Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/104

 96 PAR Partabgarh England. Broadcast. Drill, Broadcast. Drill. Bushels, Bushels. 24 to 2.74 Bushels, 25 to 3.5 Wheat Bushele, 2 to 3 Barley 2.46 to 2.87 BU 2.87 to 3.28 3 to 4 2-5 to 3.5 The bushel of wheat is calculated as sixty pounds and the bushel of barley as fifty pounds. There is not much difference, it will be observed, between the two rates. Village establishment. The village officials and the village servants, ordinarily styled the "parja," will now be noticed. The patwóri.—The patwari, or village accountant, is an important func- tionary, whether viewed in his relations to the landed proprietor, his mas- ter, or to Government, who demands from him the periodical submission of the accounts of his charge. These men are entirely Káyaths or Káyath converts to Muhammadanism. In other than taluqdari estates they hold office during the joint pleasure of the landowner and the district officer; that is to say, neither has the power to remove a patwári independently of the other. Nevertheless his wages are paid by the former alone, and are usually proportioned to the extent of land under his charge.* A pat- wári's charge varies from a portion of a village to a large circle of seve- ral villages. In the latter case, he employs members of his own family or others as assistants, he himself being responsible for their work. The ordinary rate of remuneration is six per cent on the imperial revenue, and is either paid in cash, or by an allowance of land, which again is either rent-free or charged with a low rent according to circumstances. The patwáris of this district are, as a rule, an intelligent body of men ; but, as might be expected, often dishonest, untruthful, and rapacious. The cultivators live in dread of them, and are ever ready to propitiate them with offerings of grain, &c. Indeed, it is generally noticed that the pat- wári is a sleek, well conditioned man, who lives in one of the best, if not the best house in the village, and wears clothes of a better material than his neighbours. All this could hardly be compassed with his often slender wage, and must be set down to the thriving trade he drives with the igno- rant tillers of the soil, in his capacity of village accountant and referee; and, in fact, he does possess a considerable power for good or evil over these unfortunates, who both in court and out of it are so often at his mercy. The chaulidar. Next to the patwári, and but little his inferior in im- portance in the eyes of the people, is the chaukidar or village watchman. The principal duty of the chaukidar is, of course, the detection and prompt report of crime; but, from the circumstance that though morally
 * In taluqdari estates the talaqdar has the power to appoint and remove a patvári.