I.

LECTURE others were (1), the Curnum, Shamboug or Putwaree, the village registrar: (2), the Paliary, Schulwar or Tulliar, who inquired into crimes and escorted travellers from village to village: (3), the Potee or Totie who watched the crops. He was also known as the Pausban, Gorayet, Hawuldar or Shaeenar (4), the Neerguntee or Nurguaty, the distributer of water: (5), the Jotishee or Joshee, the astrologer who announces the season for seed time and harvest and notifies lucky and unlucky days: (6), the blacksmith: (7), the carpenter: (8), the potter: (9), the washerman : (10), the barber: (11), the Mode of pay- silversmith. All these officials were paid by a share of the produce, which was called their russoom or marah.3 Their share of the grain crop was taken from the threshing floor before that of either king or cultivator was removed. They also received money fees. In some parts they are said to have had an allotment of land free of revenue or at low rates instead of other remuneration, or at least instead of the money payments. This is said to have been the case in Bengal chiefly, and was probably restricted to the cases in which there was a service to the

ment.

1 Fifth Report, Vol. I, 18; Vol. II, 13. Land Tenure by a Civilian, 77. Directions for Revenue Officers, 184.

2 Wilks's South of India, p. 117, cited in Rickards's India, Vol. II, Appendix I, 60. Fifth Report, Vol. II, 13, 14, 75, 76, 91, 353, 471, 575, 698. Steele's Deccan Castes, 207. Orissa, Vol. II, 221. Land Tenure by a Civilian, 69, 84, 85. Evidence of Mr. Fortescue before the Select Committee of the House of Lords (1830), 405, 406, 528, 529.

The Great Rent Case, B. L. R., Supp. Vol., 265.

Ayeen Akbery Maine's Village

(Gladwin's Translation, Calcutta, 1783) Vol. I, 358.
Communities, 125, 126. Evidence of Col. Sykes before House of Com-
mons' Select Committee (1832), 2173.

Fifth Report, Vol. II, 14.

4

Land Tenure by a Civilian, 84, 85. Fifth Report, Vol. II, 59, 571.

State as well as to the village. In such cases the State
might, instead of making money payment, or surrendering a
share of its portion of the produce, remit the whole or a por-
tion of the revenue on land held by its officer in the village,
or assign the whole or a portion of the revenue on other
lands. The pykes or police employed in collecting the Govern-
ment share under the directions of the headman were paid in
this
way in Bengal. Lands so allotted were called chakeran
or service lands in later times. The same modes of paying
the village officers were found to be in use in Java, the village
communities of which are very similar to those of India, and
are supposed to have been derived from Indian colonists.3
These allotments of land were also rendered serviceable to the
community; since they were usually situated on the village
borders beyond the ordinary cultivation, and thus served
to keep up a knowledge of the village boundaries.*

LECTURE 1.

labourers of

The village was bound, besides rendering a share of The servile the produce to the king, to supply a certain number of the village. the servile labourers attached to the village for the king's service, or to pay the king an equivalent for such services. These labourers also received a share of grain from the threshing floor.5 The village offices were most of them

Fifth Report, Vol. I, 341; Vol. II, 12, 13, 89, 90, 95, 155, 307, 698, Whinfield's Landlord and Tenant, 34. Harington's Analysis, Vol. II 65, 235(n). Orissa, Vol. II, 216.

2 Joykissen Mookerjee v. Collector of East Burdwan, 10 Moore's I. A., 16, at pp. 18, 43. Whinfield's Landlord and Tenant, 34. Evidence of Mr. Trant before the Select Committee of the House of Commons (1832), 2022.

3

* M. de Laveleye in the Revue des deux mondes, tome 100, p. 160.

* See the evidence of Col. Briggs before the Select Committee of the

House of Lords (1830), 4155.

Campbell's Cobden Club Essay, 158.

d

LECTURE hereditary, but the holder could be dismissed by the

I.

