Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/256

 248 RAE branches of his family and his principal retainers. When the head fort became over-crowded, one or more communities of cultivators were assigned to each of the offshoots which could not be accommodated at home, the assignees went to reside in the villages granted to them, and instead of being an inconvenience and possihle source of danger, contributed to the power of their chieftain. These idle and warlike bodies of zamindars were found so useful in times of disturbance that their number was con- tinually being increased hy Rajputs from the Duáb, who came to reside at the direct invitation of the lord paramount, or by members of wedding processions who were induced to make their visit permanent. The second direct proprietary act was the allotment of small patches of uncultivated land chiefly to Brahmans. Such grants were sanctioned by all the solemnity of religious formalities, and the grantor had the satisfaction of knowing that he secured the peace of his soul in the next world, while the presentation of a handsome tribute or the remission of a troublesome debt facilitated the conduct of the wars of this, and relieved him of the necessity, always so hateful to a Chhattri, of making a regular sale of his land. Similar grants were often made from purely supersti- tious motives, to reward a successful astrologer, pension the family priest, or secure the services of a celebrated pandit. Generally it may be said that while the right to pay, as well as exemption from, the revenue was conferred by the Delhi government, the proprietary right in the soil was derived from the Hindu rája. Imperial grants though occasionally fre- quent in the neighbourhood of Muhammadan colonies, bear a very small proportion, indeed, to the mass of proprietary rights derived from the latter source. Two other rights may be enumerated as invariable attributes of Hindu chieftainship. The first was the calling out of the clan levies. The prin- cipal subordinates held their lands on the condition of military service; and the regular enforcement of this condition by the rája against the larger zamindars, and by them over the villages within the circle of their influence, is one of the most striking points of resemblance between the social system of India, and the feudalism of Europe. The exercise of this right was strongly approved of by public opinion, and the man who refused to attend when the "gohár" was sent round, was sure at least of having his house burnt about his head. The second was the receipt of tribute which his suhjects never withheld even in the worst days of his struggle with the central authority, and sent to him with almost equal regularity when he was ruling with despotic power from his fort, and when he was a proscribed rehel hiding for his life in the jungles. Twice at least in every year at the Holi in spring, and at the festival which commemorates Rám's victory over Rawan in the autumn, the villagers flocked to offer their tribute to their hereditary ruler; and it is probably from this source that his never overfull treasury received its principal supplies. In this way the Kanhpuria had carried his conquests from Rae Bareli and Manikpur far into the Fyzabad and Bara Bapkì districts; the Sombansi