Book IV. Annals of Mewār (part 3)

—The Badnor and Amet chiefs, both of the superior grade of nobles, were the most formidable obstacles to the operation of the treaty of the 4th of May. The first of these, by name Jeth Singh (the victorious [chief] lion), was of the Mertia clan, the bravest of the brave race of Rathor, whose ancestors had left their native abodes on the plains of Marwar, and accompanied the celebrated Mira Bai on her marriage with Rana Kumbha. His descendants, amongst whom was Jaimall, of immortal memory, enjoyed honour in Mewar equal to their birth and high deserts. It was the more difficult to treat with men like these, whose conduct had been a contrast to the general license of the times, and who had reason to feel offended, when no distinction was observed between them and those who had disgraced the name of Rajput. Instead of the submission expected from the Rathor, so overwhelmed was he from the magnitude of the claims, which amounted to a virtual extinction of his power, that he begged leave to resign his estates and quit the country. In prosecution of this design, he took post in the chief hall of the palace, from which no entreaties could make him move; until the Rana, to escape his importunities, and even restraint, obtained his promise to abide by the decision of the Agent. The forms of the Rana’s court, from time immemorial, prohibit all personal communication between the sovereign and his chiefs in matters of individual interest, by which indecorous altercation is avoided. But the ministers, whose office it was to obtain every information, did not make a rigid scrutiny into the title-deeds of the various estates previous to advancing the claims of the crown. This brave man had enemies, and he was too proud to have recourse to the common arts either of adulation or bribery to aid his cause. It was a satisfaction to find that the two principal towns demanded of him were embodied in a grant of Sangram Singh’s reign; and the absolute rights of the fisc, of which he had become possessed, were cut down to about fifteen thousand rupees of annual revenue. But there were other points on which he was even more tenacious than the surrender of these. Being the chief noble of the fine district of Badnor, which consisted of three hundred and sixty towns and villages, chiefly of feudal allotments (many of them of his own clan), he had taken advantage of the times to establish his influence over them, to assume the right of wardship of minors, and secure those services which were due to the prince, but which he wanted the power to enforce. The holders of these estates were of the third class of vassals or gol (the mass), whose services it was important to reclaim, and who constituted in past times the most efficient force of the Ranas, and were the preponderating balance of their authority when mercenaries were unknown in these patriarchal states. Abundant means towards a just investigation had been previously procured; and after some discussion, in which all admissible claims were recognized, and argument was silenced by incontrovertible facts, this chieftain relinquished all that was demanded, and sent in, as from himself, his written renunciation to his sovereign. However convincing the data by which his proper rights and those of his prince were defined, it was to feeling and prejudice that we were mainly indebted for so satisfactory an adjustment. An appeal to the name of Jaimall, who fell defending Chitor against Akbar, and the contrast of his ancestor’s loyalty and devotion with his own contumacy, acted as a talisman, and wrung tears from his eyes and the deed from his hand. It will afford some idea of the difficulties encountered, as well as the invidiousness of the task of arbitrating such matters, to give his own comment verbatim: "I remained faithful when his own kin deserted him, and was one of four chiefs who alone of all Mewar fought for him in the rebellion; but the son of Jaimall is forgotten, while the ‘plunderer’ is his boon companion, and though of inferior rank, receives an estate which elevates him above me"; alluding to the chief of Badesar, who plundered the queen’s dower. But while the brave descendant of Jaimall returned to Badnor with the marks of his sovereign’s favour, and the applause of those he esteemed, the ‘runner’ went back to Badesar in disgrace, to which his prince’s injudicious favour further contributed.

Hamīra of Badesar.

—Hamira of Badesar was of the second class of nobles, a Chondawat by birth. He succeeded to his father Sardar Singh, the assassin of the prime minister even in the palace of his sovereign; into whose presence he had the audacity to pursue the surviving brother, destined to avenge him. Hamira inherited all the turbulence and disaffection, with the estates, of his father; and this most conspicuous of the many lawless chieftains of the times was known throughout Rajasthan as Hamira ‘the runner’ (daurayat). Though not entitled to hold lands beyond thirty thousand annually, he had become possessed to the amount of eighty thousand, chiefly of the fisc or khalisa, and nearly all obtained by violence, though since confirmed by the prince’s patent. With the chieftain of Lawa (precisely in the same predicament), who held the fortress of Kheroda and other valuable lands, Hamira resided entirely at the palace, and obtaining the Rana’s ear by professions of obedience, kept possession, while chiefs in every respect his superiors had been compelled to surrender; and when at length the Saktawat of Lawa was forbid the court until Kheroda and all his usurpations were yielded up, the son of Sardar displayed his usual turbulence, ‘curled his moustache’ at the minister, and hinted at the fate of his predecessor. Although none dared to imitate him, his stubbornness was not without admirers, especially among his own clan; and as it was too evident that fear or favour swayed the Rana, it was a case for the Agent’s interference, the opportunity for which was soon afforded. When forced to give letters of surrender, the Rana’s functionaries, who went to take possession, were insulted, refused admittance, and compelled to return. Not a moment could be lost in punishing this contempt of authority; and as the Rana was holding a court when the report arrived, the Agent requested an audience. He found the Rana and his chiefs assembled in ‘the balcony of the sun,’ and amongst them the notorious Hamira. After the usual compliments, the Agent asked the minister if his master had been put in possession of Syana. It was evident from the general constraint, that all were acquainted with the result of the deputation; but to remove responsibility from the minister, the Agent, addressing the Rana as if he were in ignorance of the insult, related the transaction, and observed that his government would hold him culpable if he remained at Udaipur while his highness’s commands were disregarded. Thus supported, the Rana resumed his dignity, and in forcible language signified to all present his anxious desire to do nothing which was harsh or ungracious; but that, thus compelled, he would not recede from what became him as their sovereign. Calling for a bira, he looked sternly at Hamira, and commanded him to quit his presence instantly, and the capital in an hour; and, but for the Agent’s interposition, he would have been banished the country. Confiscation of his whole estate was commanded, until renunciation was completed. He departed that night; and, contrary to expectation, not only were all the usurpations surrendered, but, what was scarcely contemplated by the Agent, the Rana’s flag of sequestration was quietly admitted into the fortress of Badesar.

