celxxvii 



B. — Simple mortgage executed by A to B. — In settlement of 

 previous accounts you find myself indebted to you in 57 parahs 

 6 edangalies of paddy. This 57 parahs 6 edangalies of paddy I shall 

 return to you before the 30th of Vrischikam, 1068 (December 1892), 

 with interest at 5 parahs for every 10 parahs of paddy (i.e., 50 per 

 cent.) and shall take back this document, dated the 7th Mithunam, 

 1067 (14th July 1892). 



" At Ottapdlam, a station on the Railway, the business is said to 

 be very briskly carried on by the Moplahs and the following case is 

 adduced in illustration of the terms of the business t — 



" A ryot, in order to furnish himself with a stock of paddy for 

 paying the wages of his laborers, borrows of a Moplah in Mithunam 

 (June-July) 50 parahs of paddy which for the borrower is then priced 

 at Rs. 25, on the condition that wlien the first crop is harvested in 

 Kanni (September-October) he will repay the principal and the interest 

 at 2 per cent, per mensem in paddy at 4 edangalies in excess of the 

 market rate. Under the terms of this agreement, in Kanni, when 

 paddy sells at 12 edangalies the fanam, the borrower has to pay for 



the 27 rupees which then becomes due, -.^^ ''^ or 151 parahs 2 edan- 

 galies of paddy. The borrower whose gross produce at the time is not 

 more than 250 parahs is not able to pay and the lender is not really 

 anxious to receive the whole amount of the debt. But the creditor 

 being the person to be on the spot first, and his demand being more 

 inperious than that of the landlord, the ryot gives him 100 parahs at 

 once and agrees to pay the remainder in money calculated on the price 

 that may be found to be current in the succeeding Dhanu when the 

 price of paddy rises to 8 edangalies the fanam. In Dhanu, thus, the 

 ryot finds himself indebted to the Moplah in — ^^ — or 64 fanams, 



which is 18|- rupees. At that part of the year he has neither money 

 nor paddy with which to discharge the debt ; and he then makes a 

 third promise that for the 64 fanams he will give paddy on the har- 

 vesting of the Makaram crop when the price of paddy falls to a parah 

 the fanam. In Makaram the ryot's indebtedness amounts to 64 fanams 

 which he is unable to clear simultaneously with his paying his rent in 

 full. Being anxious to retain his land for the next year's cultivation, 

 he now desires to keep himself in the good graces of his Jenmi and so 

 hands over to him the greater portion of his produce. The land which 

 the ryot is assumed to cidtivate is capable of sowing 25 parahs and the 

 gross produce that the land brings in to him is estimated at 250+ 200 

 or 450 parahs. He has to pay as rent 200 parahs for the year. With 

 this produce he is unable to meet in full the demands of either the 

 Jenmi or the Moplah, and to both of them he finds himself indebted. 

 Supposing the ryot to conciliate the Moplah by paying him 32 parahs 

 at once and agreeing to pay money for the balance at 8 annas the parah 

 in Mesham, the result to the ryot is that after paying the Moplah 132 

 parahs for the original loan of 50 parahs, he finds his original debt 

 reduced at the end of the year by only 9 rupees. The Jenmi may 

 occasionally remit the balance, but the Moplah never does. 



" The above account is given by one well acquainted with the place 

 and the people and vouched to be correct and represents transactions 

 of but a milder type." 



