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

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

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

Collection:: Economics Books

172 THE AGRARIAN SYSTEM OF MOSLEM INDIA village either the whole or the great bulk of the Producer’s Surplus, the balance, when there was a balance, being divided among the Brotherhood or retained by the Headman, as the case might be. In villages where no Brotherhood existed, the question of distributing profits would not arise, any- thing not taken by the manager remaining in the hands of the individual peasant who had earned it. 4. THE INTERMEDIARIES. As has already been explained, the Intermediaries found in the Ceded and Conquered Provinces at the time of acquisition presented a superficial appearance of uniformity, which had been produced by the conditions prevailing in the country during the 18th century. The cases in which a claim to a falug, or Dependency, was based on an Assign- ment of its revenue were comparatively rare: the men whose claims came before the British officials were as a rule either Farmers or Chiefs. At this period, when the central authority had almost ceased to count, a Farmer held his position from whoever might be de facto ruler of the region, and such rulers naturally preferred men who possessed some sort of local influence, because there was then some ground for hoping that they would be able to fulfil their engagements. To obtain local influence, by fair means or by foul, was thus the first step on the road of ambition; and the Records indicate that in the years before acquisition there had been a scramble for such influence over a large part, if not all, of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces. The country was full of robber bands, against whom the Empire afforded no protection; and a village which wanted only safety might reasonably offer to pay the King’s share of the produce to anyone who would undertake the King’s paramount duty, thus going back in effect to the fundamental idea of the old Indian polity.! Such an arrangement was, in the circumstances, legitimate; but when a man went further, and said, “Pay me the King’s share, or I desolate the village,” or followed ! This process, which it was the fashion to describe picturesquely as infeudation, was of course not universal, and I have not met with it West of the Jumna. In the Delhi territory, Fortescue tells us that the peasants organised their own defences * (Delhi Records. 111.)

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