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LECTURE V.

THE TALOOKDAR AND OTHER OFFICERS: THE ASSESS-
MENT OF REVENUE AND RENT AND THEIR AMOUNT.

The talookdar-One class sprung from the ancient rajahs-Hereditary claimAnother class of modern talookdars-The talookdar's position-The talookdar's emoluments-Subordinate interests-Talooks created by zemindarsDiscussion of the talookdar's position-The canoongoe-His duties-His emoluments-Abolition and restoration of the office-The putwarry-His duties-His emoluments-Mode of assessment-The koot and the tookhem rezi-The doul bundobust-The hat-hackcut-Net revenue payable by the zemindar-Khas collection and farming-Accounts-The muzkoorat-Rent and revenue-Settlement with the ryots-Cesses-The condition of the ryots-Rates paid by the ryots-Amount of revenue-The assul-Abwabs-KhasnoveesyJaffier Khan's abwabs-Nuzzeranah mocurrery-Zer mathoot-Mathoot feelkhaneh-Foujdarry-Chout Mahratta-Ahuk -Nuzzeranah MunsoorgungeCossim Ali's abwabs-Serf sicca half anna-The tuckseem-Proportion of produce taken as revenue.

THE origin of the talookdar is even more obscure than The talookdar. that of the zemindar. The word talook means a de

sprung from

rajahs.

pendency.' There seem to have been two classes of talooks arising at different periods. One class is said to One class have arisen chiefly from the ancient rajahs who were the ancient allowed to retain their possessions, engaging to pay the revenue demanded by the State, but made subject to the control of the aumils in matters with which the State was concerned. This class kept up troops for the service of the State, and received certain remissions of revenue for their support by way of jageer. It is obvious that this class of talookdar differed little if at all originally from

3

'Harington's Analysis, Vol. III, 247. Whinfield's Landlord and Tenant, 5.

' Orissa, Vol. II, 225. Land Tenure by a Civilian, 73.

Land Tenure by a Civilian, 73. Baillie's Land Tax, xxxviii to xl.

LECTURE
V.

Hereditary claim.

150

cases.

THE TALOOKDAR.

the zemindar, and they grew to be zemindars in many The main distinction between the zemindar and the talookdar was that the talookdar did not represent the State to the same extent. Originally subject to the aumil in common with the zemindar, he became, when the zemindars had absorbed the functions of the aumil, subject in many instances to the zemindar. In some cases he paid his revenue also through the zemindar, and became a dependent talookdar. This would seem from the name of the class to be the original position of a talookdar;-one who, whether an ancient rajah or other personage, was permitted to remain in the management of a certain district on condition of paying revenue through the Government officers and subject to their control. The revenue would of course originally be paid to the ordinary officer; and when that officer grew to be a zemindar, the talookdar would sink into the position of a muzkooree instead of an huzooree malgoozar. On the other hand, the talookdar would tend himself to become a zemindar, and then would pay revenue direct to the State, and be a zemindar in his talook, or an independent talookdar. This view will, I think, explain most of the facts known to us, and it assimilates the development of the talookdar so closely to that of the zemindar that most of the remarks already made upon that subject will apply equally to the talookdars. It comes very much to this, that those who were left in the management of districts which they had formerly managed, and who did not become zemindars, were the real talookdars; while those who gained the position of zemindars were simply zemindars under the name of talookdars. And we should expect to find the hereditary claim rather stronger in these classes of talookdars,

HEREDITARY CLAIM OF THE TALOOKDAR.