The headman.

community.1

I come now to consider the position of the village headman; and in considering his functions we shall arrive at some understanding of the revenue system of the Hindoo governments, and of the relations between the king and the community. The headman bore various titles in different parts of the country. In Bengal he was known by the name of Mokuddim or Mundul, at least in Mahomedan times, and seems to have corresponded with the gram adhiput or superintendent of a village referred to in Menu: other names were Gond or Partly elective Ganda, Potail and Purdhan. He was a partly elective, partly hereditary, officer; and combined the functions of head of the municipality with those of an officer and representative of the Government. He was supposed to derive his right to the office through his descent from the founder of the village. Whether the office was at first wholly elective is uncertain; but considering the strong tendency of all Hindoo offices to become hereditary, the office of headman probably had an hereditary element in

and partly

hereditary

office.

Mr. Fortescue's evidence before the House of Commons, Select Committee (1832), 2241 and 2245.

2 Land Tenure by a Civilian, 19, 77.

3 Campbell's Cobden Club Essay, 163. Fifth Report, Vol. II, 13, 157. Land Tenure by a Civilian, 76. Harington's Analysis, Vol. II, 67. Robinson's Land Tenure, 69. Orissa, Vol. II, 206, 221, 242, 249 to 251. Steele's Deccan Castes, 204. Evidence of Col. Briggs before the Select Committee of the House of Lords (1830), 4047, 4152. Evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Commons (1832), of Lieut.-Col. Barnewall, 1734, of Lieut.-Col. Sykes, 2173, of Mr. Fortescue, 2232, 2237, 2238, and of Mr. Holt Mackenzie, 2656.

Fifth Report, Vol. I, 18. Orissa, Vol. II, 249 to 251.

very early times.1

LECTURE

The village might elect; but if it did not the office generally went to the fittest member of the late headman's family, usually with some preference to seniority. Sometimes however, at least in modern times, the members of the family discharged its functions in rotation; the head of the family receiving nevertheless a larger share of the emoluments:3 thus there were sometimes found to be several munduls in a village. There are instances of the sale of the office by the occupant; and also by the Government, on the dismissal or failure of heirs of the headman; but in general the office could not be sold. The headman's tenure of office originally depended upon the approval of the village community, but later the zemindar sometimes nominated the headman.6

I.

The State had pro- The State bably always had a veto upon his appointment; since he could dismiss. was an officer of the State, as well as the representative of the village, and the State could dismiss him at pleasure.7 In this way the zemindar would come in some cases to assume the right of nominating as a superior representative of the Government; and in the decline of these communities the villagers would have no choice but to acquiesce. The hereditary element nevertheless continued

1 Campbell's Cobden Club Essay, 169, 226. Patton's Asiatic Monarchies, 81. Land Tenure, by a Civilian, 33, 76.

2 See authorities in note (3) p. 26 ante.

* Land Tenure by a Civilian, 79.

4

Steele's Deccan Castes, 205.

Harington's Analysis, Vol. III, 350. Evidence of Mr. Fortescue before the Select Committee of the House of Lords (1830), 503.

Land Tenure by a Civilian, 78. Mr. Fortescue's evidence

ubi suprà, 397 to 400. Orissa, Vol. II, 249 to 251.

Land Tenure by a Civilian, 75.

1 lb., 33.

I.

LECTURE persistently to assert itself, even down to modern times, and in declining or decayed communities; and in most of the large talooks descendants of the headman continued to claim the right to exercise the office on a vacancy.

His functions.

In considering the headman's duties it is almost impossible to say positively whether they were his original functions, or whether they were the growth of Mahomedan times; but we may I think safely assume that they were mainly his original functions under the Hindoo system; since the office was then in its full vigour, and its functions and privileges would be likely to be diminished rather than increased. I shall not attempt to separate in my description his original functions from those subsequently assumed, since I am obliged to base my account of them upon comparatively modern descriptions; but I shall indicate as far as I can any change which may have taken place in his position.

His most important functions, as far as we are concerned, were those of adjuster of the revenue on the village and of collector of the revenue. He arranged all the details of the assessment; ascertained the extent of each holding in the village; estimated the growing crop, and saw the threshed corn heaps weighed; and apportioned the revenue accordingly, either by estimate or by the actual out-turn. He also received the share which represented the revenue, and delivered it in kind to the superior revenue collector; or at a later period to the malgoozar or contractor for the revenue; or else handed it over for sale to the village weighman or to the mahajun (or village merchant), who bought the grain of the village

1 Land Tenure by a Civilian, 79.