Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/204

196 KHE Land measures.—The local unit of arca is the kachcha or small bigha. Its area varies in every pargana and in every village. On the average, south of the UI above five go to an acre, north of the Ul about three and a half; but there is no certainty, as the people say it depends on the length of the patwári's foot and that on the pleasure of the landlord. Sugarcane an i garden crops are always measured by a smaller bígha than other crops. Disputes between landlord and tenant on this head have occurred occasionally. It may be considered desirable to go into the details of the land mea- sures. The unit of all mensuration is the kasi or double pace which con- sists of 26 girahs, each girab being 24 anguls or finger-breadths; therefore the kasi consists of 65 finger-breadths. The standard yard of 36 inches consists of 19 girahs or 473 anguls; therefore the kasi is 497 inches, four feet one inch and a quarter. Now (20) twenty kasis square or four hun- dred square kasis make the kachcha bigha in common use; therefore the common bigha should be 82 feet 5 inches square, and the area should be almost 749 square yards. It must be remembered that the ordinary or tailor's yard is only 16 girahs. The above is called the "jamai kasi," or measure for land paying money rent. When land is on batái terms, that is to say, when a portion of the produce is taken, there is no motive on the landlord's part for diminishing the measure of length; then the kasi is extended to 72 anguls or about 29 girahs, equal to 1-52 of the standard yard, and the bigha to 9242 square yards. The standard bigha of the North-Western Provinces is 3,025 square yards, the acre is 4,840 square yards, so the local bigha is sometimes less than a sixth of an acre, sometimes a little less than one-fifth. The gaz and the jaríb, it will be observed, are not mentioned at all-vide Prinsep's useful Tables, pages 123—127. In fine the area of a field, and consequently the rent payable by the tenant, are determined by the length of the patwári's stride as he paces along its edge. In Oudh the patwari is the paid servant of the landlord. That the bigha is not a great deal smaller than it is may be due to the action of the former native Government, which retained in theory and often exercised in practice the right of taking direct possession of all lands except the taluqdar's nipkár or personal demesne. It was understood also that the landlord was to hand over all his collections from the tenants to Government, less certain authorized allowances. It was the landlord's interest to make the sum which he had to pay Government on bis rent-roll appear as small as possible. Now the rent per bígha could not be entered lower than was usual in the neighbourhood because the Government officer would at once order the rate to be raised. It was easier to use a larger bigha than the authorized one, because such a fraud could not be detected without measurements. Therefore the landlord used a large bigha at any rate for his or his relatives sír lands and for high caste men, often, indeed, for all his tenants. He made up for the diminution of his rent-roll so caused by taking numerous cesses of all kinds. Formerly, therefore, it was the joint interest of the landlord and tenant that the bigha should be a large one; now their wishes and interests are diverse and