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.