Early Land Revenue System in Bengal and Bihar Vol.1, 1765-1772

Abstract

The object of this volume is to describe the land revenue system which the East India Company gradually built up in Bengal and Bihar during the first seven years (1766-1772) of its acquisition of the Diwani. During those years the Company in its natural ignorance of the customs and institutions of this country tried various experiments -with a view to evolving such a system of land revenue administration as would increase its revenues derived from lands and at the same time prevent the oppression of the ryot. Many of these experiments naturally failed to achieve these two rather incompatible objects that their authors had in view. Indeed, not infrequently steps taken for gaining one of these objects would frustrate the other; But it should in all fairness be admitted, as the following pages will 'bear out, that, although subordinate officers of the Company here and there were often guilty of acts of indiscretion, arid even of oppression on the ryot, the Court of ^Directors in London and the superior servants of the Company who constituted the Council and the Select ^Committee at Port .William, were, on the whole, as much (anxious to protect the ryot as to increase the revenues from la.nds. They really strove hard to save the ryot not only fr6m the rapacity of his landlord and moneyleader, "but also from the tyranny on the part of any European servant of the Company or his Indian agents called Gfomastahs. allowed the modem usage, except in the extracts I have quoted from manuscript documents. One abbreviation which I have frequently used in footnotes is O.C. I t means Original Consultation. valuable suggestions. I must also express my sense of obligation to Mr. P. K. Guha of the same Department for the kind assistance I have received from him. Finally, I must thank the Keeper of the Records of the Government of India, the Keeper of the Records of the government of Bengal, the Librarian, Imperial Library, the Librarian, Calcutta University Library, as well as the members of their staff, for the facilities they granted to me 'for carrying on my researches during the last six years. I take this opportunity of offering my sincere thanks to my esteemed teacher Dr. J. C. Sinha, now Senior Professor of Economics, Presidency College, Calcutta, who first suggested to me six years ago, while he was at Dacca, the idea of examining manuscriptrecords in the Imperial and the -Bengal Secretariat, Record Office, for the purpose of collecting materials for an original work on the early administrative and financial system of the Company in Bengal. The present volume is the first fruit of that suggestion and forms only a small part of a comprehensive treatise on the subject, at which I have been working for the last few years. I should be failing in my duty if I did not also acknowledge here the genuine sympathy, and encouragement which I have, while engaged on this work, received from Mr. A. F. Rahman, B.A. (Oxon), M.L.C.,Vice- Chancellor of Dacca University, To Mr. J. N. Chaudhury of the Department of English’' in thin University I owe a deep debt of gratitude‘has a vid. spite of his heavy pressure of official duties, Kindly gone through all the proofs with great care and made many valuable suggestions. I must also express my sense of obligation to Mr. P. K. Guha of the same Department for the kind assistance I have received from him. Finally, I must thank the Keeper of the Records of the Government of India, the Keeper of the Records of the government of Bengal, the Librarian, Imperial Library, the Librarian, Calcutta University Library, as well as the members of their staff, for the facilities they granted to me 'for carrying on my researches during the last six years.