BAH
183
own interest. In but few birt pattas is any mention whatever made amount of rent payable or to be paid, and in none (which there is
to his of the
reason to believe are genuine) is any fixed rent mentioned. In fact, the measure of the birtia's right is the limited beneficial interest above detailed, extended by the favour or self-interest of the lord.
Already in this chapter mention has been made of a peculiar mode in which a lord exercised his rights as suzerain, bestowing on certain parties what may be called his "right tion 01 birtias in oertam „i' „ j ^ I" j.t_ °* approvement the wastes of that district over eases. which he had received from the sovereign a nominal proprietary right. These birtias seem from almost the very first to have been independent of the lord from whom they derived their right to settle, and, generations afterwards, we find the villages so colonized undergoing the process of feudalization a second time and becoming absorbed into the estate of that very lord who Originally alienated his right in them. The birtia having established his village, and his descendants having formed a proprietary village community, the lord comes upon the scene again, and, incorporating the township in his estate, bestows on the members of the
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j.
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ex-proprietary body their nankar, &c.
On
the other hand, those of the birt villages of this class which escaped
this process of re-absorption, retained aE. characteristics of zamindari villages, and now form some of the few independent townships in this district.
Birt grants in this district are identified with and almost exclusively confined to the Ikauna family, or owners of estates ^^^° which have been at, one time or another connected
J n"ar'
with that house, and the practice seems to have been borrowed from Gonda, where these cessions were far more common than they were here. The great Maha Singh (see historical sketch) seems to have been the first to adopt the custom to any extent. The Gangwal taluqdar, whose family, however, is an off-shoot of the Ikauna house, granted birts in later times. SpEoniEK. BietDeed. Birt patta dated Sdwan Sudi 8, 1288 F. Patta executed by Sri Krishnparshdd Singh. I have given Tulsiram Misr a birt. He is to get continuously village Ganeshpur, tanks, groves "dill," parja (house-dues), "anjuri, biswa, bondha." He is to get continuously the zamindari dues, whether the
- ^'^ ^"^^^^^
S:iSentrL°'^70rvfbeenyLn°
Witnesses,— Bankan Singh, Sangam Misr, written by Bhawdiii Bakhsh, scribe. Note. On the top of this is the K^ja's sign-manual.
A
specimen patta is given in the margin, the genuineness of which is ^A-mUfpA „„rl nn admitted, and On +Tin the.
wnicn the 01 with the taluqdar's consent obtained a decree
Strength birtia,
—
SUD-Settlement possession to be hereditary ]but not transferable. lOr
Bishunprit birts were cessions similar in almost every respect to the bai or purchased birts, save that these were given to Charitable birts. Brahmans for the honour and glory of God (if not for that of the giver), and no consideration was taken. It
was seldom that such grants were resumed within the lifetime of the and the stricter course was undoubtedly not to resume them at all;
giver,
