COMMUNAL REGULATION. 443 



dwellings, as well as of the dis-united clusters derived from 

 them, which are found elsewhere, is implied in a passage he 

 quotes from Mr. Elliot s &quot;Report on the Meerut Settlement/ 



4 During the misrule and disorganisation of former Governments, it 

 was necessary for the brotherhood to combine for the purpose of resist 

 ing the unlawful encroachments of their neighbours, and the attacks 

 of predatory hordes; it was not the interest of a party to have his 

 separate share divided off, which could be of no use to him so long as 

 he could not protect it from violence.&quot; 



The introduction of outsiders has gradually complicated 

 these communities, but their family-origin is sufficiently 

 shown by the following extracts. Mr. Elphinstone ob 

 serves : 



&quot; The popular notion is that the village landholders are all descended 

 from one or more individuals who first settled the village. . . . The 

 supposition is confirmed by the fact that to this day there are often 

 only single families of landholders in small villages.&quot; 

 Mr. Mayne, in his treatise on Hindu Law and Usage, says : 



1 i The co-sharers in many of these village communities are persons 

 who are actually descended from a common ancestor. In many other 

 cases they profess a common descent, for which there is probably no 

 foundation.&quot; 



But the best indication of origin is contained in a state 

 ment of Mr. Ghosh. 



&quot; Village franchise, according to native ideas, amounts to a right to 

 mess with one s peers. ... So long, however, as a man or his wife 

 is not permitted to mess with the rest of the community at his own 

 place, or at that of any of them, the family remains outside the 

 communal circle.&quot; 



This test evidently points back to the early days in which 

 the members of the community formed one household. The 

 traits of structure at present existing also imply this. Speak 

 ing of the &quot; parallel social strata &quot; which have been devel 

 oped, Sir Henry Maine writes: 



&quot; There are first, a certain number of families who are traditionally 

 said to be descended from the founder of the village. . . . Below these 

 families, descended from the originators of the colony, there are others 

 distributed into well ascertained groups. The brotherhood, in fact, 



