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.)