rented the country a hundred years ago, are shoved into the cutcherry-room and hustled out again by the lowestpaid peon 1.' In Karnúl, the poligars have also disappeared, and either receive pensions or are holders of 'inám' lands. § 9. Central Districts and Western Polliams. Very much the same remarks may be applied to the Carnatic districts of the west and south. A number of the District Manuals are full of narratives of resistance and troubles caused by the poligars and in some we hear of regular 'poligar-wars,' which have added not a few stirring pages to the military history of Madras. : In NELLORE, the poligar does not appear to have developed beyond being a revenue functionary-a sort of police superintendent attached to a collector-as he was in Chingleput. He was responsible for the peace of a circle of villages, and was remunerated by a 'merá'-an allowance or share of the produce, from a little over I per cent. to 4 per cent. of the whole 2. Such a position naturally resulted in claims to acquired rights over many villages but such claims have now been settled or compounded for by the grant of ináms, or revenue-free holdings 3. In NORTH ARCOT there were great poligars, and here also we hear of 'poligar-wars'. It is in this district that The 1 See Cuddapah D. M. p. 136. writer goes on to describe the superstitions that these decayed families have; how they will not live in a tiled house but prefer a thatched one and how they refuse even to look in the old poligar's forts for buried treasure-fearing the wrath of the ancestor's spirit: and how the ruined forts are invariably full of custard-apple trees, and not other fruits. The above quoted remarks are written in a kindly spirit which it is impossible not to respect. At the same time it should be remembered that, as far as the poligars were really old, rightful, and respected landholders, it was entirely their own fault that they rebelled, and did not submit: for had they behaved reasonably they would have got their sanads and the permanent Settlement. For the other class, usurpers and wrong-doers, whose career had been one long course of grinding the poor raiyats, even if the prescription of years had confirmed their possession, they deserve scant sympathy. 2 Chingleput D. M. p. 246; and so in South Arcot; D. M. p. 221. 3 Nellore D. M. p. 552. North Arcot D. M. pp. 77-81. For a curious account of how the poligars paid their peons, &c., by 'tankás or orders for grain, &c., on the we find the large estates (still existing) known as the Western Pollams' (Chitúr, &c.). 6 § 10. In the Southern Districts. In the Southern districts, we again hear of poligar-wars in Tinnevelly; it seems there also the poligars had 'overrun' the whole district. In Tanjore there are but thirteen small surviving pálaiyams, and in Trichinopoly three 1. In Madura, there were a number of poligars who were disposed to submit in 1799, so that it was actually proposed to form their lands into some fourteen pálaiyams (which had not resisted), while the rest would make forty Zamíndárí estates to be otherwise provided for 2. § 11. General results of the Poligar troubles. In speaking of the land-tenures we shall again notice what estates, derived from the poligar system, still exist; we have here only to summarize the results of the struggle with the poligars, as far as they affect the revenue-administration, and the attempt to introduce a Zamíndárí Settlement. Speaking generally, we may say that only a few of the larger, and a certain number of smaller, poligars accepted their position without resistance, or otherwise were allowed to become landlords with a permanent Settlement. The majority of poligars have disappeared, or are allowed compassionate pensions, or small revenue-free holdings. § 12. General results of the attempt to introduce the The result is indicated by a glance at the Settlement Map in Vol. I. The Zamíndárí estates are found chiefly in the North-Eastern districts, and especially in the Ganjam and Vizagapatam districts 3. Some considerable estates are found in other parts, chiefly west and south. But in renters or others, and the trouble that resulted, see Nellore D. M. p. 262. 1 Trichinopoly D. M. p. 254. 2 D. M. Madura, Part V. p. 33 (the 'parts' are separately paged). 