The Case of Āmli.

—One more anecdote may suffice. The lands and fortress of Amli had been in the family of Amet since the year 27, only five years posterior to the date to which these arrangements extended; their possession verged on half a century. The lords of Amet were of the Sixteen, and were chiefs of the clan Jagawat. The present representative enjoyed a fair character: he could, with the chief of Badnor, claim the succession of the loyal; for Partap and Jaimall, their respective ancestors, were rivals and martyrs on that memorable day when the genius of Chitor abandoned the Sesodias. But the heir of Amet had not this alone to support his claims; for his predecessor Partap had lost his life in defending his country against the Mahrattas, and Amli had been his acquisition. Fateh Singh (such was his name) was put forward by the more artful of his immediate kin, the Chondawat interest; but his disposition, blunt and impetuous, was little calculated to promote their views: he was an honest Rajput, who neither could nor cared to conceal his anger, and at a ceremonious visit paid him by the Agent, he had hardly sufficient control over himself to be courteous, and though he said nothing, his eyes, inflamed with opium and disdain, spoke his feelings. He maintained a dogged indifference, and was inaccessible to argument, till at length, following the example of Badnor, he was induced to abide by the Agent’s mediation. He came attended by his vassals, who anxiously awaited the result, which an unpremeditated incident facilitated. After a long and fruitless expostulation, he had taken refuge in an obstinate silence; and seated in a chair opposite to the envoy, with his shield in front, placed perpendicularly on his knees, and his arms and head reclined thereon, he continued vacantly looking on the ground. To interrupt this uncourteous silence in his own house, the envoy took a picture, which with several others was at hand, and placing it before him, remarked, "That chief did not gain his reputation for swamidharma (loyalty) by conduct such as yours." His eyes suddenly recovered their animation and his countenance was lighted with a smile, as he rapidly uttered, “How did you come by this—why does this interest you?” A tear started in his eye as he added, "This is my father!"—“Yes,” said the Agent, "it is the loyal Partap on the day he went forth to meet his death; but his name yet lives, and a stranger does homage to his fame."—“Take Amli, take Amli,” he hurriedly repeated, with a suppressed tone of exultation and sorrow, “but forget not the extent of the sacrifice.” To prolong the visit would have been painful to both, but as it might have been trusting too much to humanity to delay the resumption, the Agent availed himself of the moment to indite the chhorchitthi of surrender for the lands.

With these instances, characteristic of individuals and the times, this sketch of the introductory measures for improving the condition of Mewar may be closed. To enter more largely in detail is foreign to the purpose of the work; nor is it requisite for the comprehension of the unity of the object, that a more minute dissection of the parts should be afforded. Before, however, we exhibit the general results of these arrangements, we shall revert to the condition of the more humble, but a most important part of the community, the peasantry of Mewar; and embody, in a few remarks, the fruits of observation or inquiry, as to their past and present state, their rights, the establishment of them, their infringement, and restitution. On this subject much has been necessarily introduced in the sketch of the feudal system, where landed tenures were discussed; but it is one on which such a contrariety of opinion exists, that it may be desirable to show the exact state of landed tenures in a country, where Hindu manners should exist in greater purity than in any other part of the vast continent of India.

The Landed System.

