COMPETITION IN AN INDIAN VILLAGE 15 



themselves. To this consciousness of interdepend- 

 ence must be added a sense of unity which springs 

 from the comparative isolation of the village. Taken 

 together, the two form powerful bonds which knit the 

 inhabitants of the village into a very compact industrial 

 unit. But solidarity of interest is not incompatible with 

 competition, nor does familiarity necessarily beget 

 friendliness ;* and in a Indian village there are the 

 same motives which prompt men to pursue their 

 economic interest as in all industrial communities. f 



The landlord desires, as a rule, to let his land to the 

 best advantage ; the tenant is anxious to pay as low a 

 rent as possible, and to sell his produce for the highest 

 price it will fetch. When he finds that he can make a 

 larger profit by raising wheat than by growing sugar- 

 cane or cotton, he does not hesitate to pursue the 

 course which he thinks most advantageous. The 

 artisans realize when there is a demand for their 

 services and transfer themselves to places (outside the 

 village) where they are most highly rewarded. Even 

 the lowly menials whose part in the social system has 

 for generations been degrading drudgery, struggle to 

 improve their lot, and when an opportunity presents 

 itself engage in the cultivation of land like their betters. 

 The readiness with which they have in modern times 

 turned their freedom from caste restrictions to account 

 is in itself a proof that they have a quick eye to their 

 economic advantage. Inside the narrow circle of the 

 Indian village competition is the rule, as it is in the 

 wide sphere of international commerce. But it is com- 

 petition among persons who are for the most part 



* As a matter of fact, the country-folk, both in India and in 

 England, seem more pertinacious in their quarrels than the in- 

 habitants of the towns. 



f Since the publication of Mr. B. H. Baden-Powell's book on 

 ' The Origin and Growth of Village Communities in India,' it is 

 hardly necessary to show that there is no community of property 

 in an Indian village in the sense understood by Sir H. Maine. 



