402 



On the Statistics of Du\Iiun. 



[ArRiL 



over, he bad (o pay a tax applioablo lo hiiusolf only, calloil Met'iasputlce, 

 a kind of smart-money for tlio distinction bis freeboM gave bini ; 

 this was levied eveiy tbird year. Sm b was tbe Meeras tenure of land. 

 His advantagt^s were, first, the distinction ; next, bis being a constitu- 

 ent of tbe Pandreh, or village corporation, which tbe mere renter \\as 

 not ; and tliirJly, in some parts of the country where such taxation ex- 

 isted, he was exempt from marriage fees, widows* marriage fees, bulValo 

 tax, hearth tax, and he may have paid a diminished per centage, in tbe 

 rights of district officers levied in kind. Of late year'*, from the low 

 prices of agricultural produce and the comparatively heavy money as- 

 sessm?nts, Meeras-lan 1 has s arccly had a saleable value. The terms 

 Weerasdar and AVuttuudar have usually been considered identical, but in 

 some village papers I observed them classed separately ; and, on asking 

 for an explanation, was told that the Wuttundars were hereditary office- 

 hearers, or the relations of hereditary office-bearers with the possible 

 right of succession, whilst the Meerasdars were merely hereditary land- 

 holders : a Wultundar won'd necessarily be a Meerasdar, but a Mee- 

 rasdar was not necessarily a Wuttundar. 



Oo/^Mree. —From the extinction of numerous Mabratta families who 

 ■were in possession of estates, a considerable portion of the land in Duk- 

 hun is without proprietors, and much of it is rented to Oopurees or an- 

 nual tenants by tbe P.iteel or village corporation, under native govern- 

 ments; but, under the British government, by tbe collector or bis of- 

 ficers. The term Oopuree means *' a stranger," or a renter of land in a 

 village in which be has not corporate rights : of course, Meerasdars can 

 let their lands to each other, but they do not become Oopurees. The 

 Oopuree holds bis lands on the Ooktee, or word-of-moulh tenure, which 

 is a verba! agreement for one year. 



Kowl Istawa — The third tenure is ihat of Kowl Istawa ; Koicl means 

 a contract, and Jstaica is applied to lands let under their value. In 

 practice, to iud ice cultivators to break up land that has long lain waste, 

 a lease is given of three, five, seven, or nine years ; the first year a tri- 

 fling rent is fixed, and it is annually increased, until in the last year of 

 the lease the full rent is paid ; this tenure is highly desired, and great 

 abuses exist under it : tbe permanently assessed cultivator is prompted 

 to quit his village, and abandon even his hereditary lands, and get Kowl 

 Istawa lands in another vil!age : and the moment tbe favourable lease is 

 up he changes his location, and endeavours to obtain siiniLir terms else- 

 where : the practice, therefore, is detrimental to the permanent revenue, 

 detrimental to the sound advancement of agriculture, an 1 detrimental to 

 the cultivator himself in encouraging vagrant habits. The local autho- 

 rities also are found to be great occupiers of Kowl Istawa lands. 



