Settlement report of Karnal-Ambala

· 1891 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

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2polls, hearths, and ploughs.”’* The Sikh demand absorbed the whole of the

3rent, and an owner who had more land than he could cultivate himself had to

4be content with some trifling payment from the cultivator such as one sér per

5maund of produce as an acknowledgment of proprietory right. Mven where the

6State’s nominal share was not heavy, the demand might be excessive owin

7to a dishonest estimate of the outturn and the exactions of the Chief's

8underlings. This was the case in the villages of the Thdnesar State in the

9Indri Khédir. Tho rate there was nominally one-fourth, but the appraisement

10was very severe. In addition to a share of the produce, numerous cesses

11were levied. Captain Abbott gives a formidable list of these, but it is too long

12to quote. In the Lidwa State he estimated the total to amount to a charge of

1316% per cent. over and above the revenue demand. Every Sikh took as. much

14as he was able, but the smaller men could not squeeze the people so effectually

15as the more powerful Chicfs. The Lidwa “Rija was strong enough to exact

164sérs per mannd, or ten per cent. in addition to his share by appraisement,

17on the ground that he must be insured against loss from errors in woighment,

18wastage, &c. ‘The leading men in each village were given an allowance of 3, 5,

19or 10 per cent. on the revenue collections, the highest rate being given to the

20strongest villages. Ina few exceptional cases a much largershare of the de-

21mand was remitted to powerful communities, and this is the origin of the chaha-

22rami tenures described ina later paragraph. he leading zamfudirs were treated

23witha greater show of liberality than under our rule. They were fed atthe Chicf’s

24expense when they went to his head-quarters, and presents were sometimes

25given on the occasion of marriages in their families. Hence the headmen some-

26times speak in a tone of regret of the old system. Time has softened the

27recollection of its worst evils, and, wrth all its irregular exactions, it no doubt

28pressed less heavily on the people. than our early cash assessments, collected

29rigidly without regard to the fluctuations of the seasons. The Sikhs dealt as

30they pleased with the waste. Grass and game preserves were‘formed, and many

31new villages located in lands carved ont of old ostates, and peopled with low

32class, but industrious, eultivators. ‘There was one check on the exactions of

33the Chiefs. Ifthe villages were pressed too far, they abandoned their lands, and

34the revenue disappeare&l with them. Lhe sturdier peasants of a few of the larger

35Kaithal villages in like circumstances shut their gates and defied their master.

3618. I shall now endeavour to unravel the tangled skein of the fiscal

37history of the tract before the recent Settlement. The

38Complexity of revenne qnatter is complicated because two of the tahsfls belong to

39history of tract owing to ; ‘ ae r , .

40verritorial changes. Ambala, while the Kaithal Tahsil and Pargana Indri form

41part of Karnal.

42Moreover, down to 1862, Pipl and Indri were in the same (the Thénosar)

43District, and Pipl and Jagaédhri in differont districts, and Kaithal was for some

44time after annexation treated as a separate charge from that of Thdnesar,

45Thus three independent settlements have to’ be considered, that of Jagidhri

46made by Mr. Wynyard and Mr. Melvillas part of the Anibala Scttlement, that

47of Thinesar by Mr. Wynyard and Captain Larkins, and that of Kaithal by

48Captain Larkins. When the Thanesar District was broken up in 1862 the

49present Indri Pargana and the Kaithal and Gula ‘Talisils were annexed to

50Karnal and the rest of the district added to Ambala. Gula included the

51parganas of Chika, Kularan and Pehowa. It was broken up in 1866, Chika

52and Kularan going to Kaithal, and Pehowa to Pipli. Tt will conduce to clearness

53if I describe the revenue history down to 1862 of (a) Jagddhri, (1) Pipi and

54Tndri, and (c) Kaithal separately.

55Tscheats. and Summary 19. The principal escheats in Jagidhri before the

56Settlements in Jagédbri. = Regular Settlement are shown below, and a fuller list will

57be found in the Assessment Report :—~

58* This four-fold distribution (chaubachha) only prevailed in the upland circles, elsewhere the bachh waa

59on pulls, hearths, and plonghs.