ANTECEDENTS

9

on lines of which there is no precise record, but probably
by agreement or by dictation, as circumstances might
permit, while each Chief decided for himself in what way
he should collect the State’s share from his peasants; his
tenure depended on his loyalty, which meant primarily
the punctual payment of tribute; and here we meet the
idea, which is, perhaps, not yet wholly obsolete in India,
that default and disloyalty are the same thing. The
consequence of default was ordinarily a punitive expedition;
and, if it was successful, the Chief might either be dispossessed,
 or else reinstated on new terms.
Representatives.—During large portions of the Moslem
period the amount to be paid by a village for the King’s
share was commonly settled, season by season, or year by
year, between the official assessor and the headmen acting
on behalf of the peasants. The area sown, or expected to
be sown, was taken into account, along with other circumstances,
 but the assessment was a lump sum, which
the headmen subsequently distributed among the peasants.
This method, which I shall describe as Group-assessment,
might approximate closely to the system of assessment
through Chiefs, in cases where a Chief's authority” was
limited to a single village, and the approximation might be
still closer if a Group-assessment was made for a whole
pargana with the Chaudhri or pargana headman; but there
was usually a distinction in point of duration. The Groupassessment
 was made for a season or a year only, while
the Chief's payment was fixed, not in the sense that it was
unalterable, but until the authorities decided to alter it.
Assignees.—The general idea indicated by this word Is
that, instead of paying cash, the State provided for future
pecuniary claims by assigning to the claimant the King's
share of the produce of a specified area, the assignment
carrying with it the grant of executive authority sufficient,
at any rate, to enable the assignee to assess and collect
the amount due. This institution is the most prominent
feature of the Moslem agrarian system. The area might be
an entire province, or a single village: the claim to be satisfied
might represent the cost of maintaining troops, or salaries
for civil or military service; and in normal times the bulk of