Early Hindus.

As has been noticed in the Thana Statistical Account, the Dravidian or un-Sanskrit origin of the revenue terms which were in use at the beginning of British rule, shows that from early times the land's of the district were distributed in unmeasured lumps or plots, dheps, hundas, munds or mudas, and khots, and that the reclamation of salt wastes was fostered by appointing shilotridars or gap-wardens to keep the dams in repair. [As the warden of the gaps held the position of landlord of the reclamation, the word shilotar came in later times to be applied to other classes of over-holders. Thus in 1837 khots levied shilotri rights in villages, where apparently there were no reclamations. Mr. Danes, 4th March 1837, Bom. Gov. Rev. Rec. 775 of 1837, 311. These un-Sanskrit terms may have been introduced in historic times by southern or Dravidian ministers of the Silharas (A.D. 840. 1200) or other local chiefs. See Thana Statistical Account, XIII. Part II. 544.]

Of the revenue management under the early Hindu rulers (B.C. 225 - A.D. 1290) no further record has been traced. But from what is known of the state of things in Thana, it seems probable that from early Hindu times garden lands were measured and paid a bigha. assessment.[Regulation I. of 1808 sec. 6 cl. 2.] Early in the fifteenth century (1429), when the power of the Bahmani kings was established in the Konkan, there were, according to Grant Duff, district officers or hereditary deshmukhs by whose help husbandmen were induced to settle and empty villages were re-peopled.[Grant Duff, 26. Jervis' theory (Konkan, 25, 32, 55, 61) that the whole Hindu revenue system is modern, dating from the sixteenth century, seems to be disproved by the early origin of almost all revenue terms.] At that time great tracts of the Konkan seem to hare been waste. For the first year no rent was taken, and, for some years after, all that was levied was a basketful of grain from each bigha. [Grant Duff, 26. Jervis notices that the bigha mast be taken vaguely, as it is very unlikely that the lands in question were measured (Konkan, 89). Bigha is the Sanskrit vigrah a share or allotment, apparently, like the earlier dhep or hunda, without measurement. Bighas of uniform size seem to have been introduced by the Muhammadans. In Kolaba, as far as they were introduced at all, measurements were made under Malik Ambar (1600-1630).]

Malik Ambar.

Early in the seventeenth century Malik Ambar, the Ahmadnagar minister, started a new system based on the measures introduced in Moghal territories by Akbar's minister Todar Mal. According to Major Jervis, Malik Ambar's chief change was to make the settlement direct with the village headmen instead of with the district hereditary revenue superintendents and accountants, the desdis and deshpandes, who had gradually assumed the place of revenue farmers. His next step was to find out the yield of the land. With this object he arranged the rice lands into four classes, first, second, third, and fourth, aval, dum, sim, and charsim. The uplands were classified in a more general way. The Government share was apparently fixed at one-third and the outturn of the field was ascertained by inquiries lasting over a term of years. Finally the quantity of grain due to Government was changed into a money payment. The village headmen were male hereditary and became security for the Government dues. Except in the coast tracts held by the Portuguese in the north and in Habsan in the south, Malik Ambar's system is said to have stretched from the Vaitarna to the Savitri. [Jervis' Konkan,' 68. Grant Duff (43) gives the following summary of the changes introduced by Malik Ambar: 'He abolished revenue farming and committed the management to Brahman agents under Muhammadan superintendence; he restored such parts of the village establishment as had fallen into decay, and he revived a mode of assessing the fields by collecting a moderate proportion of the actual produce in kind, which after the experience of several seasons was commuted for a payment in money settled annually according to the cultivation.' It is stated that his assessment was equal to two-fifths of the produce, but tradition says his money commutation was only one-third). Captain Francis in Bom. Gov. Sel. XCVI. 3.] One of Malik Ambar's chief improvements was doing away with cesses. Of the local cesses that were suppressed no details are available, but they were probably much like those afterwards enforced under the Marathas. Though the lands of Kolaba nominally formed part of the Ahmadnagar kingdom, the new bigha settlement was not introduced over the whole district. At least in Roha and Nagothna, the old Hindu settlement by the unmeasured lump of land, dhep, hunda, and toka, was continued. [Jervis' Konkan, 100-101.] In the few years between their final conquest of Ahmadnagar and the overthrow of their power in the Konkan by Shjvaji, the Moghals seem to have introduced no change in the land revenue system.

