(or grain, or money allowances). In some measure, these had till
then continued to be permitted, or disbursed to a variety of
institutions and to individuals in the several districts. Such
information usually got collected whenever the government was
contemplating some new policy, or some further steps
concerning one, or more categories of such assignees, or those to
whom any sort of allowances were being paid. As illustrative of
such information, a return from the district of Tanjore of April
1813, relating to the money assignments received by 1,013 big
and small temples,^84 —which by this time were mostly minute—
and between 350-400 individuals is reproduced at the end of
this book (Annexures G and H). These payments amounted at
this time to a total of Star Pagodas 43,037 for the temples, and
Star Pagodas 5,929 to the individuals, annually. A Star Pagoda
was valued at about three and one-half rupee.
What was true of Bengal, Bihar and the Madras Presidency
applied equally to other areas: whether of the Bombay
Presidency, Panjab, or in the Rajasthan States. The proportions
of revenue allocated to particular categories—as far as the
British record indicates—also seem fairly similar. It will not be
far wrong to assume that about a quarter to one-third of the
revenue paying sources (not only land, but also sea ports, etc.)
were, according to ancient practice, assigned for the
requirements of the social and cultural infrastructure till the
British overturned it all.
Further still, the rate of assessment which was paid by
cultivators of the revenue assigned lands was fairly low.
According to the supervisors of the Bengal Districts in the 1770s
and early 1780s, the rate of assessment charged by the Bazee
Zemin revenue assignees was around one-quarter to one-third of
the rate which the British had begun to demand from the lands
which were treated as Khalsa,^85 a category which was now just
swallowing up practically all the other categories. A more or less
similar phenomenon obtained in the various districts of the
Madras Presidency—even as late as the 1820s.^86 Moreover,
though it may seem unbelievable, the area which constituted
Malabar had, till