THE CANOONGOE AND PUTWARRY. 89 were probably chosen on account of their having under the old system performed similar functions; as all the officers who ultimately became zemindars were originally chosen. And it was because they were thus chosen that they brought with them those vague claims to the office. which could never be uprooted. LECTURE III. Below the circar was the pergunnah, and below the per- The canoongoe. gunnah was the mouzah or village. The pergunnah, as we have seen, was originally the chief fiscal division administered by a chowdhry, who had under his control a canoongoe or despandeah. This officer, of whose functions I shall have to speak more at length presently, kept the revenue records of the pergunnah; and when the circar displaced the pergunnah as the main fiscal division, the pergunnah revenue was practically administered by the canoongoe,' of course subject to the crory and afterwards to the aumil at the head of the chucklah. The village revenue again was still administered by the headman; only the headman had sunk or was sinking to the position of a mere servant of the zemindar or subordinate of the revenue officers. And the The putwarry. headman was to some extent associated in his functions of administering the revenue with the putwarry (or koolkurny, called also curnum). This officer, of whom also I shall say more hereafter, was the village registrar and accountant, and occupied in Mahomedan times a position in the village similar to that of the canoongoe in the pergunnah.3 This office has everywhere survived up to the present day. The canoongoe's office has undergone various vicissitudes, but has ultimately become extinct in Bengal. 2 Fifth Report, Vol. I, 18, 19; Vol. II, 157. Fifth Report, Vol. II, 12, 157. Harington's Analysis, Vol. II, 67. 3 Fifth Report, Vol. II, 12, 157. m LECTURE When the chucklah became the main division for fiscal purposes the circars seem not to have been abolished, but The chucklah to have gradually become obsolete. We also find that the crories in some instances became zemindars, and this sug superseded the circar. Attempts at centralisation. gests a mode in which the circars may have been gradually effaced as divisions and merged in zemindaries in some cases. The Mahomedans seem in the successive substitutions of the circar for the pergunnah, and the chucklah for the circar, to have been aiming at greater centralisation. But as they had succeeded to and adopted the Hindoo system, with its hereditary ideas and a spirit opposed to centralisation, they found influences still at work which made it impossible to administer the revenue without practically retaining the officers of the inferior grades in a subordinate capacity. These officers were less within the reach of the central Government than they had formerly been, before the fiscal divisions to which they were attached had become subordinate, and while therefore they were the officers of the main fiscal divisions, and as such in immediate contact with the central Government. And in this way, it seems not improbable, the vague claims of the officers of the village, pergunnah, and circar may have grown in obscurity into rights which the State found itself unable to deal with. These claims however might probably have been dealt with if the Mahomedan Government could have got rid of the old system and the Hindoo element, and could have taken the whole revenue collection into its own hands, through a new set of officers and with new methods. But it is pretty obvious that this was impracticable; and when Jaffier Khan attempted to do this, and with for the time considerable apparent success, it was found that the old system had been by no means uprooted; and the zemindars were soon more powerful than ever. In fact no such radical change as was required for this purpose was ever possible without convulsing the whole system of government. And the State had little apparent interest in resorting to such violent measures; which were not required for the mere purpose of checking the encroachments of the zemindars on the rights of the State, but only for uprooting them altogether. Jaffier Khan's proceedings indeed were execrated for their violence. But these proceedings had a wider scope than that of merely checking the zemindars in the interests of the State. He seems to have sought to uproot them altogether. And the discontent thus caused would probably have induced subsequent rulers to restrict themselves to less ambitious aims, even if the utter failure of Jaffier Khan's attempts had not demonstrated their futility. The result was that the old system continued, with changes and modifications which seem, in spite of checks, to have been steadily turned to account by the zemindars; and these attempts at centralisation instead of checking this process favoured it, by creating a greater distance between the sovereign and the cultivator; while the State could not dispense with the zemindar, and was obliged to ignore all below him. In this way the creation of the chucklah may have tended to turn the crory into a zemindar, and to efface the circar as a division. LECTURE III. the lower The Hindoo element was never got rid of; and at the Hindoos filled time of the British accession it was found that while the revenue offices, chief revenue offices, such as those of dewan, aumil, &c., were dans the and Mahome higher. LECTURE The aumil. filled by Mahomedans, all the officers in immediate contact with the cultivators were Hindoos.1 And all the revenue officers tended to merge into zemindars. Even the aumil who had charge of the chucklah was sometimes required to engage for the revenue, in default of an agreement being come to with the zemindar or others; so that he too occasionally occupied the position of a zemindar, and thus tended to become one under some circumstances. So with the farmer of revenue, who also stepped in when the zemindar refused to accept the assessment. And so also with all the new officers whom the Mahomedans created as a check upon the zemindars. There were some other officers besides those charged with the responsibilty of the administration of a division, but dependent upon them, of whom it may be as well to give some account. They are mentioned as dependent upon the head of the chucklah, the aumil or shaikdar, although many of them must always have been equally required, and several of them are referred to in the Ayeen Akbery.3 In the first place the aumil,—as the head of the chucklah was generally called, although the term was a general one, including all those employed in the collection of revenue,* -was provided with a police or military force called sebundy fussula to enable him to enforce the payment of the revenue; in the same way as the desmookh or crory had a force of pykes under the command of a khandait. This military force was, it is said, at first paid 5 Fifth Report, Vol. II, 154, 155; Orissa, Vol. II, 222; Land Tenure by a Civilian, 312. 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 |