The agrarian system of Moslem India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1804119261

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-188010

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Moreland, William Harrison http://d-nb.info/gnd/172263670

Title:: The agrarian system of Moslem India

Edition:: 2. ed. Reissue (d. Ausg. Cambridge) 1929; [Reprint]

Place of publication:: Delhi

Publisher:: Oriental Books, Munshiram Manoharlal

Year of publication:: 1968

Scope:: XVII, 296 S.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter VI. The last phase in Northern India

Collection:: Economics Books

THE LAST PHASE IN NORTHERN INDIA 163 into account, so that an excess of area would represent compensation for inferiority. The second may be given in the words of the Commissioner of Agra! ‘The strong and crafty too frequently in past and present times have got the better of the weak and simple; the absence of those entitled to share, or the incapacity (from non-age or other cause) of some of the resident proprietors, has enabled others, on pretence of deposit or management, to obtain and keep possession of shares very disproportionate to their hereditary rights.” Here we meet with a feature still familiar in village life, a few members of the Brotherhood acting as a dominant clique, to the detriment of their weaker brethren. [dealists have sometimes depicted the Indian villages of the past as harmonious little republics, where every member was assured of his rights; but there has been a good deal of human nature in them, as there still is, and we must allow for wide divergence of character, rendering such generalisa- tions misleading. It is safer to hold that in the past, as n the present, there were villages of all sorts. The business of the Brotherhood was conducted by managers or Headmen,? commonly one to represent each main division. The position was filled in various ways, but ordinarily it tended to be hereditary, subject to dis- placement by the sharers for incompetence. The Headmen dealt with those peasants who were outside the Brotherhood, defrayed common expenses, and paid the revenue, realising the money required from the members in ways that differed widely; and in a proper Brotherhood there was an annual settlement of accounts, in which the members participated. At this period, however, the position of Headman was not always one to be desired. The pitch of the revenue was, as we shall see, very high, somewhere about half the produce; Intermediaries looked primarily to the Headmen for pay- ment; and default might be visited on their persons. An ordinary man with a substantial holding was often un- willing to take the risks attached to the position for the sake I Rev. Sel, ii. 342. t The usual name for the Headman was mugaddam, but muqaddams were found also in villages which had no Brotherhood. The term became unpopular early in the British period, because the people thought their rulers misunderstood it, and it was replaced by the hybrid ‘‘number-dar,”’ now naturalised in the language as lambardar.

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: The agrarian system of Moslem India

Monograph

Chapter

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

Chapter

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation