II. BOOK calculated; allowances made for officers, sometimes even to the extent of naming individuals; a sum was allotted for the personal expenses of the chief himself; and every particular regarding the terms of service, the mode of mustering, and other arrangements, was laid down. A portion of territory was then selected, of which the share belonging to government should be sufficient, after deducting the expenses of collection and other charges, to supply the amount which had been shown to be requisite; and the whole territory yielding that amount was made over to the chief. The chief was now placed in the situation of the governor of a revenue division, and exercised all the other functions which are now united in the holder of that office. The power to interfere for the protection of subordinate rights was, however, retained by the government, as well as a claim to any revenue which the tract assigned might yield beyond the amount for which it was granted. Those stipulations were enforced by the appointment of two or more civil officers, directly from the government, to inspect the whole of the chief's proceedings, as well in managing his troops as his lands. Notwithstanding all these precautions, the usual consequences of such grants did not fail to appear. The lands had from the first a tendency to become hereditary; and the control of the government always grew weaker in proportion to the time that had elapsed from the first assignment. The ori ginal principle of the grant, however, was never lost sight of, and the necessity of observing its conditions was never denied. These grants affected but a moderate proportion of the territory of the state; the rest of which was administered by local officers directly under the prince, according to the form laid down in Menu. The allotment of lands was adopted as a means of paying the troops, and not of governing the country; so that, although there were fiefs, there was no feudal system. But, though this was the progress of landed assignments in settled countries, they took another course in the case of foreign conquests. In some instances a chief was detached by the invaders, to occupy a remote part of the country, and to subsist his troops on its resources; and was allowed to remain undisturbed until his family had taken root, and had become tenants on condition of service instead of mere officers on detachment. Examples of this nature may be found among the Hindú governments in the south of India, and in abundance and perfection among the Marattas of later times. Even in these cases of foreign conquest, however, the intermediate tenure is the exception, and not the rule; the main portion of the territory remaining under the direct administration of the prince. But a course of proceeding yet remains, which carries the principle of alienation to a greater CHAP. II. BOOK II. Lands for military service Rájpúts. extent, and leads to a system which (with every caution in applying familiar names to remote institutions) it is impossible not to call feudal. It is that which prevails among the Rájpúts. With them, the founder of a state, after reserving among the a demesne for himself, divided the rest of the country among his relations, according to the Hindú laws of partition. The chief to whom each share was assigned owed military service and general obedience to the prince, but exercised unlimited authority within his own lands. He, in his turn, divided his lands on similar terms among his relations, and a chain of vassal chiefs was thus established, to whom the civil government as well as the military force of the country was committed. (P) This plan differs from the feudal system in Europe, as being founded on the principle of family partition, and not on that of securing the services of great military leaders; but it may not always have originated in conquest, and when it did, the clannish connection which subsists between the members of a Rájpút tribe makes it probable that command among the invaders depended also on descent; and that the same kinsmen who shared the chief's acquisitions had been the leaders of the tribe before the conquest by which they were gained. The origin of present possession in family claims is still alive in the memory of the Rájpút chiefs, who view the prince as their coparcener in one point of view, though their sovereign in another. This mixed relation is well shown by the following passage, in a complaint from certain chiefs of Márwár against the Raja :- "When our services are acceptable," say they, "then he is our lord: when not, we are again his brothers and kindred, claimants and laying claim to the land.” * The rule of partition was adhered to after the conquest, and each chief, in succession, was obliged to provide an appanage for the younger members of his father's family. When any of those claimants remained inadequately provided for, he was assisted to set out on military adventures, and to found new states, by conquests in other countries. (Q), The example of granting lands, which was set in the case of the Raja's family, came to be extended to strangers: many fiefs are now held by Rájpúts of entirely distinct tribes t; and one of the first order seems, in later times, to have been bestowed on a Mussulman.‡ (R) From the accounts given by the Mahometans of the state of Sind, during their early invasion in A. D. 711, it seems not improbable that the species of feudal system preserved among the modern Rájpúts was then widely extended. § Lands for services not military, besides those already noticed to local officers, are, to ministers Tod's Rajasthan, vol. i. p. 198. † Id. ibid. p. 166. In 1770. Tod's Rajasthan, vol. i. p. 200. § See Book V. Chap. I. VOL. I. L CHAP. II. Lands for military. services not II. BOOK and other persons engaged in the administration; and also to great officers of the household, and hereditary personal attendants. Lands held Other alienations are, to temples or religious per free of service. Tributary and other dependent sous, or to meritorious servants and to favourites. Though very numerous, they are generally of small extent often single villages; sometimes only partial assignments on the government share of a village; but, in some cases, also, especially religious grants, they form very large estates, Religious grants are always in perpetuity, and are seldom interfered with. A large proportion of the grants to individuals are also in perpetuity, and are regarded as among the most secure forms of private property; but the gradual increase of such instances of liberality, combined with the frequency of forged deeds of gift, sometimes induces the ruler to resume the grants of his predecessors, and, more frequently, to burden them with heavy taxes. When these are laid on transfers by sale, or even by succession, they are not thought unjust; but total resumptions, or the permanent levy of a fixed rate, is regarded as oppressive. The reaction must have begun long ago; for the ancient inscriptions often contain imprecations on any of the descendants of the granter who shall resume his gift. It is probable that in all times there were heads of hill and forest tribes who remained independent territories. of the Hindú monarchies; since even the more vigorous governments of the Moguls and the British have not always been able to reduce such |