The agrarian system of Moslem India

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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 VIII. Conclusion

Collection:: Economics Books

206 THE AGRARIAN SYSTEM OF MOSLEM INDIA distinction denoted by the two words only emerged as a result of the discussions of early British administrators; but, so far as it can be answered at all, the answer must be that the Moslem system ordinarily comprised both elements. The power of the Chiefs varied inversely with the strength of the central administration, but they persisted throughout the period, and their position was in essentials that of the modern zamindar, liable to pay, or account for, an annual sum fixed in advance, and making what they could out of the peasants under their control. The distinction between the two periods is found mainly in the modern tenancy legislation, which determines the relation between land- holder and peasants in detail: so far as we know, similar limitations were not ordinarily imposed on the Chiefs by the Moslem governments. On the other hand, the Reserved areas might certainly be described as ryotwari during the periods when salaried officials dealt directly with individual peasants. When the officials dealt with the headmen, an element of uncertainty is introduced by the dual position occupied by these repre- sentatives, for every headman was potentially a zamindar, though many acted merely as agents of the peasants. When again the officials dealt with farmers, the modern classification cannot be applied, for, so long as the farms were for short periods, the tenure was too uncertain to be classed as zamindari, and it is only towards the close of the period that it acquired a degree of stability justifying the application of that term. The position of an assignee was no less ambiguous, for while he sometimes exercised powers approximating to those of a modern zamindar, his tenure was ordinarily far too short and precarious for him to be called by that name. Again we have to allow for the multiplication of authorities. An assignee might receive his income from farmers dealing with headmen, who in their turn dealt with the peasants, and in such a case the rights now known as zamindari were distributed between various individuals. It is not then by the road of formal classification that the student should approach the subject. His need now is the need which Holt Mackenzie pressed on the early British administrators,

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