Notes on the North-Western Provinces of India |
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Common terms and phrases
Agra Akber Aman amongst Baz Singh begahs believe Benares Bengal bhoorjee Bijayee Singh Boigne Brahmin called chief child Chohan civil Cloth collector Commissioner common court crime criminal cultivators cutcherry daughter deputy disputes district division Doab dowers duty England English evil Ewuz Singh father female infanticide Futtehpoor girls give Government Grand Trunk Road hand head Hindoo Holasi honour horse infant Jats jemadar judge justice Kachi labour land landholders look Lord Lord Cornwallis Lord William Bentinck Lulloo magistrate Mahometan marriage matchlock matter ment Mullowlie Mynpoorie native north-west north-western provinces officers once passed pergunneh police proprietors Rahtore Rajah Rajpoot Rajpootnee rent revenue system road rule Rung Lal rupees settlement share Shere Singh soil Soojan sowars sword tehsildar tenants Thakoor thanadar tion tribes Upper India village communities voice Warren Hastings watched whilst zemindarree zemindars
Popular passages
Page 206 - Cat, cat, kill rat! Rat won't gnaw rope; Rope won't hang butcher; Butcher won't kill ox; Ox won't drink water; Water won't quench fire; Fire won't burn stick; Stick won't beat dog; Dog won't bite pig; Pig won't get over the stile, And I shan't get home tonight.
Page 47 - ... pass unprovoked. If plunder and devastation be directed against themselves, and the force employed be irresistible, they flee to friendly villages at a distance; but when the storm has passed over, they return and resume their occupations.
Page 47 - The sons will take the places of their fathers ; the same site for the village, the same position for the houses, the same lands will be reoccupied by the descendants of those who were driven out when the village was depopulated ; and it is not a trifling matter that will drive them out, for they will often maintain their post through times of disturbance and convulsion, and acquire strength sufficient to resist pillage and oppression with success.
Page 25 - Were bonds taken from all the feudal chiefs, and a penal clause inserted, of forfeiture of their fief by all who exceeded a fixed nuptial expenditure, the axe would be laid to the root, the evil would be checked, and the heart of many a mother (and we may add father) be gladdened, by preserving at once the point of honour and their child.
Page 47 - The village communities are little republics, having nearly everything that they want within themselves, and almost independent of any foreign relations. They seem to last where nothing else lasts. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles down; revolution succeeds to revolution; Hindoo, Patan, Mogul, Mahratta, Sikh, English, are all masters in turn; but the village communities remain the same.
Page 47 - ... within their walls, and let the enemy pass unprovoked. If plunder and devastation be directed against themselves, and the force employed be irresistible, they flee to friendly villages at a distance ; but when the storm has passed over, they return and resume their occupations. If a country remain for a series of years the scene of continued pillage and massacre, so that the village cannot be inhabited, the scattered villagers nevertheless return whenever the power of peaceable possession revives...
Page 31 - ... of all sections of society. For many years past no female children have been put to death. The practice has fallen altogether into desuetude. Indeed, so greatly have the ideas of the people changed on this and other usages since the introduction of our rule, that the commission of such an act would now be viewed as a most heinous crime."* Thus the first unequivocal success resulted from the establishment of sumptuary regulations.
Page 51 - Kayeth caste, and early leaving the modern and approved revenue legislation. Akber desired his revenue collector " to consider himself the immediate friend of the husbandman, to transact his business in a place where every one may find easy access, without requiring any mediator. He must assist the needy husbandman with loans of money...
Page 47 - If a country remain for a series of years the scene of continued pillage and massacre, so that the villages cannot be inhabited, the scattered villagers nevertheless return whenever the power of peaceable possession revives. A generation may pass away, but the succeeding generation will return. The sons will take the places of their fathers, the same site for the village, the same position for the houses, the same lands, will be reoccupied by the descendants of those who were driven out when the...
Page 3 - To the fair of other lands the fate of the Rajpootni must appear one of appalling hardship. In each stage of life, death is ready to claim her ; by the poppy at its dawn, by the flames in riper years ; while the safety of the interval depending on the uncertainty of war, at no period is her existence worth a twelvemonth's purchase. The loss of a battle, or the capture of a city, is a signal to avoid captivity and its horrors, which to the Rajpootni are worse than death.