Page:A Manual of the District of Vizagapatam, in the Presidency of Madras.djvu/125

 long SB tiiey paid the public dues, they oonld not ba oasted &om their luuis, which, thou^ no longer saleable, Btill descended from &ther to son. Even Uiis right, however, but seldom contained any privilege, the public demand being raised higher here thao in any other part of ti>e peninsola. It came to be limited, in fact, only by the extent of the ryot's means; at the time of the Circnit Com- mittee (A.D. 17S4) we shall see that while in diy grains, he got one- half, in paddy be obtained but one-fifth of the gross prodace of his fum in the Ohicaoole Circar. It is supposed tiiat Uie vtsaha^i setUemeut, which existed in many parts of Telingana long bef<»« our rule, was promoted by the ryoto themselves, in ordw to avoid the endless demands caused b^ the extcMrtJonate Oovemment of tlie Uahomedans. This system is described as follows : — " A fixed sum of money was assessed on the whole village, for one or two years. A certain nnmber of the most respectable ryots became reqmnsi^e for the amount, each being re^Mmsible for his own separate portion thereof, and all for each other ; and the lands were divided by lot, as in the Bammdayaffn villages oi the l^mil country, the portion of laud to be occupied by such being determined by the proportion c^ rent for which he became responsibla Thus, if ten ryots obtained their village for tiiree years at a vi8aba4i rent of 100 pagodas, the first becoming responsible for 20, the second for 40, and the other eight for 5 pagodas each, the lauds of the village would be divided into ten equal shares, the first would be entitled to two of these, ihe second to four, and each of the otbera to half a share. From this division of the lands into shares, the settlement took ifai name of vtsabaifi, namely, a village settlem^it by sha/ree in ready money." E. I.. House Selections, av,prd. 9. At the period of the session of the Northern Oircars, we found the counby divided into Haveli and Zahindari. The Hav^ lands consisted of the old demesne or household lands of the Sovereign, and tracts near to towns resumed by the Mahome- dans and appropriated for the peculiar support of their numerous gairisons and establishments. These Isinds the local Foujdirs and Kaw4fa6 always retained under the immediate management, paroel- ling out the rest of the coantiy into Zamindaiies. The Revenue Agents of the ancient Hindu Bftjahs were known as DeaamvJcha or DtsapAmdyie ; eat^ functionary administered the affairs of a small circle of villages (hundt) auUcing the sebblemeot of eadit viUi^^ Uq.i.ze.b.'C^OO'^IC