History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c44.82

v2.c44.82

After 1827 came the first important administrative measures in Orissa. The Oriya States of Sambalpur, Sonpur and Patna remained attached to the Chhattisgarh Division of the Central Provinces. In the Mughalbandi a new settlement was effected for three years in 1819-20, and again in 1822-23 for five years. It was not till 1835 that some semblance of permanency in land-tenure was reached. The great settlement of 1835-45 began nominally from 1837. It was for 30 years and was the first effective revenue measure in Orissa. In the meanwhile officers in Orissa, both Indian and English, had become more capable and honest and were supported by the Government of Bengal. Settlements were also effected in 1867-97 and the country rapidly recovered from the desolate condition into which it had fallen on account of the dishonesty and incapacity of Government officials. In the *Mughalbandi* "The Commissioners for the settlement of the affair of the *Ṣūbah* of Katak were abolished in 1805 and the whole of Orissa was placed under a single Collector and a Judge. Its head-quarters were at Puri till 1816, when it was transferred to Katak. In 1829 Orissa was divided into three separate districts, Puri, Katak and Balasore to which a fourth, Angul, was added after the confiscation of that State in 1850. Like Angul many other states of Orissa were confiscated during the British period and many others were reduced to the status of ordinary zamindars. Thus Al or Aul, one of the great Qila's held by the descendants of Mukunda Harichandana the last real independent king of Orissa, consisting of three *parganahs* of Derabisi, Utihar and Quṭbshāhī, was held at the time of the British conquest by Rāmakṛiṣṇa Deva. It is held as a zamindari on the payment of an annual quit-rent or *Peshkash* and is managed by the Court-of-wards like an ordinary zamindari estate, when occasion arises. The Feudatory State of Banki was confiscated in 1835 on the simple charge of the Raja having been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for life on a charge of murder. The British policy of confiscations upto 1856 made it necessary that all States should be confiscated as soon as the opportunity arose. At the present day the present British Gavernment would have replaced the former Rājā by his son or a relative.¹ Similarly the Bhañja State of Kanikā, once a Feudatory State, has now become an ordinary zamindari. The Feudatory State of Kujang also became a zamindari and was sold for debt and purchased by the zamindar of Burdwan in Bengal. It was one of the latest Estates of Orissa to be acquired by a Bengal Zamindar.¹ With the exception of the confiscated State of Khurda there are several escheated Estates in the district of Puri. The estate of Kodhar was in the possession of the Mahānt of Uttarapārśva-Maṭha of Puri at the time of the British conquest and its revenue was devoted to defraying the cost of a Bhoga of Jagannātha at Puri. In 1834 the British officers found out that "The Mahānt had no proprietory right to the estate and had only been granted an assignment from its revenue from the Marātha Raghuī Bhonsla." It was accordingly resumed in 1839. At the settlement of 1843 the Estate was let in farm to the former lakhirājdār at a Ṣadar-jama of Rs. 6739." When a more humane policy prevailed in British India certain money payments made to the Uttara-Pārśva-Maṭha and to the Jagannātha-Ballabha-Satra were converted into a grant of land by making over fifteen villages in the Kodhar State to the Uttara-Pārśva-Maṭha and eight to the Jagannātha-Ballabha-Satra. The British Government retained ten villages, which still form a Khās-Mahal.²