Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.s3.t1.144

v2.c28.s3.t1.144

Methods of Revenue Collection.—The revenues are collected from the ryots in kind. A corn-rent, the only one recognized in ancient India, and termed Batai, or ‘division,’ is apportioned equally [172] between the prince and the husbandman: a deviation from the more lenient practice of former times, which gave one-fourth, or one-sixth to the sovereign. Besides this, the cultivator has to pay the expense of guarding the crops, and also those who attend the process of division. An assessment of two rupees is made on every ten maunds,³ which more than covers the salaries paid to the Shahnas (watchmen), and Kanwaris,⁴ and leaves a surplus divided by the Patel and village register (Patwari). A cart-load of karbi (the stalks of juar and bajra) is exacted from every cultivator as fodder for the prince’s cattle; but this is commuted for a rupee, except in seasons of scarcity, when it is stored up. The other officers, as the Patwaris and Patels, are paid out of the respective shares of the farmer and the crown, namely, one-fourth of a ser each, from every maund of produce, or an eightieth part of the gross amount. The cultivators of the Pattawats or feudal chiefs are much better off than those of the Khalisa : from them only two-fifths are exacted ; and in lieu of all other taxes and charges, a land-tax of twelve rupees is levied on every hundred bighas of land cultivated. The cultivators repay this mild assessment by attachment to the chiefs.