INAM. ARAB. A gift, a grant, of which there are many kinds. Inamdar, a holder of a rent-fret grant of land. A revenue term introduced by the Mahomedans. Hindus have no word to dent( rent - free 'lands, or freehold property, except Suwusthan, one's own place ; but with them that is never found in less quantities than a whoh village. Rent-free lands under the Hindus were merely designated by terms signifying the pur poses to which devoted, as Dewasthan, the idols' place ; Pasodi, a shawl, the Patel's grant ; Choli, `a bodice' for the Patel's wife ; Hadola, a row or collection of bones ; Hadki, a little bone ; Domni, a dish,—the last three being grants to the Mhar tribe. Deo Shet, a grant to a person who has been successful in a trial by ordeal, such as that of determining a village boundary. In Maho medan countries, it is customary to call inam grants to religious orders grants of land, although they include only the rents thereof ; for there is no seising of the land itself,which is the proprietary right of the cultivator only. In the tamba-patra, copperplate patent (by which such grants are designated in Rajputana) of Yasovarma, the Pramara prince of Ujjain, about the 12th cen tury, commanded the crown tenants of the two villages assigned to the temple to pay all dues as they arise, money-rent, first share of produce. In India, where the cultivating proprietor has always paid a feu-duty to the state, the grant of an inam is, like the grant of a jaghir, merely the transfer of the state dues. According to practice, a jaghir is a reward for past or a retaining fee for future services, or a means of support, and is resumable at pleasure. The inam for religious purposes has been a more permanent alienation ; but even the Madras Government about the middle of the nineteenth century re-examined all the inam grants, and up to a late date decisions had been given on 396,815 cases.
Under the Mahomedan sway, Main became a , revenue term, which the British adopted, but was inquired into when peace permitted the examina tion of the Mama. The religious merit attached among Hindus to the grant of land to the 13rah manical class, the facility afforded by the period of anarchy which followed the overthrow of the native dynasties for irregular alienations by inferior authorities, the acceptance by the Mahomedan rulers of the existing condition of things, the further opportunity for irregular grants which was given under the political confusion occasioned by the struggle between the British and French for Indian supremacy during the latter half of the 18th century, and the system of rewarding meri torious service by alienations of Government revenue, either in perpetuity or for a stated number of lives, which was in force during the earlier years of British rule in the Madras Presidency, from the enormous sacrifice of state revenue involved, attracted the attention of the administration at a very early period, and caused a recognition of the importance of a general inquiry into titles to rent free lands.
Inam tenures were found divisible into nine general classes. The first three classes are roams for religious and public service. They consist of grants for the support of pagodas, muttums, village headmen, mosques, and durgas, kazis, Christian churches, chuttrums, water pandals, topes, tanks, wells, anicuts, schools, and miscel laneous works of utility.
In the Madras Presidency the basis of Sir Charles Trevelyan's inquiry was that possession for fifty years was to give a good title, no matter what the origin of the possession might• have been. This being established, religious service inams were all to be confirmed on existing tenures, and to be resumed only when the object for which they were held had ceased to exist. Other service ' inatns were to be continued on the Bruno terms when such services were still required ; but when they could not be made available for any useful public purpose, the value of the public claim upon the land was to bo added to any existing quit-rent payable thereon, the owner being thus enfranchised from service. All other inams held for personal benefit were either to be retained on existing tenure, subject to liability to lapse and without Tower of alienation, or were, at the option of the holder, to bo converted into an absolute property `by the imposition of a quit-rent representing the Lannual value of the reversionary right of Govern anent in the property. This reversionary right was estimated in terms particularly favourable to .the inamdars, in order to induce them to take kulvantago of the privilege offered.-1V.