—The ryot (cultivator) is the proprietor of the soil in Mewar. He compares his right therein to the akshay duba, which no vicissitudes can destroy. He calls the land his bapota, the most emphatic, the most ancient, the most cherished, and the most significant phrase his language commands for patrimonial inheritance. He has nature and Manu in support of his claim, and can quote the text, alike compulsory on prince and peasant, “cultivated land is the property of him who cut away the wood, or who cleared and tilled it,” an ordinance binding on the whole Hindu race, and which no international wars, or conquest, could overturn. In accordance with this principle is the ancient adage, not of Mewar only but all Rajputana, Bhog ra dhanni Raj ho: bhum ra dhanni ma cho: ‘the government is owner of the rent, but I am the master of the land.’ With the toleration and benevolence of the race the conqueror is commanded “to respect the deities adored by the conquered, also their virtuous priests, and to establish the laws of the conquered nation as declared in their books.” If it were deemed desirable to recede to the system of pure Hindu agrarian law, there is no deficiency of materials. The customary laws contained in the various reports of able men, superadded to the general ordinances of Manu, would form a code at once simple and efficient: for though innovation from foreign conquest has placed many principles in abeyance, and modified others, yet he has observed to little purpose who does not trace a uniformity of design, which at one time had ramified wherever the name of Hindu prevailed: language has been modified, and terms have been corrupted or changed, but the primary pervading principle is yet perceptible; and whether we examine the systems of Khandesh, the Carnatic, or Rajasthan, we shall discover the elements to be the same.

If we consider the system from the period described by Arrian, Curtius, and Diodorus, we shall see in the government of townships each commune an ‘imperium in imperio’; a little republic, maintaining its municipal legislation independent of the monarchy, on which it relies for general support, and to which it pays the bhog, or tax in kind, as the price of this protection; for though the prescribed duties of kings are as well defined by Manu as by any jurisconsult in Europe, nothing can be more lax than the mutual relations of the governed and governing in Hindu monarchies, which are resolved into unbounded liberty of action. To the artificial regulation of society, which leaves all who depend on manual exertion to an immutable degradation, must be ascribed these multitudinous governments, unknown to the rest of mankind, which, in spite of such dislocation, maintain the bonds of mutual sympathies. Strictly speaking, every State presents the picture of so many hundred or thousand minute republics, without any connexion with each other, giving allegiance (an) and rent (bhog) to a prince, who neither legislates for them, nor even forms a police for their internal protection. It is consequent on this want of paramount interference that, in matters of police, of justice, and of law, the communes act for themselves; and from this want of paternal interference only have arisen those courts of equity, or arbitration, the panchayats.

But to return to the freehold ryot of Mewar, whose bapota is the watan and the miras of the peninsula—words of foreign growth, introduced by the Muhammadan conquerors; the first (Persian) is of more general use in Khandesh; the other (Arabic) in the Carnatic. Thus the great Persian moralist Saadi exemplifies its application: "If you desire to succeed to your father’s inheritance (miras), first obtain his wisdom" .

While the term bapota thus implies the inheritance or patrimony, its holder, if a military vassal, is called Bhumia, a term equally powerful, meaning one actually identified with the soil (bhum), and for which the Muhammadan has no equivalent but in the possessive compound watandar, or mirasdar. The Caniatchi of Malabar is the Bhumia of Rajasthan.

The emperors of Delhi, in the zenith of their power, bestowed the epithet zamindar upon the Hindu tributary sovereigns: not out of disrespect, but in the true application of their own term Bhumia Raj, expressive of their tenacity to the soil; and this fact affords additional evidence of the proprietary right being in the cultivator (ryot), namely, that he alone can confer the freehold land, which gives the title of Bhumia, and of which both past history and present usage will furnish us with examples. When the tenure of land obtained from the cultivator is held more valid than the grant of the sovereign, it will be deemed a conclusive argument of the proprietary right being vested in the ryot. What should induce a chieftain, when inducted into a perpetual fief, to establish through the ryot a right to a few acres in bhum, but the knowledge that although the vicissitudes of fortune or of favour may deprive him of his aggregate signiorial rights, his claims, derived from the spontaneous favour of the commune, can never be set aside; and when he ceases to be the lord, he becomes a member of the commonwealth, merging his title of Thakur, or Signior, into the more humble one of Bhumia, the allodial tenant of the Rajput feudal system, elsewhere discussed. Thus we have touched on the method by which he acquires this distinction, for protecting the community from violence; and if left destitute by the negligence or inability of the government, he is vested with the rights of the crown, in its share of the bhog or rent. But when their own land is in the predicament called galita, or reversions from lapses to the commune, he is ‘seised’ in all the rights of the former proprietor; or, by internal arrangements, they can convey such right by cession of the commune.

The Bhūmia.

—The privilege attached to the bhum, and acquired from the community by the protection afforded to it, is the most powerful argument for the recognition of its original rights. The Bhumia, thus vested, may at pleasure drive his own plough , the right to the soil. His bhum is exempt from the jarib (measuring rod); it is never assessed, and his only sign of allegiance is a quit-rent, in most cases triennial, and the tax of kharlakar, a war imposition, now commuted for money. The State, however, indirectly receives the services of these allodial tenants, the yeomen of Rajasthan, who constitute, as in the districts of Kumbhalmer and Mandalgarh, the landwehr, or local militia. In fact, since the days of universal repose set in, and the townships required no protection, an arrangement was made with the Bhumias of Mewar, in which the crown, foregoing its claim of quit-rent, has obtained their services in the garrisons and frontier stations of police at a very slight pecuniary sacrifice.

