OR CUTTACK., 24? 



Zemindars or feudal Chiefs being distinctly circumstanced, and subject 

 to the control of a different department of the state, viz. the Sultannat, 

 or Nizamat, could never of course be included in these official addresses, 

 from the Khaliseh orDewanni department, to the husbandmen and officers 

 of all classes on the lands composing the imperial domains. I must not omit 

 to notice the famous Firman of the Emperor .Aurangzeb Alemgir, addressed 

 to Rashik Das, which has been translated and printed with former discus- 

 sions regarding the Zemindari tenure. In this the " Amils, Chowdris, Ca- 

 nungos, Mokaddams, and Patwaris," are frequently mentioned in every part 

 and, in one instance, the expression is varied by writing "Amins, Amils, Ze- 

 mindars and others." If the date and translation of the document are strict- 

 ly correct, it may be considered to evince an earlier application of the term 

 Zemindar, to the officers of the Khaliseh land, than I should be on other 

 grounds disposed to admit. 



The second cause of error, respecting Zemindari and Talukdari rights, 

 which has occurred to me, is the failure to discriminate between the sale of 

 lands and of the offices connected with them. In Cuttack, the offices of 

 Talukdar and Mokaddam, were, in conformity with the universal Hindu 

 practice, strictly hereditary ; the rent or revenue of the lands payable to the 

 state had been fixed and settled with reference to the capability of the soil, 

 and the established rules for the division of the crop ; and certain perqui- 

 sites and emoluments were allotted to all parties concerned in the busi- 

 ness of collection and management, which (together with illicit gains) ren- 

 dered those situations, though less valuable than at present, still objects of 

 solicitude and ambition to the class who alone were likely to hold them, 

 under the native administration. Such being the case, it was a frequent 

 practice of the Mogul government, to oblige the Talukdars or Mazkuri 

 Mokaddams, when they had embezzled the revenues, or otherwise fallen into 

 arrears, to dispose of a portion of what they held, when the price obtained 

 was invariably paid into the local treasury in discharge of balances. The 

 custom may be considered to indicate a recognition of property, on the part 