The Marathas.

When the Marathas overran a Moghal district, they appointed a revenue collector or kamavisdar to gather their chauth or one-fourth share, and when the hereditary revenue and military officers, the zamindars and faujdars, refused to pay, the commander or subhedar marched against them and extracted payment by force. [Khan Khan's Muntakhabu-I-Lubab in Elliot and Dowson, VII. 374.] In Avchitgad and Pen, during the latter part of the seventeenth century (1663-1680), the former takbandi and hundabandi settlement was superseded by Shivaji's survey and settlement. [Jervis' Konkan, 100-101. In the north (1680) a money cess was levied on the number and yield of the trees in garden lands. This addition was called jhad jhadora and the whole, that is the addition together with the land rent, was called toka, Jervis' Konkan, 108.]

The chief change in the new system was the measurement of rice land by a rod of five cubits and five fists, that is 5⁵/6 cubits or 114.035 English inches. [Fodar Mal's or Akbar's bigha (1590) was a square of 60 ilahi gaz or yards, the same that was used by Naushirvan (550) in Persia. It was measured by a ehaininstead of by the old elastic Hindu rope. The three chief Indian land measures were the Musalman bigha of 3119.7 square yards, the Maratha bigha, of 4013.87, and the Gujarat bigha of 2948 77. Jervis'Konkan, 69.] Shivaji's settlement included three parts, the assessment of rice, of hill, and of garden land. It is believed that all rice lands were measured into bighas of 4014 square yards. These bighas were divided into twelve classes, [The classes were: 1, First, aval; 2, Second, dum or duyam; 3, Third, sim; 4, Fourth, charum or charsim ; 5, Bushland, raupal; 6, Salt, kharvat; 7, Rocky, baval; 8, Stony, khadi; 9, Pulse, kariyat or turvat; 10, Hemp, tagvat ; 11, Seed beds, rahu or roh ; 12, Tree root, manat. Jervis' Konkan, 94, 95.] and, from experiments made during three successive years, [The subdivisions from which villages are said to have been chosen were, in Kolaba, Avchitgad, Rajpuri, and Raygad, and in Ratnagiri, Suvarndurg, Anjanvel, Ratnagiri, and Vijaydurg. In measuring rice land a deduction, called vaja shirastabad or tipandi of three panda in every bigha, was made. In level uplands, varkas, a quarter, and in rough uplands a third was deducted. The deduction was also called tijai (Mr. J. R. Gibson). The produce raised in second crops on rice land was assessed as follows: Turmeric, halad, at 5 mans the bigha, after deducting a third of the actual area cultivated; hemp, tag, 5 mans the bigha, one-fourth being deducted from the area cultivated; sugarcane, 3½ to 6¼ man of raw sugar the bigha; summer rice, vayangam., 2½ mans of grain the bigha.] the Government demand, which was estimated at about forty per cent of the produce, was fixed at from 57¼ bushels an acre in the best to 23 bushels in the poorest land. [The details in bushels the acre are: First quality 57¼ (12½, mans the bigha); second 45 (10 moras); third 36⁵/8 (8 mans); fourth 28⁵/8 (6¼ mans); bushlands 36⁵/8 (8 mans) salt 34½ (7½ mans); rocky stony and pulse land 28⁵/8 (6 ¼ mans); rahu, hemp, and uncleared" root land 23 (5 mans). Jervis Konkan, 94, 95.] In a few cases hill lands were measured, and three, five, six, or seven acres were counted as one acre according to the years of fallow they required after being cropped. Other hill lands, varkas or dongar, were assessed by the plough. Large allowances were made for rocky or barren spots.[Nachni was assessed at from 6.56 to 5.25 bushels (3¾-3 mans) the plough; vari at from 5.25 to 4.37 bushels (3-2½ mans); harik at 5.25 bushels (3 mans); and other inferior produce at 2.18 bushels (1¼ mans). Of miscellaneous crops, hemp was assessed at 144 pounds the acre (150 the customary bigha); turmeric at 136 pounds (150 the customary bigha); and sugar at 90 to 181 pounds (93¾-187½ the customary bigha). Jervis' Konkan, 96.] In garden lands, the system in former use of levying a total or absolute amount, kamal, at about one-sixth of the estimated crop was changed into an equal division of the whole produce. [Of garden produce, cocoanuts and betelnuts paid in kind and the rest in cash. Cocoanut trees were inspected. All bearing less than five nuts, barren, or unproductive were exempted. Of the remaining trees, half of the produce belonged to the grower and half to Government, provided that in no case the Government share exceeded 47½ nuts the tree. Of cocoa-palm leaves, kajans, the Government share' was for trees about to bear, three; trees that did not yield, four; toddy trees, three; barren trees, one; fruitful trees, four. Betelnut trees were assessed like cocoanut trees, the limits for calculation being one and five shers instead of five and ninety-five nuts. Cocoa palms tapped for toddy paid from 2s. to 3s. 1d. (Re. 1-Rs. 1-8-8) each. Wild palms, if tapped, paid nine pence each. If not tapped they paid nothing. Jack trees, if they yielded more than 25 jacks, and undi, Calophyllum inophyllum, trees paid 6d. (4 as.). MR. Dunlop, Bom. Gov. Rev. Rec. 121 of 1825,11,12.] All other cesses were stopped and patils, khots, kulkarnis, deshmukhs, and deshpandes were forbidden to interfere beyond their strict duties and powers.

