Lehal Library

Maharajah of the Punjab 195 that all the regular and irregular charges (e.g., supply of grass, timber, fruit, eggs, chicken, etc. to touring officials which went under the title mulM-literally, 'rubbish'-or feudal dues in the form of gifts on marriages or festivals to members of the royal family or the local rajas) never amounted to more than half of the gross produce calculated on an estimate of the standing crops or aft.er harvest; if the revenue was paid in cash, the sum was calculated on the value of half the produce. The rate was not considered extortionate and it allowed the agricultural community to thrive. As important as the 1 ight over land which was guaranteed to the actual cultivator was the ownership of wells. As a matter of fact, the most reliable evidence of the ownership of land was the inscription on a well (sometimes placed on the inside to save it from mutilation). The right to dig a well was exclusively that of the cultivator. The proprietor who did not till the land either himself or through hired servants had to be content with a nominal title. The same applied to a jag'irdar whose right to the revenue did not in any way invest him with a title to the land from which it was collected.9 The system had worked well for many centuries and Ranjit Singh saw no reason to change it. Within a short time Ranjit Singh convinced the people of Lahore and the Punjab that he did not intend to set up a Sikh kingdom but a Punjabi state in which Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs would be equal before the law and have the same rights and duties. He paid assiduous respect to the institutions of other communities and participated in their religious festivities. At Dussehra be went through the ritual of the worship of arms as practised by Hindu Rajputs and arranged mock fights between his troops to commemorate the battle of Rama against Ravana. At Divali, all public buildings, including the palace, were illuminated. On Holi, he went among the throngs squirting coloured 9 Sec repon prepared by A. Temple on lhejullundur Doab, PC 143 of 19.12.1852; also 'Land Revenue Administration under the Sikhs' by S. R Kohli in the Joomal of the Pv.njab Historical Soddy, 1918.