Such are the rights and privileges derived from the ryot cultivator alone. The Rana may dispossess the chiefs of Badnor, or Salumbar, of their estates, the grant of the crown—he could not touch the rights emanating from the community; and thus the descendants of a chieftain, who a few years before might have followed his sovereign at the head of one hundred cavaliers, would descend into the humble foot militia of a district. Thousands are in this predicament: the Kanawats, Lunawats, Kumbhawats, and other clans, who, like the Celt, forget not their claims of birth in the distinctions of fortune, but assert their propinquity as “brothers in the nineteenth or thirtieth degree to the prince” on the throne. So sacred was the tenure derived from the ryot, that even monarchs held lands in bhum from their subjects, for an instance of which we are indebted to the great poetic historian of the last Hindu king. Chand relates, that when his sovereign, the Chauhan, had subjugated the kingdom of Anhilwara from the Solanki, he returned to the nephew of the conquered prince several districts and seaports, and all the bhum held by the family. In short, the Rajput vaunts his aristocratic distinction derived from the land; and opposes the title of ‘Bhumia Raj,’ or government of the soil, to the ‘Bania Raj,’ or commercial government, which he affixes as an epithet of contempt to Jaipur: where “wealth accumulates and men decay.”

In the great ‘register of patents’ (patta bahi) of Mewar we find a species of bhum held by the greater vassals on particular crown lands; whether this originated from inability of ceding entire townships to complete the estate to the rank of the incumbent, or whether it was merely in confirmation of the grant of the commune, could not be ascertained. The benefit from this bhum is only pecuniary, and the title is ‘bhum rakhwali’ or land [in return for] ‘preservation.’ Strange to say, the crown itself holds ‘bhum rakhwali’ on its own fiscal demesnes consisting of small portions in each village, to the amount of ten thousand rupees in a district of thirty or forty townships. This species, however, is so incongruous that we can only state it does exist: we should vainly seek the cause for such apparent absurdity, for since society has been unhinged, the oracles are mute to much of antiquated custom.

Occupiers’ Rights in the Land.

—We shall close these remarks with some illustrative traditions and yet existing customs, to substantiate the ryot’s right in the soil of Mewar. After one of those convulsions described in the annals, the prince had gone to espouse the daughter of the Raja of Mandor, the (then) capital of Marwar. It is customary at the moment of hathleva, or the junction of hands, that any request preferred by the bridegroom to the father of the bride should meet compliance, a usage which has yielded many fatal results; and the Rana had been prompted on this occasion to demand a body of ten thousand Jat cultivators to repeople the deserted fisc of Mewar. An assent was given to the unprecedented demand, but when the inhabitants were thus despotically called on to migrate, they denied the power and refused. “Shall we,” said they, "abandon the lands of our inheritance (bapota), the property of our children, to accompany a stranger into a foreign land, there to labour for him? Kill us you may, but never shall we relinquish our inalienable rights." The Mandor prince, who had trusted to this reply, deemed himself exonerated from his promise, and secured from the loss of so many subjects: but he was deceived. The Rana held out to them the enjoyment of the proprietary rights escheated to the crown in his country, with the lands left without occupants by the sword, and to all, increase of property. When equal and absolute power was thus conferred, they no longer hesitated to exchange the arid soil of Marwar for the garden of Rajwara; and the descendants of these Jats still occupy the flats watered by the Berach and Banas .

In those districts which afforded protection from innovation, the proprietary right of the ryot will be found in full force; of this the populous and extensive district of Jahazpur, consisting of one hundred and six townships, affords a good specimen. There are but two pieces of land throughout the whole of this tract the property of the crown, and these were obtained by force during the occupancy of Zalim Singh of Kotah. The right thus unjustly acquired was, from the conscientiousness of the Rana’s civil governor, on the point of being annulled by sale and reversion, when the court interfered to maintain its proprietary right to the tanks of Loharia and Itaunda, and the lands which they irrigate, now the bhum of the Rana. This will serve as an illustration how bhum may be acquired, and the annals of Kotah will exhibit, unhappily for the ryots of that country, the almost total annihilation of their rights, by the same summary process which originally attached Loharia to the fisc.

The power of alienation being thus proved, it would be superfluous to insist further on the proprietary right of the cultivator of the soil.

Proprietary Rights in Land.

