1839.] Report on the District of Aximgurh. 101 



either he hoped to crush them, or they anticipated advantages from 

 being placed under his care. He thus acquired about 20 or 30 

 villages in different Pergunnahs, and by superior address managed to 

 keep some hold of them till we acquired the country. Our first act 

 was of course to call him Zemindar, and constitute him absolute 

 proprietor of the whole. He himself however was not in a condition 

 to avail himself altogether of the favorable opportunity. He fell into 

 pecuniary difficulties — was obliged for sometime to make over his 

 estates in mortage to a banker, and at the last settlement was unable 

 to enter into engagements himself, and saw many of his villages 

 transferred in farm to the members of the village community. Now 

 in some of these villages the Talookdar was the only claimant of the 

 proprietary right. The lands had been waste, and he had brought 

 them into cultivation at his own cost, and here his recognition as 

 Zemindar was proper. Where, however, the village communities 

 had retained their rights, these were confirmed to them with reserva- 

 tion of a Talookdaree right. Some cases were found in which the 

 Talookdar had never exercised any right whatever over the village, 

 nor derived any profit or emolument from it for many years, although 

 he had all the time been nominal and recorded Zemindar. These 

 were severed from the Talookah and settled with the proprietors. 



53rd. If the proprietary right rests in many members of a village 

 community, they many divide the profits according to their ancestral 

 shares, or according to some arbitrary rale regulated by the quantity 

 of land in the cultivation of each proprietor, or, in other words, his Seer 

 land. 



54th. When the profits are divided amongst the several co-parceners 

 according to their ancestral shares, they may, or they may not, be 

 cultivators of the land, i. e. the holders of Seer. The simplest form 

 which the case can assume, is when they all live together as a joint 

 undivided family, one person managing the estate for the rest, or 

 appointing a common manager, and dividing the profits at the close of 

 the year. Sometimes they divide the estate, their responsibility con- 

 tinuing joint — sometimes the cultivators only are divided by the 

 Putwaree, each collecting from those assigned to him ; and this assign- 

 ment may take place annually, or when once made may continue in 

 force till a re-partition is demanded. There are instances where 

 each person collects from each cultivator the portion of the rent which 

 is his share, but this is very uncommon. 



55th. When the proprietors cultivate themselves, the case is rather 

 more involved. If the Seer of each parcener bears the same propor- 

 tion to the total quantity of Seer land, that his share does to the 