According to Major Jervis, Shivaji's demand of forty per cent or two-fifths of the produce was more than the cultivators could pay. It was either openly allowed or secretly arranged that the bighas, on which these rates were charged, should be of 4616 instead of 4014 square yards. By this means the Government share Was reduced to about one-third. [Jervis' Konkan, 99.]

In spite of the nominal introduction of Shivaji's survey and settlement the old lump or dhep system remained in use in some places.

In 1683, after Shivaji's death, Sambhaji's favourite Kalush, by adding fresh cesses to Shivaji's rates, raised the demand to one-half or two-thirds of the estimated produce of the land. At the close of the century (1699) the south half of the district was overrun by the Habshi, who levied many cesses, but most of them seem to have been old cesses under new names. [In 1699 the Sidi possessed himself of Suvarndurg and Anjanvel now in Ratnagiri, and of Rajpuri and Raygad now Roha, Mangaon, and Mahad. Jervis' Konkan, 109.] The chief change introduced by the Sidi was commuting part of the regular demand from produce into money. The proportion commuted was three-twentieths of the whole (3 mans a khandi), the khandi rates being rico £2 5s. (Rs. 22½), vari £1 15s. (Rs. 17½), harik 14s. (Rs. 7), white sesamum £7 10s. (Rs. 75), black sesamum, udid, tur, til, sale, and mug £6, (Rs. 60), pavte, chavli, and kulthi £4 (Rs. 40), and salt 14s. (Rs. 7). Other changes were a new bullock tax cf 3s. (Rs. 1½) and a shopkeeper's cess, mohtarfa, of 10s. (Rs. 5). In garden lands fresh imposts were levied, and the sub-divisional accountant's, sardesh kulkarni's, allowance was added to the demand and the amount taken by the state. [Jervis Konkan, 110-111.]

During the eighteenth century the districts now included in Kolaba seem to have come under three systems. In the west, in Angria's private estates, which included the lands to the north and west of a line drawn from Nagothna to Roha, the revenue was collected from the cultivators without the intervention of revenue farmers or khots. Pen and Nagothna in the north-east were farmed, and great numbers of pandharpeshas or high caste landholders were introduced. The state of things in the south was more like Ratnagiri; the revenue farmers assumed the name of khot and became hereditary.

