1839.] Report on the District of Azimgurh. 105 



duals, who are commonly styled Lumberdars (i. e. bearing the 

 number in the Government Registers). These persons in many parts 

 of the country arrogated to themselves the whole of the proprietary 

 right, and imposing upon the ignorance of the European officers of 

 the Government, succeeded in obtaining recognition of themselves as 

 the owners or Zemindars of the estate, instead of mere managers on 

 the part of the whole community. This however was less the case 

 in Azimgurh than in the other neighbouring districts, especially in the 

 province of Benares. The hereditary right of the managers had not 

 become established, and it had been usual on re-settlement of the 

 estate to alter the name of the manager, and sometimes to increase 

 the number of managers. In the present settlement the question has 

 been set at rest by the filing of an agreement entered into by the 

 whole of the village community, declaring the office to be elective, not 

 hereditary, and the incumbent to be liable to be ousted by the 

 voices of the majority of the Puttee or Thoke he might represent, on 

 proved mis-management. 



61st. Still under any circumstances the audit of the accounts is the 

 fertile source of discord in the community. The village expenses 

 are primarily authorized by the Lumberdars, or managers, and as 

 they frequently include fees or bribes to public officers, or other items 

 utterly unsusceptible of proof, are regarded with a very jealous eye 

 by those of the community who are not managers. The power 

 which the Putwaree possesses of fomenting these discords is great, 

 and frequently used in the most injurious manner. It remains 

 to be proved by the result, how far the avowedly elective nature of the 

 office will be now effectual to stifle these dissensions. 



62nd. Although, however, the profits of the estate may be divided 

 according to the Seer cultivation of the proprietors, it does not follow 

 that the ancestral sharers are always lost sight of. Sometimes 

 they are, and in such cases the only record of right consists in the Seer, 

 which regulates not only the direct profits arising from cultivation, but 

 also the Sayer, and other proprietary dues. Of this the best instances 

 are Kotelah and Sirsal, and some other villages held by Mahomedan 

 communities in Tuppah Phurchuk Havelee, in Pergunnah Nizama- 

 bad. The origin of these communities seems to be totally lost, proba- 

 bly they were originally Hindoo communities, and the genealogy was 

 lost in the confusion which occurred when the Mahomedan faith was 

 adopted. 



63rd. In other class of cases the ancestral shares are known 

 and recorded, but profits are still enjoyed according to the Seer. This 

 no doubt has often resulted from over-assessment When the demand 



