284 SEVENTH REPORT—1837. 
corporation, which the mere renter was not; and thirdly, in 
some parts of the country where such taxation existed, he 
was exempt from marriage fees, widows’ marriage fees, buffalo 
tax, hearth tax, and he may have paid a diminished per 
centage, in the rights of district officers levied in kind. Of late 
years, from the low prices of agricultural produce and the 
comparatively heavy money assessments, Meeras-land has 
scarcely had a saleable value. The terms Meerasdar and 
Wuttundar have usually been considered identical, but in 
some village papers I observed them classed separately; and, 
on asking for an explanation, was told that the Wuttundars 
were hereditary office-bearers, or the relations of hereditary 
office-bearers with the possible right of succession, whilst the 
Meerasdars were merely hereditary landholders; a Wuttundar 
would necessarily be a Meerasdar, but a Meerasdar was not 
necessarily a Wuttundar. 
Oopuree.—From the extinction of numerous Mahratta fa- 
milies who were in possession of estates, a considerable por- 
tion of the land in Dukhun is without proprietors, and much 
of it is rented to Oopurees or annual tenants by the Pateel or 
village corporation, under native governments; but, under the 
British government, by the collector or his officers. ‘The 
term Oopuree means ‘‘a stranger,” or a renter of land in a 
village in which he has not corporate rights: of course, Mee- 
rasdars can let their lands to each other, but they do not become 
Oopurees. The Oopuree holds his lands on the Ooktee, or 
“word-of-mouth tenure, which is a verbal agreement for one 
ear. 
Kowl Istawa.—The third tenure is that of Kowl Istawa; 
Kowi means a contract, and Istawa is applied to lands let 
under their value. In practice, to induce cultivators to break 
up land that has long lain waste, a lease is given of three, five, 
seven, or nine years; the first year a trifling rent is fixed, and 
it is annually increased, until in the last year of the lease the 
full rent is paid; this tenure is highly desired, and great 
abuses exist under it: the permanently assessed cultivator is 
prompted to quit his village, and abandon even his hereditary 
Jands, and get Kowl Istawa lands in another village; and the 
moment the favourable lease is up he changes his location, 
and endeavours to obtain similar terms elsewhere: the prac- 
tice, therefore, is detrimental to the permanent revenue, detri- 
mental to the sound advancement of agriculture, and detrimental 
to the cultivator himself in encouraging vagrant habits. 'The 
local authorities also are found to be great occupiers of Kowl 
Istawa lands. 
‘ 
