Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 129

VILLAGE HEADMEN
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obliged to conciliate the villagers, to prevent their secretly
migrating elsewhere, which would mean the non-cultiva-
tion of the land, and consequent inability on their part to
These men have
furnish the revenue due to the State.
quite a patriarchal authority in their villages, but those
who attempt to abuse their power are soon confronted
with deserted homesteads, waste lands, and ruin staring
them in the face.
A striking example of this happened when a new and
detested system was established by the creation of Mutta-
dars, or hereditary farmers of revenue, which caused the
No
ruin of most of the districts where it was enforced.
sooner were these Muttadars raised to what they considered
an exalted position than they began to give themselves
Men
great airs and tried to carry things with a high hand.
who had formerly been in a low position, or in obscurity,
now indulged in horses, palanquins, trumpeters, and
peons
in fact they gave themselves up, without any
justification, to such pomp and splendour as the native
delights in.
As the crops produced by the lands whose
revenue they had farmed could not possibly defray the
cost of this expensive mode of life, they had recourse to
The
a system of blackmailing to increase their incomes.
consequence of this arbitrary and unprecedented behaviour
was the flight of their victims, who left the lands unculti-
vated.
The final result was the ruin of the Muttadars.
The Sudra headmen of the villages are usually sensible,
Most of them know how
polite, and well-educated men.
to read and write.
Although they have the failings,
common to all natives, of cunning and deceit, they are far
from being proud, intolerant, and haughty like the Brah-
mins.
By nature they are gentle, shy, and insinuating,
and they behave with marked respect and submission
towards their superiors. Towards their equals they are
polite and complaisant, and towards their inferiors affable
and condescending. In fact, they know well how to adapt
themselves to their surroundings.
The class occupying the fourth rung on the ladder which
I have used to describe the various degrees of civilization
in India is the one which, to my mind, is the most respect-
able and the most interesting.
It is this class, chiefly.
;