46 THE COMPETITION FOR LAND 



unjust, as it is literally making the tenant pay extra for 

 having the trouble and expense of disposing of the 

 produce put on him. Nevertheless, some zemindars 

 are not above taking it. 



'6. Dhala : This is both the most iniquitous as it is the 

 most important of these legal exactions, and to explain 

 it I must first briefly describe the custom of amaldari. 

 I have already mentioned that amaldari is usually 

 employed like kankut, to signify the appraisement of 

 the standing crop before it is cut, in contradistinction 

 to the term batai, signifying actual division of the pro- 

 duce. How the practice first arose is not clear, but very 

 likely it was suggested by the zabti (cash rents paid on 

 certain crops) rates. Regarding these, in many villages 

 it became customary for each tenant to be bound to 

 give a certain area of zabti* crops on each plough he 

 held. The area corresponding with the term plough 

 was not very accurately laid down, but the number of 

 ploughs each tenant was supposed to hold was known, 

 and on this the calculation proceeded. This custom 

 soon developed into the tenants paying the zemindar 

 at zabti rates on a certain area, whether he grew zabti 

 crops or not, the tenant being allowed, if he had not 

 the full area of them, to select a sufficient area out of 

 the land occupied by his other crops to make up the 

 total. Of course he naturally picked the best fields he 

 had of these other crops (as paying the zabti rates 

 they escaped batai), and very likely the idea may have 

 occurred to some tenant, when he had an unusually 

 fine crop, to offer to pay in cash on a certain further 

 area for that particular year. To this the zemindar 

 probably demurred unless he paid in cash on some 

 field with a poor crop on it, and finally the matter 

 would very likely be settled by the tenant's paying in 

 cash on his whole holding after a valuation of the 

 different fields. 



* Particularly expensive crops like sugar-cane and cotton, for 

 which cash rents are usually paid. 