—Besides the ability to alienate as demonstrated, all the overt symbols which mark the proprietary right in other countries are to be found in Mewar; that of entire conveyance by sale, or temporary by mortgage; and numerous instances could be adduced, especially of the latter. The fertile lands of Horla, along the banks of the Khari, are almost all mortgaged, and the registers of these transactions form two considerable volumes, in which great variety of deeds may be discovered: one extended for one hundred and one years; when redemption was to follow, without regard to interest on the one hand; or the benefits from the land on the other, but merely by repayment of the sum borrowed. To maintain the interest during abeyance, it is generally stipulated that a certain portion of the harvest shall be reserved for the mortgagee—a fourth, a fifth, or gugri—a share so small as to be valued only as a mark of proprietary recognition. The mortgagees were chiefly of the commercial classes of the large frontier towns; in many cases the proprietor continues to cultivate for another the lands his ancestor mortgaged four or five generations ago, nor does he deem his right at all impaired. A plan had been sketched to raise money to redeem these mortgages, from whose complex operation the revenue was sure to suffer. No length of time or absence can affect the claim to the bapota, and so sacred is the right of absentees, that land will lay sterile and unproductive from the penalty which Manu denounces on all who interfere with their neighbour’s rights: “for unless there be an especial agreement between the owner of the land and the seed, the fruits belong clearly to the land-owner”; even “if seed conveyed by water or by wind should germinate, the plant belongs to the land-owner, the mere sower takes not the fruit.” Even crime and the extreme sentence of the law will not alter succession to property, either to the military or cultivating vassal; and the old Kentish adage, probably introduced by the Jats from Scandinavia, who under Hengist established that kingdom of the heptarchy, namely:

The father to the bough,
And the son to the plough

is practically understood by the Jats and Bhumias of Mewar, whose treason is not deemed hereditary, nor a chain of noble acts destroyed because a false link was thrown out. We speak of the military vassals—the cultivator cannot aspire to so dignified a crime as treason.

Village Officials: the Patel.

—The officers of the townships are the same as have been so often described, and are already too familiar to those interested in the subject to require illustration. From the Patel, the Cromwell of each township, to the village gossip, the ascetic Sannyasi, each deems his office, and the land he holds in virtue thereof in perpetuity, free of rent to the State, except a small triennial quit-rent, and the liability, like every other branch of the State, to two war taxes.

Opinions are various as to the origin and attributes of the Patel, the most important personage in village sway, whose office is by many deemed foreign to the pure Hindu system, and to which language even his title is deemed alien. But there is no doubt that both office and title are of ancient growth, and even etymological rule proves the Patel to be head (pati) of the community. The office of Patel of Mewar was originally elective: he was ‘primus inter pares,’ the constituted attorney or representative of the commune, and as the medium between the cultivator and the government, enjoyed benefits from both. Besides his bapota, and the serano, or one-fortieth of all produce from the ryot, he had a remission of a third or fourth of the rent from such extra lands as he might cultivate in addition to his patrimony. Such was the Patel, the link connecting the peasant with the government, ere predatory war subverted all order: but as rapine increased, so did his authority. He became the plenipotentiary of the community, the security for the contribution imposed, and often the hostage for its payment, remaining in the camp of the predatory hordes till they were paid off. He gladly undertook the liquidation of such contributions as these perpetual invaders imposed. To indemnify himself, a schedule was formed of the share of each ryot, and mortgage of land, and sequestration of personal effects followed till his avarice was satisfied. Who dared complain against a Patel, the intimate of Pathan and Mahratta commanders, his adopted patrons? He thus became the master of his fellow-citizens; and, as power corrupts all men, their tyrant instead of their mediator. It was a system necessarily involving its own decay; for a while glutted with plenty, but failing with the supply, and ending in desolation, exile, and death. Nothing was left to prey on but the despoiled carcase; yet when peace returned, and in its train the exile ryot to reclaim the bapota, the vampire Patel was resuscitated, and evinced the same ardour for supremacy, and the same cupidity which had so materially aided to convert the fertile Mewar to a desert. The Patel accordingly proved one of the chief obstacles to returning prosperity; and the attempt to reduce this corrupted middle-man to his original station in society was both difficult and hazardous, from the support they met in the corrupt officers at court, and other influences ‘behind the curtain.’ A system of renting the crown lands deemed the most expedient to advance prosperity, it was incumbent to find a remedy for this evil. The mere name of some of these petty tyrants inspired such terror as to check all desire of return to the country; but the origin of the institution of the office and its abuses being ascertained, it was imperative, though difficult, to restore the one and banish the other. The original elective right in many townships was therefore returned to the ryot, who nominated new Patels , his choice being confirmed by the Rana, in whose presence investiture was performed by binding a turban on the elected, for which he presented his nazar. Traces of the sale of these offices in past times were observable; and it was deemed of primary importance to avoid all such channels for corruption, in order that the ryot’s election should meet with no obstacle. That the plan was beneficial there could be no doubt; that the benefit would be permanent, depended, unfortunately, on circumstances which those most anxious had not the means to control: for it must be recollected, that although “personal aid and advice might be given when asked,” all internal interference was by treaty strictly, and most justly, prohibited.

After a few remarks on the mode of levying the crown-rents, we shall conclude the subject of village economy in Mewar, and proceed to close this too extended chapter with the results of four years of peace and the consequent improved prosperity.

Modes of Collecting Rents.

