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tions under the British Government have been few and 

 unimportant, the tendency having been to recognise the 

 local customs prevailing at the time of the codification of 

 any law regarding land. And yet tracing the main feature 

 of the Indian land revenue system from the oldest time to the 

 present, one cannot help confessing, the change has not 

 been altogether to the benefit of the cultivator. The earliest 

 inhabitants of India, known to ethnologists as Kolarians, re- 

 cognised the patriarchal or family system. The proprietary 

 rights in land rested in the family or tribal organisation by 

 whose labours the land had been cleared or reclaimed from 

 the jungle. Their institutions were democratic. The chiefs 

 though they held larger and more fertile holdings, claimed 

 no tribute or revenue as a matter of right and only accepted 

 gifts. The democratic instinct is still ingrained among Kols 

 and Sonthals who cultivate jungle land without waiting for 

 anybody's permission, and who consider themselves harshly 

 treated if they are ousted by the Zemindar afterwards. The 

 Dravidians who followed the Kolarians extended the 

 system of their predecessors. They permitted the proprie- 

 tary rights in the land to rest with the actual cultiva- 

 tor. The king, however, exacted a certain share of the pro- 

 duce from each holding, except from those held by priests, 

 military officers and others rendering service. The Aryans 

 who followed the Dravidians kept up the land system of their 

 predecessors and recognised the reclaimer of land from 

 jungle as the true proprietor, and all landholders, except 

 priests, kotwals and others who rendered service, paid a 

 portion of the produce of land to the king. The Hindu 

 system never recognised the king as the proprietor of culti- 

 vated land, but only its protector or overlord. The Mahomedan 

 conquerors accepted the system of their predecessors as it hap- 

 pened to be in accord with their own laws and customs. The 

 first important change was made by Akbar, who substituted 

 cash payment for payment in kind. It was during 