151

because their position was originally less purely official than that of most of the other functionaries out of whom the zemindar grew. This hereditary element seems in a vague way to have been recognized; for it is said that the succession to the talook differed from that to the zemindary in not requiring the confirmation of the State; although that confirmation was required in case of sale or exchange.1 The sunnud in the case of independent talooks was the same in form as the zemindar's sunnud. But the acceptance of a sunnud was probably less insisted upon by the State as a condition of recognition in the case of the independent talookdar, while the dependent talookdar would hardly require a sunnud from the State. Indeed the talookdar's position is said by one authority not to be that of an officer, but to be based upon an hereditary right of possession like the ryots. And some talookdars became little more than khoodkasht ryots in later times.*

LECTURE

V.

of modern ta

Talooks created as above described, and which were Another class formed in the same way as zemindaries, would generally lookdars. not be of greater extent than zemindaries. But there was a second class of talooks, which were generally larger. They are said to have been formed chiefly in the declining period of Mahomedan rule, and after Jaffier Khan had attempted to uproot the zemindars. These talookdars

indeed appear to have arisen upon the temporary fall of the zemindars; and to have contracted for, and generally acted as zemindars of, the larger official zemindaries created by Jaffier Khan. They obtained acceptance by engaging

'Patton's Asiatic Monarchies, 144; see Orissa, Vol. II, 225, 226. ' Rouse's Dissertations, 25. Orissa, Vol. II, 230.

3 Patton's Asiatic Monarchies, 144.

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LECTURE

V.

The talookdar's position.

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for a higher amount of revenue than the old zemindars would pay; and they were probably at first entirely dependent on the aumil at the head of the chucklah, and were shorn of the zemindar's powers; since it was Jaffer Khan's policy to separate those powers from the office of contractor for the revenue. However the old system gradually revived; and the old zemindars who were restored, as well as the new talookdars and zemindars, continued in the decline of the empire to build up their power; the zemindars resuming their former functions, with perhaps the exception of the military duties; and the talookdars, when powerful, becoming independent talookdars or zemindars, and when weak falling back into dependence upon the zemindar.

The growth of the second class of talookdars chiefly took place in the period which includes Jaffier Khan's government of Bengal. Thus in 1715, in the reign of Farokshir, thirty-eight villages were granted to the East India Company as a talook, subject to a fixed revenue, and the Company was required to purchase the rights of the subordinate holders.1 But in the time of Mahommed Shah, the successor of Farokshir (1719 to 1748), the talookdars became still more powerful; and it is from this time that the Mogul empire decayed so rapidly.2

The position of the talookdars is generally described in much the same way as that of the zemindars. Sir W. Boughton Rouse says there is no distinction between the two in respect of permanent and hereditary proprietary right; but that with respect to the judicial functions conferred by the sunnud there may be a differPatton's Asiatic Monarchies, 147.

2 Land Tenure by a Civilian, 73.

THE TALOOKDAR SHARED IN MALGOOZAR'S PERQUISITES. 153

ence; the talookdar being generally but not universally subordinate: but when the talookdar took a separate sunnud, and had his name recorded as a separate proprietor, he paid his revenue direct to the treasury.' And another authority describes a talook as a large estate, consisting of many villages, in which the State has by sunnud made over its rights, accompanied with an obligation to pay the revenue; for the collection of which the talookdar is allowed a certain percentage upon the amount of revenue, together with other privileges. In some cases they seem to have had nankar; to which they would by analogy be entitled in all cases in which they were zemindars in their talooks. In general they appear to have shared with the ancient malgoozars of whatever description the perquisites of the malgoozar; and this is sometimes said to be the distinguishing feature of the talookdar's position, that he shared with the ancient malgoozars or the zemindar the perquisites formerly enjoyed by the headman and others; or that if he received in the first place the whole of those profits he had to pay a proportion as malikana to the ancient zemindars, in either case sharing the perquisites. This appears to refer to the malgoozars and zemindars whom the talookdars had displaced; but whose rights were still recognised by the payment of malikana or russoom-i-zemindaree.6 The result is that the characteristic feature of a talookdar's position is that

'Dissertations, 24, 25. Fifth Report, Vol. I, 162. Harington's Analysis, 248. Orissa, Vol. II, 225.

2 Thomason's Selections, 17. Directions for Revenue Officers, 54, 55. 'Land Tenure by a Civilian, 61.

4 Directions for Revenue Officers, 50, 54, 55, 57.

• Land Tenure by a Civilian, 42, 76.

6 • Ib.

LECTURE
V.

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