—There are two methods of levying the revenues of the crown on every description of corn—kankut and batai, for on sugar-cane, poppy, oil, hemp, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and garden stuffs, a money payment is fixed, varying from two to six rupees per bigha. The kankut is a conjectural assessment of the standing crop, by the united judgement of the officers of government, the Patel, the Patwari, or registrar, and the owner of the field. The accuracy with which an accustomed eye will determine the quantity of grain on a given surface is surprising: but should the owner deem the estimate overrated, he can insist on batai, or division of the corn after it is threshed; the most ancient and only infallible mode by which the dues either of the government or the husbandman can be ascertained. In the batai system the share of the government varies from one-third to two-fifths of the spring harvest, as wheat and barley; and sometimes even half, which is the invariable proportion of the autumnal crops. In either case, kankut or batai, when the shares are appropriated, those of the crown may be commuted to a money payment at the average rate of the market. The kut is the most liable to corruption. The ryot bribes the collector, who will underrate the crop; and when he betrays his duty, the shahnah, or watchman, is not likely to be honest: and as the makai, or Indian corn, the grand autumnal crop of Mewar, is eaten green, the crown may be defrauded of half its dues. The system is one of uncertainty, from which eventually the ryot derives no advantage, though it fosters the cupidity of patels and collectors; but there was a barar, or tax, introduced to make up for this deficiency, which was in proportion to the quantity cultivated, and its amount at the mercy of the officers. Thus the ryot went to work with a mill-stone round his neck; instead of the exhilarating reflection that every hour’s additional labour was his own, he saw merely the advantage of these harpies, and contented himself with raising a scanty subsistence in a slovenly and indolent manner, by which he forfeited the ancient reputation of the Jat cultivator of Mewar.

Improvement in the Condition of the People.

—Notwithstanding these and various other drawbacks to the prosperity of the country, in an impoverished court, avaricious and corrupt officers, discontented Patels, and bad seasons, yet the final report in May 1822 could not but be gratifying when contrasted with that of February 1818. In order to ascertain the progressive improvement, a census had been made at the end of 1821, of the three central fiscal districts watered by the Berach and Banas. As a specimen of the whole, we may take the tappa or subdivision of Sahara. Of its twenty-seven villages, six were inhabited in 1818, the number of families being three hundred and sixty-nine, three-fourths of whom belonged to the resumed town of Amli. In 1821 nine hundred and twenty-six families were reported, and every village of the twenty-seven was occupied, so that population had almost trebled. The number of ploughs was more than trebled, and cultivation quadrupled; and though this, from the causes described, was not above one-third of what real industry might have effected, the contrast was abundantly cheering. The same ratio of prosperity applied to the entire crown demesne of Mewar. By the recovery of Kumbhalmer, Raepur, Rajnagar, and Sadri-Kanera from the Mahrattas; of Jahazpur from Kotah; of the usurpations of the nobles; together with the resumption of all the estates of the females of his family, a task at once difficult and delicate; and by the subjugation of the mountain districts of Merwara, a thousand towns and villages were united to form the fiscal demesne of the Rana, composing twenty-four districts of various magnitudes, divided, as in ancient times, and with the primitive appellations, into portions tantamount to the tithings and hundreds of England, the division from time immemorial amongst the Hindus. From these and the commercial duties a revenue was derived sufficient for the comforts, and even the dignities of the prince and his court, and promising an annual increase in the ratio of good government: but profusion scattered all that industry and ingenuity could collect; the artificial wants of the prince perpetuated the real necessities of the peasant, and this, it is to be feared, will continue till the present generation shall sleep with their forefathers.

Abstract of the Fiscal Revenues of Mewar in the years

1818-19-20-21-22.

Spring harvest of 1818 Rs. 40,000

” 1819 451,281

” 1820 659,100

” 1821 1,018,478

” 1822 936,640 { The active superintendence of the British Agent being almost entirely withdrawn.

Abstract of Commercial Duties included in the above.

In 1818 Nominal

1819 Rs. 96,683

1820 165,108

1821 220,000

1822 217,000 { Farmed for three years, from 1822, for 750,000 rupees, which was assigned by the Rana for the liquidation of tribute fallen in arrear.

Mines and Minerals.

—There are sources of wealth in Mewar yet untouched, and to which her princes owe much of their power. The tin mines of Jawara and Dariba alone, little more than half a century ago, yielded above three lakhs annually; besides rich copper mines in various parts. From such, beyond a doubt, much of the wealth of Mewar was extracted, but the miners are now dead, and the mines filled with water. An attempt was made to work them, but it was so unprofitable that the design was soon abandoned.

Nothing will better exemplify the progress of prosperity than the comparative population of some of the chief towns before, and after, four years of peace:

No. of houses in 1818. No. of houses in 1822.

Udaipur 3,500 10,000

Bhilwara not one 2,700

Pur 200 1,200

Mandal 80 400

Gosunda 60 350

The Feudal Lands.

