10 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. 



CHAP, perhaps call " parishes." Each village comprises not only 

 !__ houses and families, but cultivated lands and waste lands. 

 Each village has also an organisation and government of its 

 own. Of course the bulk of each village community is com- 

 posed of Ryots, or land holders ; but each village has also 

 its own officers and artisans. First of all there is 

 the Head man, whose duties originally were to pay 

 the yearly land tax or tribute to Government for the entire 

 village ; and who also, in conjunction with the villagers in 

 council, allotted the lands for cultivation, apportioned the 

 yearly contribution each one was to pay towards the Go- 

 vernment demand, settled all disputes, and performed other 

 Municipal duties, which need not be specified. The latter 

 duties, and in some cases the former duties, are still perform- 

 ed by the Head man of the village, but this will be explained 

 hereafter. Next to the Head man is generally the Account- 

 ant, who keeps the village records and accounts ; the Watch- 

 man who guards the boundaries and watches the crops ; 

 the Money-changer, the Priest, the Astrologer, the Smith, 

 the Carpenter, the Barber, the Potter, and the Leather- 

 worker ; and in many cases there is also the Tailor, Washer- 

 man, Physician, Musician, Minstrel (or genealogist) ; and, 

 at any rate in the south, there is generally the Dancing girl. 

 These village officers and artisans are remunerated for their 

 services by grants of land rent-free, and by fees contributed 

 by the Ryots, sometimes in money, but more frequently in 

 grain. These villages have existed from time immemorial. They 

 are essentially Hindoo institutions. To use the words of Sir 

 Charles Metcalfe, " the village communities are little repub- 

 lics, having nearly every thing they can want within them- 

 selves, and almost independent of any foreign relations. 

 Th^y seem to last where nothing else lasts. Dynasty after 

 dynasty tumbles down ; revolution succeeds to revolution ; 

 Hindoo, Patan, Mogul, Mahratta, Sikh, English, are all mas- 

 ters in turn ; but the village community remains the same." 



