430 



On the Slatisilcs of DuUnoh 



111 respect (0 the Mun at Ranjunr-aon, it is ntoil ;\t 10 berfrnl.r, ; at 

 Jamgaoi), belonging to Seemk'h, it is not reducible into bei'g;ihs at. all ; 

 at Pavnair 61 becgahs only are equal to the Mnn. The PylmiM^ .A. Sec- 

 rolee has the Clmhoor of 120 beegahs as a lypii-al standard, 4 ryhiioes 

 being equal to one Clialioor, or I'JO heegalis ; at Muhr the Pylinee of 30 

 beegahs is considered as identical with the Kundliee uf 20 Mans, reduc- 

 ing the Mun therefore to U beegahs. 



Under siich complex definitions and involved confradicf.ions, my limits 

 will not permit me to give further explanations, but which my lengthen- 

 ed tables aflord. 



The principal assessment necessarily falls on the land, and it is raised 

 on the various land denominations above noticed ; the land in the first 

 instance being separated into the two great classes of Bhaghaect, or 

 garden-land ; and Zerhaeet, or field-land. Both these terms are evident- 

 ly of Moosulman introduction, Bhaghaeet being a word of Persian origin, 

 meaning *' gardens," ** orchards ;" and Zerhaeet, of Arabic derivation, 

 meaning a " sown field," sown land." 



There are marked traces of the land assessment having once been 

 svstematic in the Sostee or permanent rate, which was uniform and 

 unchangeable for all lands of the same denomination. This rate is found 

 in most villages, it is distinctly stated in the accounts, and separated 

 from subsequent and increased assessments, and its existence is a proof 

 that assessments formerly were not on the superficial extent, but on the 

 productive power of the soil ; since, as lands were not all equally fertile, 

 more of the unferiile land must have been held than of the fertile, to ena- 

 ble the cultivator to pay a fixed sum in quantity of grain for a piece of 

 land under a common denomination. The Sostee Our, or permanent as- 

 sessment, was the pride of the Meerasdar, but unhappily not his safeguard. 

 The various governments which have passed away do not appear ever to 

 have raised the permane?it rale, but they rendered the advantages deriva- 

 ble under it abortive from gradually adding extra cesses ; their excuses 

 in the first instance being unlooked-for contingencies. The cesses were 

 originally mostly in kind, and temporary; but the exigencies of govern- 

 ment, or the facility with which they were raised, made them perennial, 

 and their pressure upon the cultivator has been enhanced, particularly 

 under our government, by the cesses in kind being commuted into money 

 payments. The Moosulmans, on introducing measurements, must ne- 

 cessarily have subverted the Sostee, or uniform rate, since the same rate 

 could not have been equitable for beegahs of land of different qualities. 

 "We find, in consequence, that when the lands are classed in bergab's 



