Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c19.s10: No. X. Grant of Bhum by the Prince of Mewar to an inferior Vassal

Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c19.s10

Language: English

No. X. Grant of Bhum by the Prince of Mewar to an inferior Vassal

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Maharana Bhim Singh to Baba Ram Singh, commanding.

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Now a field of two hundred and twenty-five bighas in the city of Jahazpur, with the black orchard (sham bagh) and a farm-house (nohara) for cattle, has been granted you in bhum.

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Your forefathers recovered for me Jahazpur and served with fidelity; on which account this bhum is renewed. Rest assured no molestation shall be offered, nor shall any pattayat interfere with you.

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³ The labour of two ploughs (hal). Halma is the personal service of the

Offerings of coco-nuts on the Holi and Dasahra festivals. From every hundred bullock-loads ¹ of merchandise, twelve annas. From every hundred and twenty-five ass-loads, six annas. From each horse sold within Jahazpur, two annas. From each camel sold, one anna. From each oil-mill, one pula. From each iron mine (madri), a quarter rupee. From each distillation of spirits, a quarter rupee. From each goat slain, one pice. On births and marriages,² five platters (kansa). The handful (inch) from every basket of greens. With every other privilege attached to bhum.

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¹ A great variety of oppressive imposts were levied by the chiefs during these times of trouble, to the destruction of commerce and all facility of travelling. Everything was subject to tax, and a long train of vexatious dues exacted for “repairs of forts, boats at ferries, night-guards, guards of passes,” and other appellations, all having much in common with the ‘Droit de Péage’ in France. “Il n’y avait pas de ponts, de gués, de chaussées, d’écluses, de défilés, de portes, etc., où les féodaux ne fissent payer un droit à ceux que leurs affaires ou leur commerce forçaient de voyager” (Dict. de l’anc. Régime).

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² The privileges of our Rajput chieftains on the marriages of their vassals and cultivating subjects are confined to the best dishes of the marriage feast or a pecuniary commutation. This is, however, though in a minor degree, one of the vexatious claims of feudality of the French system, known under the term noçages, where the seigneur or his deputy presided, and had the right to be placed in front of the bride, “et de chanter à la fin du répas, une chanson guillerette.” But they even carried their insolence further, and “poussèrent leur mépris pour les villains (the agricultural classes of the Rajput system) jusqu’à exiger que leurs chiens eussent leur couvert auprès de la mariée, et qu’on les laissât manger sur la table” (Art. ‘Noçages,’ Dict. de l’anc. Régime).

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| Irrigated land (pirwal) | . . . | 51 bighas. |
| Unirrigated land (mal) | . . . | 110 ” |
| Mountain land (magra) | . . . | 40 ” |
| Meadow land (bira) | . . . | 25 ” |
| | | 226 bighas. |

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Asarh (June) S. 1853 (A.D. 1797).

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husbandman with his plough for such time as is specified. Halma is precisely the detested corvée of the French régime. “Les corvées sont tout ouvrage ou service, soit de corps ou de charrois et bêtes, pendant le jour, qui est dû à un seigneur. Il y avait deux sortes de corvées : les réelles et les personnelles, etc. Quelquefois le nombre des corvées était fixe : mais, le plus souvent, elles étaient à volonté du seigneur, et c’est ce qu’on appelait corvées à merci” (Art. ‘Corvée,’ Dict. de l’anc. Régime). Almost all the exactions for the last century in Mewar may come under this latter denomination.

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Jahazpur