APPENDIX H

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system was in force. In later times zabti denoted a revenuerate,
 or rent-rate, levied on the area sown. and varying with
the crop.
ZaMINDAR. Lit. “land-holder.” The word does not necessarily
imply any particular claim or title, and in 18c. was used
in Bengal to denote any sort of holder (vide Ch. VII, sec. 2).
In the literature of North India, from 14c. onwards, it
meant what I have called a Chief, that is, a landholder with
title or claim antecedent to Moslem rule, commonly a Réja,
Rio, or some other Hindu King, or ex-King, who had become
tributary to the Moslem State. It is occasionally applied
also to rulers who had not become tributary.