LECTURE
III.

by wages, but afterwards obtained allotments of land, or rather assignments of revenue, although the assignees may sometimes have been in occupation of the land itself.1 The system of payment by an assignment of revenue may have come down from Hindoo times, as it would seem that the Hindoo chowdhry was assisted by a similar force similarly maintained. Under the immediate control of the aumil an His subordinates. ameen did the practical revenue work; and had large inquisitorial and controlling powers, with the corresponding burden of responsibility to the aumil for the revenue of the district. A sheristadar or mujumudar kept the official records and accounts of the annual adjustments of revenue, and watched over the proceedings of the pergunnah officers, particularly the canoongoes. Tehsildars collected the revenue from the zemindars or other revenue payers. Mohurrirs wrote the accounts and documents. There were also, at least in the Northern Circars and probably in other parts at a distance from the seat of Government, reporters or news-writers employed:-one was called the Savannah negar, who was practically a spy on all the Government officers; and the other the Wakeh negar, or Dewanny remembrancer. These two officers sent weekly reports to head-quarters.

It is clear that the revenue system of the Mahomedans gave employment to a large body of officials. Of these, as I have mentioned, the superior officers were Mahomedans, and the inferior and those in direct relations with the ryots were generally Hindoos. It is said that Jaffier Khan

III.

LECTURE employed none but Hindoos in the collection of revenue, because he found them more pliable than the Mahomedans.1 We find however that he ejected a great number of Hindoo zemindars, and he certainly was not the first to employ Hindoos very largely in the collection of the revenue. As we have seen Akbar's reforms were entrusted to Hindoo hands.

Fifth Report, Vol. I, 104. Stewart's History of Bengal, p. 236.

LECTURE IV.

THE ZEMINDAR.

Hindoo times-Growth of the zemindar-The office hereditary-Conflict of authorities-Struggle between opposing principles-The zemindar an hereditary revenue contractor-The sunnud-Contents of the sunnud-The arzee-The furd-sewal-The furd-huckeekut-The muchulka-The perwanneh-Duties of the zemindar-Amount of revenue paid by him-The zemindars ultimately looked upon as landlords-The Nautwars-Zemindars in Behar-The sunnuds of Jaffier Khan-A zemindary alienable-The zemindar's emoluments-Surplus revenue-Settlement with Government-The hustabood-Settlement with the ryots-Mode of enhancing the ryot's rent-Customary rates-The khamar land-Remissions of revenue-Neej-jote and nankar-Extent of nankarThe purjote-Julkur, bunkur, ghasskur and phulkur-Cesses-Allowances to the zemindar-The zemindar's emoluments official in their origin-Dismissal of the zemindar-Allowances to displaced zemindars-Under-renting-The proceedings of Jaffier Khan-His attempt to reduce the zemindar's powerSevere measures adopted-The zemindars regained their power-Discussion of the zemindar's position.

I now proceed to give some account of the zemindar, the most important figure in the Bengal revenue system of modern times.

It is not very clear to what extent the office of zemindar Hindoo times. prevailed in the Hindoo revenue system. According to the account I have given of that system there was ordinarily little room for the zemindar. Yet, when the headman happened to be set aside, it might be convenient to employ an intermediate officer who would undertake to collect the revenue. And we gather that this was sometimes done, the revenue being in such cases farmed either to the official collectors of revenue, or to outsiders. Again it is said that there were ryots not forming part of any village community from whom revenue had to be collected; and here again the

LECTURE

IV.

Growth of the zemindar.

zemindar might be a convenient instrument. But whether these conjectures are of any value or not, it is positively alleged that there were in Hindoo times hereditary officers corresponding to the zemindar, but that they were only officials, although hereditary.' The name itself seems to have been little used, if at all; and the precise period at which it was introduced cannot be ascertained. There were certain cultivating brahmins in early times called bhuinhars, or boomees, and sometimes zemindars: the two names being synonymous in meaning and indicating some connexion with the land. In Orissa the name was applied to the killadars, or feudal fort-holders, and to the holders of one or more pergunnahs of the royal domain. The name, like everything else connected with the zemindar and his functions, has been the subject of considerable controversy. It has been considered on the one hand to imply an absolute proprietary right, and to be almost equivalent to the English word 'landlord.' On the other hand its meaning has been limited to a mere connexion of some sort with the soil without implying any particular rights. The controversy is, however, probably of less importance at present, since few will be satisfied to attribute to the zemindars the large rights claimed by them upon any arguments based upon the name alone.

I have already pointed out the way in which the zemindar may have grown up and become powerful. Having grown out of the ancient rajahs, native leaders, and robber

chiefs, and out of the various revenue officers, both ancient and modern, including the headmen and farmers of the revenue,' they acquired in course of time a right to collect the revenue of districts varying in size, sometimes consisting of a village or two, and sometimes of a large tract of country. They generally tended to displace the ancient revenue collectors, whether headmen or rajahs, and to absorb their privileges.

2

LECTURE
IV.

hereditary.

The office was an hereditary one, in later times at any The office rate. This hereditary character is said to have been derived from the Hindoo system, together with the office itself. I have already endeavoured to describe the struggle between opposing ideas which appears to have taken place: the object of the Government being to keep the zemindars in the position of mere officers. We shall see still more of this struggle in Jaffier Khan's time : and it was not, according to Mr. Grant, until after that period that the zemindars were recognized as hereditary: this took place after Nadir Shah's invasion of A. D. 1739.3 It is however said that a jungleboory zemindary or one which had gone to waste and had been restored to cultivation was always considered hereditary in the family of the new holder; possibly on the ground that, by cultivating the waste, the new occupant acquired a proprietary right independent of his official right.* The view which I have endeavoured to explain, that the Conflict of office was held as an office by persons cherishing hereditary claims, appears to me to go far towards reconciling the some

1 Ante, Lecture II.

2 Campbell's Cobden Club Essay, 169, 226. Rouse's Dissertations, 71. Patton's Asiatic Monarchies, 81. Harington's Analysis, Vol. III, 340, 342, 355, 356, 360. Orissa, Vol. II, 228.

Fifth Report, Vol. II, 156.

Rouse's Dissertations, 51, 56. Harington's Analysis, Vol. III, 353.

authorities.

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