that great Emperor as among the great actions of his reign. Thereafter the Jazzia or the Pilgrims Tax was held in universal opprobrium, and the wisdom of the British Government has confirmed the sagacity of Akbar's measure in keeping away his vicious practice from the armoury of the present department of finance. A tax on pilgrims is even now permitted in such cities as Benares,-centres of pilgrimage, -but not only is the rate insignificant, but the proceeds are entirely municipal, earmarked for purposes of direct benefit to the pilgrim community. Such a tax, though levied invidiously on a section of the community, presumably not only very little able to bear the burden but also of a character whom it would not be to the advantage of the State to discourage, neverthless ceases to be a tax in the real sense of the term, but becomes a sort of a quid pro quo, a payment for a specific service rendered, which deprives it, to a considerable extent, of the hateful qualities of a tax. A Pilgrim Tax is bad, we repeat, as a general proposition. But a pilgrim tax of the kind levied in Benares, for example, loses much of its offensiveness in so far as it is turned into
f its
pled in Benares fout a pilgrim tas
