276 THE AGRARIAN SYSTEM OF MOSLEM INDIA
ParGaNA. The Indian name for an aggregate of villages:
Came into official Moslem use in 14c., partially superseding
Qasba.
PaTTA (Pattd). Lease. The document given to a revenuepayer,
 indicating the sum which he had to pay.
PaTwAri (Patwari). The village-accountant, a Hindi term
adopted from the outset in Moslem administration.
QaBOLIYAT. Written undertaking given for the payment of
revenue; the counterpart of a Patta.
QANGNGo. The pargana accountant and registrar. The position
certainly existed in the Hindu period, but the Hindi designation
 appears nowhere in the chronicles. The word Qaniin
in 13-14c. had not acquired the modern sense of “law,”
but denoted “custom” or “practice”; and Qaniingo must
be interpreted, not as “expounder of law,” but as “interpreter
 of custom,” i.e. it denotes the men to whom Moslem
administrators looked for information regarding the customs
of their Hindu subjects.
QARIYAT. A village, synonym of Deh.
QasBa (Qasba). The current meaning “town” has not been
found in the chronicles. The earliest writers used gasba
to denote -a pargana; from Afif onwards, pargana was
adopted as a Persian word. but gasba survived as an occasional
 synonym.
QAzi (Qazi). An official in the Islamic system, with duties
mainly judicial, but also executive: there is no precise
English equivalent, but in the Mogul period the Qazi might
be described as the judicial assistant of the Governor.
QISMAT-1 GHALLA (. . . Ghalla). Division of grain. In 16¢.
a name for assessment by Sharing.
RABI (Rabi). In India. the winter; the crops grown in winter
and harvested in spring.
RAI. RAJA, RANA, RAo. Hindi terms denoting a King or Chief,
whether independent, or paving tribute or revenue to the
Moslem King.
RagaMi. A description applied to Akbar’s first Valuation. Its
precise significance is obscure, as explained in App. E.
RAY’. In 16¢c., denotes a schedule of crop-rates prepared for
assessment purposes, and showing the Demand in terms of
produce: opposed to Dastir, a schedule of cash assessment
rates. The word has survived locally in Benares in the
sense of “rent-rate.’’