PATTADARI, a lease of land. In India, under British rule, are three land tenures, one known as the Zamindari, or permanent settlement, made in 1793 by Lord Cornwallis, of Bengal proper, and since then extended to Behar and Orissa. In this the lands are divided amongst landlords, who pay a quit-rent to Government, which in Bengal has been definitely settled. Something similar has 1 proposed for tenure rOud e i , as the T favoured (2)dr by y homas Munro, under which the cultivators are the o-owners of the soil, and pay direct to Govern ent. A modification of this has been introduced to Bombay. (3) The Pattadari tenure was arried out by Mr. R. Martins Bird in the N.W. rovinces, and it has since been extended to the anjab. In this, Government deals direct with illage communities, who are jointly responsible or the assessment.
In Bombay and Madras, Government transacts s revenue business chiefly direct with the cul 'vating ryot, who is regarded as the feuar or roprietor, paying a feu-duty, and so long as that paid he cannot be dispossessed. Neither in ombay nor Madras is there any middleman. In lengal, however, the British took up the .amindar system, who, under Muhammadan rule, ad been partly a rent-collector and partly a nded proprietor, and elected him to be owner, to he exclusion, in many cases, of the rights of the ultivators. Subsequently the Government, to
he exclusion of the real owner, elected the tenant r the village community. In Bengal and Oudh, lie land-tax is still levied on estates; in Northern ndia, on villages and proprietary holdings ; but in Madras, on individual fields. In Bombay, however, the taxes levied on the blocks of 10 or 12 acres accords to the convenience of the occupiers, and they are tenants for 30 years. In copper-plate grants dug from the ruins of the ancient Ujjain (presented to the Royal Asiatic Society), the prince's patents (Patta) conferring gifts are addressed to the Patta-cila and ryots. Colonel Tod never heard an etymology of the former word, but imagined it to be from Patta, grant or patent, and Cila, which means a nail or sharp instrument,—metaphorically, that which binds or unites these patents ; all, however, having Pati, or chief, as the basis. — Tod's Rajasthan i. 500 ; Trans. Asiatic Society.