—The feudal lands, which were then double the fiscal, did not exhibit the like improvement, the merchant and cultivator residing thereon not having the same certainty of reaping the fruits of their industry; still great amelioration took place, and few were so blind as not to see their account in it. The earnestness with which many requested the Agent to back their expressed intentions with his guarantee to their communities of the same measure of justice and protection as the fiscal tenants enjoyed was proof that they well understood the benefits of reciprocal confidence; but this could not be tendered without danger. Before the Agent left the country he greatly withdrew from active interference, it being his constant, as it was his last impressive lesson, that they should rely upon themselves if they desired to retain a shadow of independence. To give an idea of the improved police, insurance which has been described as amounting to eight per cent in a space of twenty-five miles became almost nominal, or one-fourth of a rupee per cent from one frontier to the other. It would, however, have been quite Utopian to have expected that the lawless tribes would remain in that stupid subordination which the unexampled state of society imposed for a time (as described in the opening of these transactions), when they found that real restraints did not follow imaginary terrors. Had the wild tribes been under the sole influence of British power, nothing would have been so simple as effectually, not only to control, but to conciliate and improve them; for it is a mortifying truth, that the more remote from civilization, the more tractable and easy was the object to manage, more especially the Bhil. But these children of nature were incorporated in the demesnes of the feudal chiefs, who when they found our system did not extend to perpetual control, returned to their old habits of oppression: this provoked retaliation, which to subdue requires more power than the Rana yet possesses, and, in the anomalous state of our alliances, will always be an embarrassing task to whosoever may exercise political control.

In conclusion, it is to be hoped that the years of oppression that have swept the land will be held in remembrance by the protecting power, and that neither petulance nor indolence will lessen the benevolence which restored life to Mewar, or mar the picture of comparative happiness it created.

The Sixteen chief Nobles of Mewar, their Titles, Names, Clans, Tribes, Estates,

number of Villages in each, and their Value.

Titles. Names. Clan. Tribe. Estate. Number of Villages. Value, A.D. 1760. Remarks

Raj Chandan Singh Jhala Jhala Sadri 127 100,000 } These estates are all diminished one-half in nominal amount; and their revenues still more.

Rao Partap Singh Chauhan Chauhan Bedia 80 100,000

Rao Mohkam Singh Chauhan Chauhan Kotharia 65 80,000

Rawat Padma Singh Chondawat Sesodia Salumbar 85 84,000 Would realize this if cultivated.

Thakur Zorawar Singh Rathor Mertia Ghanerao 100 100,000 This chief ceases to be one of the 16 since the Rana lost the province of Godwar.

Rao Keshodas —— Pramar Bijolia 40 45,000 Would realize this if cultivated.

Rawat Gokuldas Sangawat Sesodia Deogarh 125 80,000 Would realize more if cultivated.

Rawat Maha Singh Meghawat Sesodia Begun 150 200,000 This includes usurpations—now seized by Sindhia. The estate would realize 70,000 if cultivated.

Raj Kalyan Singh Jhala Jhala Delwara 125 100,000 Would realize two-thirds if cultivated.

Rawat Salim Singh Jagawat Jagawat Amet 60 60,000 Do., do.

Raj Chhattar Sal Jhala Jhala Gogunda 50 50,000 Would realize this if cultivated.

Rawat Fateh Singh Sarangdevot Sesodia Kanor 50 95,000 Would realize half if cultivated.

Maharaja Zorawar Singh Saktawat Sesodia Bhindar 64 64,000 Would realize this if cultivated.

Thakur Jeth Singh Mertia Rathor Badnor 80 80,000 Do., do.

Rawat Salim Singh Saktawat Sesodia Bansi 40 40,000 } These chiefs have lost all influence and half their their estates.

Rao Surajmall Singh Chauhan Chauhan Parsoli 40 40,000

Rawat Kesari Singh Kishanawat Sesodia Bhainsror 60 60,000 } These chiefs have taken rank on the depression of the above—they never appear at court on the same day.

Rawat Jawan Singh Kishanawat Sesodia Kurabar 35 35,000

Note.—The inferior grades possessed estates to a still larger amount, conjointly yielding a revenue of thirty lakhs of rupees; and as each thousand rupees of estate furnished on emergency three horses completely equipped, the feudal interest could supply nine thousand horse besides foot, of which they make little account. [Accounts of the present condition of these nobles will be found in Erskine ii. A. under the headings of their estates.]

Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.

Transcriber’s Note

There are references in all three volumes to Genealogical Tables in Volume I, which were not reprinted in this Crooke edition.

The spelling of names and places is variable, as noted in the Editor’s introduction to Volume I, as the system of transliteration underwent many changes in the intervening century. The use of macrons was not yet introduced in James Tod’s day. This text, with very few exceptions, follows the text as printed.

Hyphenation of compound words follows the text, with the rare exception of when it occurs on a line break and the preponderance of other instances provides clear guidance.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here.

The sole footnote on p. had no reference in the text. Based on the content of the note, the reference has been inserted at the end of the first paragraph on the page.

