Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c42.s2.t1.56

v3.c42.s2.t1.56

Having made himself master of the complicated details of the batai, and sifted every act of chicanery by the most inquisitorial process, he convoked all the Patels of the country, and took their depositions as to the extent of each pateli, their modes of collection, their credit, character, and individual means; and being thus enabled to form a rough computation of the size and revenues of each, he recommenced his tour, made a chakbandi, or measurement of the lands of each township, and classified them, according to soil and fertility, as piwal, or irrigated; gorma, or good soil, but dependent on the heavens; and mormi, including pasturage and mountain-tracts. He then, having formed an average from the accounts of many years, instituted a fixed money-rent, and declared that the batai system, or that of payment in kind, was at an end. But even in this he showed severity; for he reduced the jarib,¹ or standard measure, by a third, and added a fourth to his averages. Doubtless he argued that the profit which the Patels looked forward to would admit of this increase, and determined that his vigilance should be more than a match for their ingenuity.