As the lands north, of the Savitri or Bankot river were never under Bijapur, they had none of the colonist of vatan khots, who were appointed by the Bijapur kings in parts of Ratnagiri at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The north Savitri khots were originally revenue farmers without proprietary or even hereditary rights. In times of excessive demands, the small holders failed to pay the state rental; and their lands fell to the khot and the former holders became customary tenants. [See Jervis' Konkan, 76. North of the Savitri, gays Jervis, some Musalmans set up absurd claims to the title of khot. They argued that as khot meant farmer, and as they were farmers they had the same powers over the villagers as the Dabhol khots. (Kontan, 76). So Mr. Dunlop wrote in 1822 (31st December 1822, Bom Gov. Rev. Rec. 64 of 1823, 248), ' There are no vatandar khots north of the Bankot river, though many deshmukhs. adhikaris, deshpandes, and kullkarnis claim this right. Mr. Chaplin (quoted in Bom.' Gov. Sel. CXXXIV. 2) says (1820), ' In the north Konkan, apparently meaning north of the Bankot river, 'the right of a khot to hereditary succession either never existed or had been entirely disregarded. To the older inhabitants of the north Konkan the idea of an hereditary khot seemed laughable. (Bom. Gov. Sel. CXXXIV. 1-2). This appears to be the correct view of the original position of the khots in the villages to the north of the Savitri. Mr. Giberne in 1837 (Bom. Gov. Rev. Rec. 775 of 1837; 265-267) was, as far as is known, the only one of the earlier officers who doubted the correctness of this view, and his information seems to have been faulty, as at the time when they appointed the vatan khots to Dabhol the Bijapur kings had no power north of Bankot.] Under the Peshwa's management (1735-1818) the chief changes were the attempt to measure some of the hill or varkas crop-lands, and the commutation into money of a further share of the grain rent. In 1735, when Raygad was recovered by the Peshwa from the Sidi, the proportion commuted under the Sidi's rates was increased in some parts to one-fourth and in other parts to one-half. [Jervis' Konkan, 115-116, 120. Jervis' account is confused. According to Mr. Reid (94, 6th December 182S, para 12, Lithographed Papers, 6-8), ' the farokht form of commutation was unknown. In some parts of Raygad a fourth, in others a half, and in others the whole Government demand was commuted at tasar rates. In Rajpuri and Avchitgad a quarter was commuted. In Pen none was commuted; all was taken in kind.' Under the commutation sale, tasar farokht, system the state officers received the grain, and the cultivators were allowed to buy it back at certain fixed pricess Jervis' Konkan, 120.] This change was a considerable gain to the cultivators. On the other hand, many fresh cesses were introduced; a house tax, and a cattle tax, and a poll or family tax on cow-keepers and graziers, on fishers and sailors, and on oil-makers. [The rates were on the cattle keepers, a capitation tax of 10 shers a man of butter and a cattle cess of 10-30 shers of butter a head, and on Dhangar's milch buffaloes 8-15 annas each. Fishers of the Kharvi and Daldi classes paid from a half to one man of oil a head for all males between 15 and 60, and an additional 1½ mans for every boat. Oil-makers were assessed at ten shers of sweet oil a head. Jervis Konkan, 113, 116.] There was also a levy of specially low-paid grain for the use of the Peshwa's war ships, a tax for stamping coin, and levies in kind nominally of thatch timber and mats to keep the forts in repair, but in practice of all such small articles as officers and others in power wanted for their own use. The system of exacting service was also carried further than before. Mhars and low-caste people had to serve in the forts one month a year, getting 2½ shers of rice a day; sailors, Kharvis and Daldis, were bound to supply one man in eight to serve for eight months a year in the war ships. The men who served were paid 1½ mans of rice a month and a quarter rupee for salt pepper and condiments. Carpenters and blacksmiths had to serve one month a year, getting 3d. (2 as.) or 2 shers of rice a day. [Jervis' Konkan, 116, 117,118.] Besides the Government dues the officers levied cesses for their own benefit, while the cultivators tried by collusion or pretext of fire or bad seasons to evade the Government demands. Fresh cesses and commutations had made their accounts so complicated that the cultivators were at the mercy of the village and district officers.[Jervis' Konkan, 115.] For their services the villagers had to pay heavily, and at the same time the system was adopted of gaining the support of the heads of castes and villages to fresh exactions by freeing them from paying the cesses. [The best able to pay were in many eases entirely exempt. Headmen, gaudas, chaughulas, and mukadams were freed from taxation, and all who possessed influence were privileged. Jervis'Konkan, 113.] In this way the bulk of the subordinate peasantry were reduced to the position of serfs entirely dependent on some one, who by length of occupancy gradually obtained a title to the lands which had devolved on him by the necessities of the rightful owners. [Jervis' Konkan, 115.]

