On the Statistics of Dukhnn. 



[April 



lage by deed or lease. Originally the Pateols were Mahrattas, but sale, 

 gift, or other causes have now associated \\\ the otlice various casts, and 

 there are sometimes six or seven or more sharers in the office, — Brah- 

 mans, Mahrattas, Moosulmaus, Shepherds, Lingaeets, &c., and these 

 not holding in equal proportions. 1 have elsewhere* given a translati- 

 on of a very remarkable and curious Mahratta document, proving in the 

 most distinct manner the right of the Pateel, not only to sell his family, 

 or hereditary property, and the lands he held in virtue of his oflice, but 

 also the lands of extinct families, and his other emoluments and ad- 

 vantages ; but, in doing so, he also alienated part of his dignity, rights, 

 and autliority as Pateel : the honours went with the lands. The rights 

 and euioluuienls of the Pateel are very numerous; free land, fees of 

 grain on the culiivation, called googree, presents on investitures, on 

 granting letters of inheritance, on marriages; annual presents from the 

 shoemaker of shoes, from the potmaker of \)ots, from the shoi keepers of 

 cocoa-nuts, &c , market fees, all the sheeps-fiends offered in the temple of 

 Dawui ! daily service, and supply of wood and water by the Mahr and 

 the potmaker ; precedence in all religious or other festivals, in commu- 

 nicating with government, and with others. The details of the transla- 

 tion before noticed show with what jealousy the Pateel maintained all 

 the minutest righis and dignities. Of such importance and so profitable 

 was the office, or in such estimation was the dignity of Pateel ancient- 

 ly, that princes of the Mahratta empire established themselves wholly or 

 in part in the office in various towns and villages ; Jlolkur, for instance, 

 at Munchur ; Seendeh (Sindiahfy at Jamgaon ; the Nagpoor Bhosleh 

 at Ahmednuggur, and Powar of Dhar at Multun and Kuweeteh. There 

 are traditional accounts of a share of the Pateel's office having been sold 

 for 7000 rupees. 



The right of the Pateel to dispose of the village lands not occupied 

 by hereditary proprietors, together with his responsibility for the govern- 

 ment revenue, involves the proof that the government assessment was 

 anciently Mozehwar, or by the whole village, and not by direct agree- 

 ment between the government agents and individual farmers. The vil- 

 la^^e, in fact, was assessed at a certain fixed sum, which was called the 

 Tunkha, which means an assignment; and this Tunkha appears in village 

 accounts to this day, although no longer a standard of assessment, as the 



* Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 



+ This prince has six out of seven shares in the office ; nevertheless the poor Mahratta 

 who has the seveuth share has precedence of the prince. 



