Administrative System of the Marathas c11.s2.11

c11.s2.11

Special rates were fixed for other harvests. Vajat jamin or uncultivable waste lands were generally excluded when a village was assessed.²⁵ But as cultivation spread, there was a greater demand for arable plots, and waste lands of all sorts were gradually brought under the plough. At first they were exempt from assessment, but ultimately these were also taxed at a moderate scale. Jervis says that these *warkus* or dongur lands were assessed by the hal, nangar or plough and not by the bigha. In some instances six or seven bighas of such lands were counted as one for revenue purposes. The rent of such lands varied not only with their fertility but also with the nature of the crops raised. Major Jervis gives us the following scale: