220 ON ORISSxl PROPER 



of the land who often proved troublesome. Raja Balwant Singh, the pre- 

 decessor of Cheyt Singh did the same in the district of Benares with the 

 Zemindars, who represented the Cshetris, and even pretended to be really 

 so ; from an idea that it was impossible to improve the revenues arising from 

 the land tax under their management." 



In this paper my remarks and illustrations regarding the former and 

 actual state of the land tenure, will of course be confined, as far as the na- 

 ture of the discussion admits, to the particular province of which I am treat- 



ing. 



I shall have occasion to notice again hereafter, an opinion firmly enter- 

 tained by the better informed natives of Cuttack, of the ancient existence 

 of a mighty empire, which comprised within its limits nearly the whole of 

 India, and was ruled by a sovereign residing at Hastinapura and Delhi. 

 A general division is believed to have obtained of the lands of the country, 

 into the domains of the supreme Raja (now called the Khaliseh), and the 

 jurisdictions, or fiefs, of a vast number of great Military Chiefs and feudatory 

 Rajas, of the Khetri caste, who were dependent on and owed service to the 

 Lord Paramount, but whose degree of subordination of course underwent 

 constant vicissitudes, according to the circumstances of the times, and the 

 personal character of the ruling Emperor. The most powerful Lords of 



this empire were the great officers of state called the Gajapati, Aswapati, 

 Chatrapati, and Narapati, who originally held their vast possessions as 

 dependent fiefs subject to the condition of Military service, but afterwards 

 emancipated themselves from all control, and became independent rao- 

 narchs ruling over numerous inferior Khetris. 



Supposing the above view of the ancient political condition of the coun- 

 try at large, to be chimerical and unsupported by sufficient evidence, 

 which however I do not admit to be the case, I proceed to state what 

 may be safely inferred or positively affirmed of the native institutions of 

 Orissa, under the government of its indigenous princes, from a considera- 