The correction to note was made in order to close a quotation beginning with ‘cloud of war’, but lacking a closing quote. Earlier editions supplied the resolution.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here.

This list contains issues in the main text. References are to the page and line in the original.

x.36 Imperial Gazetteer of India[,] Added.

xlvii.15 Muntakhab[at/u-t]-tawārikh Replaced.

lx.26 the least suspicious kind of historical evidence[.] Added.

9.24 in the respective historical portions[.] Added.

29.5 the burning plains of Ind[.] Added.

32.18 were learned in the Vedas[.] Added.

48.5 other eight generations anterior[.] Added.

48.7 inhabitants had their appellation, we cannot say[.] Added.

55.22 descendants of Rama[.] Added.

104.33 after a lapse of 2250 years[.] Added.

110.1 the power of the Pramaras[.] Added.

110.13 to have been patrons of science[.] Added.

166.4 the principality of the Rana of Mewar[.] Added.

222.23 and most powerful fiefs of Mewar[.] Added.

235.19 Pancholi Raechand a[m/n]d Mehta Mul Das Replaced.

251.36 the contemporary of Vikramaditya, [A/B].C. 56. Replaced.

271.10 1[,] Kanaksen Added.

275.16 ‘the rhymer of Aurangabad.[’] Added.

326.5 by a Bhatti Rajput of Jaisalmer[.] Added.

496.17 Rāna Ar[s]i Singh II. Inserted.

504.25 From S. 1825 to S. 1831 [A.D. 1768-74[)/]] Replaced.

544.9 the foreign chieft[ia/ai]ns Transposed.

The following list contains issues corrected or noted in the footnote text. The reference is to the original page and note, and the line within the note (which may appear on a later page).

lx.1.2 (Smith, EHI, 387, note; IA, i. 269 ff., iii. 17 ff., xxxii. 167 f.[)] Added.

25.3.1 Baghes, ‘the tiger lord.[’] Added.

128.2.6 and said to be built by Puru.[’/”] Replaced.

156.1.11 ‘household.[”/’] Replaced.

166.1.3 smaller units being called Byālisa, 42, or Ch[a]ubīsa, 24 Restored.

166.1.4 Supplemental Glossary, 178 ff.[)] Added.

176.1.13 1i. 319.[)] Added.

184.1.8 Art. ‘Relief,[’] Added.

201.3.7 the fief of his vassal without his consent.[’/”] Replaced.

241.1.7 et les seconds de le régaler quand i[t/l] passait par leur bourg. Replaced.

255.1.3 the name of Min[n]agara was changed Removed.

262.2.6 Mers in Porbandar (Wilberforce-Bell, Hist. of Kathiawad, 53) Added.

265.3.4 (Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 255[)]. Added.

297.1.7 ‘cloud of war rolled from Himachal[’] Added.

333.1.3 Maharana Kumbha: Sovereign, Soldier, Scholar, Ajmer, 1917, p. 2[)]. Added.

381.1.2 calcined shell-li[n/m]e Replaced.

386.2.5 upon [s/t]heir refusal to intermarry Replaced.

398.3.1 A colloqu[ai/ia]l contraction for Partap. Transposed.

435.1.3 J[u/a]dunath Sarkar Replaced.

468.2.11 (Scott’s History of Aurangzeb’s Successors, vol. i. p. 132). Added.

469.3.1 ‘a royal grant[’] Added.

491.1.64 Your favour was received by the Pandit Pardhan[)] Removed.

496.2.2 in 1814, Ranaji Burtia[:/;] in 1813 Replaced.

509.2.2 on the liquidation of the contribution[,/.] Replaced.

563.1.5 since he left De[hl/lh]i Transposed.

573.1.1 [Cynodon dactylon] Opening bracket added.

Transcription of the plate on p. .

Each feature on the plate is summarized below, including both the original transliteration from Tod’s original text and the version used by Crooke in the text of this edition.

Section thro’ Central India in 25° N. Lat. from Aboo [Abu] to Bundelkhund [Bundelkhand].

Plateau of Central India——Trap formation
Mt. Aboo [Mt. Abu]
Aravalli Mountains
Oodipoor [Udaipur]
Jawud [E]
Ruttunghur
Rampoora [Rampura]
Chumbul R. [Chambal R.]
Kotah
Parbatty R. [Parbati R.]
Shahabad [F]
Sinde R.
Kunneadanna [H]
Betwa R.
Kotra [I]

A. B. The isolated Aboo 24 miles Circumference at base_____Granite and Gneis.

C. D. The Aravalli Chain._______Granite reposing on compact blue slate.

D. E. Plains of Mewar.

E. F. Patar or Plateau of Central India.__________Trap

F. G. Valley of the Sinde.

G. H. Table Mountain the Eastern limit of Rajpootna, structure doubtful.

H. I. Plains of the Betwa, Bundelkhund.

Volume 2 external ref
Volume 3 external ref