1845.] the owners, and occupants of the soil in Bengal, SfC. 531 



question some appearance of intricacy : to obviate this, a mere detail 

 of the titles will be given in this place, and the privileges obtained 

 under those titles will be more fully considered when the rates of rent 

 are discussed ; for it is evident, that in the ryuttee as in the zemin- 

 darree tenure, the rent which it will yield is the distinguishing 

 mark of each sort of tenure, and the only point about it to which 

 interest attaches in a discussion on revenue laws. The exact meaning 

 of the word ryut is not conveyed by the word cultivator; for a man 

 may be a ryut without being a cultivator: neither is the word resident 

 a proper translation, for a man may be a resident without being a ryut. 

 By the word ryut is implied a certain relation towards the community 

 of the village of which a man is a ryut, and towards the zemindar 

 of that village. An artificer or shopkeeper may stand in these relations 

 of citizenship and vassalage, although perfectly unconnected with the 

 cultivation of the lands of a village : in pursuing his occupation or 

 trade in another part of the country he will still call himself the ryut 

 of the particular village, and the particular zemindar with which he is 

 connected as a ryut. When he dissolves this connection and becomes the 

 ryut of another village, his rank and title in his new location are 

 completely changed. This discussion appears necessary, because it is 

 not uncommon to observe great misuse of the word ryut, as a revenue 

 term ; whereas it is not, until connected with some other word implying 

 employment in culture, that it acquires any value at all. Thus the 

 terms kudeemee or morousee ryut do not imply a ryut possessed of 

 any peculiar privileges, merely that his ancestors were ryuts in the vil- 

 lage, even a moccurreree ryut may hold only the area of his homestead, 

 and these are the most common sort of moccurrereedars. The proper 

 definitions and distinctions are khod-khasht, paee-khasht, moccurreree 

 khod-khashty morousee khod-khasht, kudeemee khod-khasht, moccurre- 

 ree paee-khasht, morousee paee-khasht, kudeemee paee-khasht. The 

 several privileges which these various titles confer, will be discussed 

 under the head of Rates. It will be necessary to observe, that the term 

 jote is the word which may be most conveniently employed in ex- 

 pressing the land held by each particular ryut. 



The rent of land is the hire paid for the use of it. The original 

 contract was very much this; — the proprietor of the soil gave 

 the use of it, and the cultivator gave his labor, and the proceeds 



