Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s7.8

c6.s7.8

These chiefs receive, according to class and region, a great variety of titles : Mihtār, Chaudhrī, Nāīk, Paṭel, Parganāit, Sardār,³ etc. The office is generally hereditary, and, except in a case of forfeiture which justifies deprivation and a new choice, is handed down in the same family. The caste hardly ever intervenes in an election, except in default of an heir. The area over which the chief exercises his authority varies. As a rule, on account of the dispersion of the majority of the castes, it can extend only to a larger or smaller section of any one of them; naturally it does not exclude plenary assemblies in times of crisis.