Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/129

 April, 1873.] SERVICE TENURES IN CEYLON. 115 notation, 4 5th. Thus I + ,> + ^ = 1 + 4 + 1 40 = 45. The corresponding name of the-second scheme (Dzubuijud) will number the same, according to the Ubfcus or Zur notation thus—j + *-» + j + £ + «* = 20 + 2 +10 + 5 + 8 = 45. Now taking the two different notations we have merely to substitute letters of those nota- j tions to the number we want to indicate. For example, take numbers 5 7 and 28, which are not in tho table given above, or in Col. Kirk¬ patrick’s work. I suppose their names would be according to the first scheme j* (tiuz) and (kaza) respectively; and according to the second scheme or the Ubtus notation (sukh) and bkj (zuklt/i) respectively. For U + j=50 + 7 = 57, and 1 Ub l^=^+j+ I =20 + 7 + 1 = 28) scheme. = u° + 50 + 7 = 57 2nd i>0 = -, + £ = 20 + 7 + 1 = 28 ) scheme. These are not the only names that may bo given them, for there may be as many others as j there are component parts to 57 and 28—a pleasant algebraical problem! Therefore any names I give may not be those given to them by the Sultan. There is a resemblance between this calendar and that in use in Southern India, commonly named “ the Malabar ” cycle. To the years com- j posing this cyclo tho Sultan appeal’s to have given new names, as he did to the months of the year. Among several of the Brahmanical sects of Southern India it is still in vogue to have an adhika miisa, or extra month, once in the course of thirty months. The numerical order of the years was the same as in the era of the Hejira; and the Sultan was satisfied with the mere change of the appellation. He gave to it the namo of “ the era of Muham¬ mad, ” and he sometimes called the same the “ Mauludi era.” The latter does not seem very applicable, for Mauludi means birth, and the difference between the Prophet’s birth and his flight to Medina from Mecca is nearly thirteen years. SERVICE TENURES IN CEYLON. (From the Reports of the Commissioner for 1870 and 1871.) The Service Tenure Ordinance, No. 4 of 1970, having for its object the abolition of predial serf¬ dom in the Kandyan Provinces, and tho payment, in lieu of services, of an annual money-rent, was brought into operation on the 1st of February 1870, by Proclamation dated 21st January 1870. The Ordinance requires tho Commissioners to determine the following points :— (1) The tenure of every service panguwa, whe¬ ther it be Praveni or M&ruwena. (2.) The names, so far as can be ascertained, of the proprietors and holders of each praveni panguwa. (3.) The nature and the extent of services due for each praveni panguwa. (4.) The annual amount of money-pay¬ ment for which such services may be fairly com¬ muted. Here, as generally in oriental countries, the king was the lord paramount of the soil, which was possessed by hereditary holders, on tho con¬ dition of doing service according to theii; caste. The liability to perform service was not a personal obligation, but attached to the land, and tho maximum service due for a holding large enough to support an entire family was generally the labour of one male for six months in a year. Besides the laud thus held by tbe ordinary pea¬ sant proprietors, there wero the estates of the crown, of the church, and of the chiefs. These are known as Gabad&gam, royal villages,—Viha- ragam and Dewalagam, villages belonging to Bud¬ dhist monasteries and temples (dewala),—and Nindagam, villages of large proprietors. These last either were the ancestral property of the chiefs (pravenigam), or were originally royal villages bestowed from time to time on favourites of tho court. In these estates, certain portions, known as Muttettu or Band&ra lands, were re¬ tained for the use of the palace, monastery, or manor-house, while the rest wa3 given out in parcels to cultivators, followers, and dependents, on condition of cultivating the reserved lands, or performing various services from the most menial to mere homage, or paying certain dues, &c. These followers or dependents had at first no hereditary title to the parcels of land thus allotted to them. Theso allotments, however, generally, passed from father to son, and in course of time hereditary title was in fact acquired. . . There were thus two distinct sources whence the claim to service was derived. The right fined by the ordinance to be an allotment “ held by one or more tenants-at-will.”
 * A panguwa is a farm, allotment, or holding; a praveni panguwa is an hereditary holding; maruwena panguwa is de¬