In the eighteenth century some irregular local practices were introduced. Early in the century, about 1728, in Raygad and in part of Rajpuri, that is in Mahad Mangaon and part of Roha, instead of classifying the rice lands, a uniform bigha rate was introduced of from eight to ten mans in Mahad and of 8¾ mans in Mangaon and Roha. At first, as the land was in the hands of small proprietors or dharekaris, whose holdings included lands of different varieties, this change did little harm. Afterwards, when most of the land passed into the hands of khots, all the poorer lands were thrown up and only the best remained under tillage. [Mr. Reid, 26th August 1828, Bom. Gov. Rev. Rec. 211 of 1828, 160-162.] Another irregular system came into use in the west of the district, the parts now included in Roha and Mangaon. These lands had been held jointly by the Peshwas and the Sidi. In 1736 they agreed to divide the territory, every taking five and a half petty divisions, adjusting the accounts every year.[Bom. Gov. Rev. Rec. 211 of 1828, 172-173. The details of the distribution were: To the Sidi, 5½ mahals composed of the parganas of Nadgaon, Shrivardhan, Diva, and Mhaisla, and tappa Mandla, and 24½ villages of tappa Govela. To the Peshwa, 5½ mahals composed of the mamla Tala, pargana Gosala, tappa Nizampur, tappa Goregaon, pargana Birvadi, and 24½ villages of tappa Govela. Jervis' Konkan, 133.] After the separation it was found that, the fair division of the revenue was disturbed by the people moving from one jurisdiction to another. So it was settled that when a landholder went to a new village, the amount that he had been paying as rent in his old holding should be added to the rental of the village to which he went. This practice, which was known as the dharabad or rent deduction system, was afterwards extended to the case of the transfer of a landholder from one village to another in the same jurisdiction. It was given up in 1798. [Mr. Reid, 26th August 1828, Bom. Gov. Rev. Rec. 211 of 1828, 172-174.]

In the north of the district, in Sankshi the present Pen and Nagothna, towards the close of the century (1788), a mamlatdar, who farmed the revenue for many years, granted large areas to rich Musalmans and high class Hindus at a cash rental much below the former payments. The lands in question were taken out of the regular list of Government village lands and entered separately as nagdi shirasta lands, that is, lands paying cash rents. This new tenure was of the nature of an alienation or inam, as the rates were low varying from 3s. to 10s. (Rs. 1½-Rs. 5) the bigha. The change was made without the Peshwa's leave, and for some years the Poona authorities kept an outstanding statement of the loss of revenue which the change had caused. But the mamlatdar had powerful relations, and, though the new tenure was never formally sanctioned, the revenue continued to be taken at the reduced rates. Future mamlatdars continued the practice, selling for a sum of ready money the right to hold land at specially easy rates. Before the beginning of British rule, thousands of acres of the best lands were held at low money rates by people of all castes and classes. The person in whose favour the grant had been made was, in many cases, not the owner of the lands. When this was the case, the owner gave him the full rent and he paid only the small money rental to Government. [Mr. Reid,26th August 1828, Bom. Gov. Rev. Rec. 211 of 1828, 145-147. Mr. Reid, 6th December 1828, para 14, Lithographed Papers, 9, speaks of a similar tenure, nagdi kauli, being in use in every part of the country. But no other instance has been traced in Kolaba. Captain Francis (Bom. Gov. Sel. XCVI. 207) seems to refer to this nagdi shirasta tenure, when he says (31st March 1858) fixed money rates had been introduced into the Sankshi mamlatdar's charge before the beginning of British rule. But the regular rates were, except in one or two petty divisions, still taken in kind. Mr. Reid (26th August 1828, Bom. Gov. Rev. Rec. 211 of 1828, 144) mentions a money assessment in Vankhal and Boreti now in Karjat. In other villages the rental was calculated at a certain quantity of grain the bigha, and was paid partly in grain partly in money.]

In the south of the district, tillage seems to have spread considerably during the latter part of the eighteenth century. In 1810 one Khandoji Jadhav raised the assessment in the Kondvi petty division of south Mahad by nearly 100 per cent, an increased demand which could not have been met unless the area under tillage had nearly doubled. [Mr. Giberne, 5th April 1837, Bom. Gov. Rev. Rec. 775 of 1837, 271-273.]

One result of the irregular management and demands of the eighteenth century was the decline of the small holders and the increase in the area held by khots. [Mr. Reid, 26th August 1828, Bom. Gov. Rev. Rec. 211 of 1828, 160-162.]

In consequence of the yearly variations in their tillage area the salt rice lands near the coast were surveyed every season.[Mr. Reid, 26th August 1828, Bom. Gov, Rev. Rec. 211 of 1828, 150.]