3 But some of the Ganjam estates failed and broke up in 1809. other districts only small scattered estates exist which could not be shown in the map; these represent poligars, jágírdárs, and a few relics of the artificial mutthá holder. The Salem district affords a good example of this state of things. This partial survival is a proof of how impossible it is to succeed with artificial arrangements designed to suit revenue theories, but not having grown up with the natural growth of the country 1. The large, old-established, and really respectable' Zamíndárís (doubtless old Hindu or Dravidian 'Ráj' representatives), have succeeded best. Even in the Sirkárs all the Zamíndárís did not survive. Dr. Macleane speaks of the Godávari Zamíndárís as 'falling to pieces one after another 2.' In the Kistná district the original Settlement was made with five Zamíndárs: under this arrangement the raiyats were pillaged, and the Zamíndárs ruined themselves. By 1843 most of the sanads had been voluntarily surrendered 3. A large part of Kistná is now raiyatwárí. § 13. Area now Zamíndárí. The amount of land now under Permanent Settlement is variously estimated at one-third to one-fifth of the whole Presidency. Possibly the larger estimate includes estates more properly denominated Feudatory States,' which pay, indeed, a fixed tribute, but are not British territory, nor subject to ordinary Revenue-law; while the smaller excludes great estates like Vizianagram, which, however important, are still Zamíndárís, properly so called. This proportion does not appear from Dr. Macleane's 1 Lord W. Bentinck, who was Governor from 1803-1807, had sided with Munro. He was 'strongly convinced that the creation of Zamíndárs is a measure incompatible with the true interests of the Government and of the community at large.' Mr. Thackeray, Senior Member of the Board, was sent on a tour, and he reported against the Zamíndárí system. But Mr. Hodgson, another member, was in favour of it. Their respective minutes on the subject are in the Appendix to the Fifth Report (Arbuthnot I. cxix.). 2 Vol. ii. p. 411. * See Budget Statement, 1888-89, Gazette of India, March 31st, 1888, Supplement. (Printed in vol. i. P. 384.) The really Feudatory states are Puducotta (Tondiman), Sandúr, and the great estate of Banganapili (in all 1527 sq. miles). figures. Taking the whole Presidency, excluding Madras itself and the three States named in the previous note, the area is 139,274 square miles; and the total Zamíndárí area is given as 19,957 square miles, which is about oneseventh1. But I suspect that Dr. Macleane has excluded the great Vizianagram Zamíndárí from Vizagapatam, and some large areas in Ganjam. I prefer, therefore, the Secretary of State's Statistical Tables (1886-7), which show the Zamíndárí area (not including whole inám villages) as 27,835,108 acres, or nearly 43,492 square miles. The same tables give the Presidency area at 90,997,990 acres, or 142,200 square miles, which is practically the same as Dr. Macleane's. In this case the proportion is more than onethird. There are no Zamíndárí lands in the districts of— and only the Cannanore estate (of four square miles) in Malabar. In the following the area is under 5co square miles: Chingleput, South Arcot (37 sq. miles only), Trichinopoly (has 667 sq. miles). In the following districts the Zamíndárí area is considerable. They are arranged in geographical order, beginning with the north : Statistical Tables. : Sq. mi. (Dr. Macleane) § 14. The Village Lease-system. But, though the creation of Zamíndárí estates was no longer to be thought of, the authorities by no means gave up the idea of a permanent assessment for village estates with some form of joint or individual middlemen: and we find, as the next stage in Settlement policy, the idea of three or five-year village leases steadily enjoined in all the districts; they were to be followed by ten-year leases-always with a view to eventual permanency 1. The result of the lease-system was by no means favourable on the whole. In fact, the true principles of assessment were not yet ascertained; and those officers who, like Munro, had made the most progress in devising improvements, were the most opposed to a lease-system, and the most desirous of a raiyatwárí Settlement. Several of the District Manuals give an account of the failure of the leases. Thus in Cuddapah, we read this state of things (the three-years lease and the ten-years lease) lasted till 1821, and the inhabitants of this district still speak of those days as a veritable hell upon earth. Plundering and blundering was the order of the day. It was one incessant scene of extortion from the under-tenants, and of absconding and punishment of the renters' 2. In South Arcot, unfavourable seasons and low prices interfered, and when the decennial lease was tried, no better success was had 3. In North Arcot the rents were in arrear, the assessment being grievously excessive' 4. In Coimbatore, the three-year leases failed entirely; and when a reduction was attempted in order to secure tenyear leases, a number of still worse abuses arose 5. Even in Nellore the system failed, though the rates 1 See despatch quoted in Madura D. M. Part V. p. 81: 'We observe that the leases are intended as preparatory to the conclusion of permanent Settlements.' 'We desire, however, it to be understood by you that we are by no means anxious for the early adoption of that system,' &c. This was in 1811. 2 D. M. p. 127. 3 D. M. pp. 264, 270. D. M. p. 108. D. M. p. 107. |