iS39] 



0?i the Statistics of Dukhuyi. 



40i 



disposal of the Pateel solely, or the village corporation conjointly, to do 

 as they pleased with it ; and 1 have multiplied proofs in my possession 

 of freeholds having been createvlin such estates of extinct families, by 

 etters of inheritance, called Meeras Putra, which were granted by the 

 Pateel or village authorities for a sum of money; and such letters be- 

 came title-deeds, similar to those of an estate in England. The law of 

 succession by primogeniture not obtaining amongst the Hindoos, these 

 estates became necessadly much divided, and the individual holders 

 were called by the Hindoos Thulwaee or Thulknrce ; and the light in 

 which the Moosnlmans looked upon such proprietors, when they took 

 possession of the country, is sufficiently manifest by the term they ap- 

 plied to them, namely, Meerasdars, or patrimony-holders, from the Ara- 

 bic word Meeras, " patrimony," '* heritage," and Z?«r, " a holder 

 and this is the t'^rtn by which sui h proprietors are distinguished at the 

 present day. The Meerasdars were of two kinds ; the descendants of 

 the original proprietor, whose surnames and the name of the estate or 

 thul were identical, and those who had obtained a share of the estate 

 by purchase or otherwise, whose surnames were not the same as that of 

 the estate. In no instance, that I am aw-are of, have the former class 

 documentary proofs of their right; with the latter class documentary 

 proofs are not uncommon. 



There is further proof of the Moosul mans having acknowledged here- 

 ditary rights in the term they applied to the Deshmooks, Desaees, 

 Deshpandehs, and others, namely, Hukdar, Iluk, in Arabic, meaning 

 <' rio^ht," and Z)c7r " a holder ;" these persons in virtue of their offices 

 having lands in tenure and fees in money and kind in the districts in 

 which these duties lay. The Meerasdars considered that they might 

 be temporarily dispossessed of their freeholds in case of non-payment of 

 the government assessments and dues, but they claimed to resume them 

 whenever they had liquidated their debts ; and they did not consider the 

 question of these freeholds compromised by the government doing justice 

 to itself, anv more than the existence of freehold property would be 

 questioned in England because the owner might be compelled to yield 

 up his property in payment of arrears of land-tax, poor-rates, &c. 



AJeerasdars.—Ueeiwsclus set a very high value upon their lands, and 

 they clung to them with that feeling of personal and family pride which 

 are characteristics of freeholders in Europe ; even under the most grind- 

 ing oppressions of their own government and its local officers, it was 

 only when driven to despair that they abandoned them. The Meerasdar 

 had to pay the government land-tax, all fees in kind to the district and 

 villao-e officers in common with the tenant at will or leaseholder ; more- 



