16 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
neighbouring village, while certain portions and certain rights are possessed by the different craftsmen or artisans of the village, such as the schoolmaster, the washerman, the barber, the carpenter, the blacksmith, the watchman, the village accountant, etc. who have each a right to a certain portion set aside for certain recognized expenses of the village, and for defraying its hospitality towards strangers [1. cf. 1830, L. 398, 399, 405, 406, 529.] These village communities are little republics, having nearly everything that they want within themselves, and almost independent of any foreign relations. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles down : revolution succeads revolution. Hindoo, Pathan, Mogul, Maratha, Sikh, English, are all masters in turn, but the village communities remain the same. In times of trouble they arm and fortify themselves;
[2. cf. 1832 Commons’ Rev. Committee, p. 29.] It is difficult to state the proportion of the produce of the village paid to the Government: the authorities know little of the precise property of any of the proprietors; it is not the interest or the wish of the village that the Government should scrutinize and know their possessions, therefore if any one of the brotherhood fails to pay his proportion, that is a matter for the villagers at large to settle, and they will often come forward to pay it for him, but these are all private arrangements kept to themselves : and the Moceadim has no power from the Government to enforce this assessment, what each man in the village has to pay is an internal arrangement, which it is desirable for the Government not to interfere in, the villagers settling among themselves what each has to pay, the total assessment being calculated after enquiry into the state of prosperity in the village : what it has hitherto paid : what it is capable of paying : the state of the village lands, and what assessment they ought to bear with reference to the produce. [3. cf. 1830 L. 401, 402, 404,
528, 583, 584.]
Surveys of considerable expense have been made by the Government : a minute account taken of the state of the land in each village, the fields examined in the presence of surveying officers with all the assistance they can procure, not only from their own servants, but from the village communities, the people themselves interested, and also the ryots and people of the