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THE TRIBES AND THE LAND IN THE

PANJÁB.*

BY SIR CHARLES ROE, BART.

(Late Chief Justice of the Chief Court of the Panjab.)

THE subject to which I would invite your attention is one which abounds in interest, so much so indeed that there is more than an embarrassment of riches. To trace the origin of the various agricultural tribes in the Panjab, to examine their customs in detail, and to compare them, not only with one another, but also with other systems of Customary Law, would be almost a labour of love; but it is one which would require, not a single paper, to the consideration of which only a small portion of your valuable space can be devoted, but a series of papers extending over many months. I can only attempt verybriefly to state what are the facts regarding the holding of land in the Panjab by tribal groups at the present time, to explain what inquiries have been made into their customs so far as they affect the land, and what has been the result of the consideration of the Customary Law by the Civil Courts. In doing this, I shall merely be repeating in a condensed form what I have already put forward in a small work I brought out in conjunction with Mr. H. A. B. Rathgau some three years ago, entitled "Tribal Law in the Panjab." It is very unlikely that your readers have read, or ever will read, that work; but I have felt compelled to refer to it now and again in the course of the present paper as giving details as to matters of fact, or reasons for conclusions which space does not permit me to narrate more fully. As I have already observed, the Tribal Law of the Panjab possesses much interest for the general student; but it possesses especial interest for myself, for during the eleven years from 1887 that I occupied a seat

* For the discussion of this paper, see "Proceedings of the East India Association" elsewhere in this review.-ED.

in the Chief Court of the Panjáb, the consideration of its true principles formed the most constant, and certainly not the least important, of our duties; and during even a longer period the question of agricultural indebtedness, which so greatly affects the tribal organization of the Province, has occupied, and is still occupying, the attention of the Executive Government. I therefore venture to think that in calling your readers' attention to the tribes and the land in the Panjab I am asking them to consider, not a mere hobby of my own, but a question of very great practical importance.

Mr. Ibbetson's Census Report of 1881 shows that more than half the population of the Panjab consists of agriculturists belonging to distinct tribes, which may be grouped under six main divisions, viz.: (1) Beluchis and Pathans; (2) Jats; (3) Rajputs; (4) Minor Dominant Tribes, or tribes which, though forming a small proportion of the tribal population, are dominant in a particular locality, such as the Kharals and Kathias along the Rávi in the old Multan Division; (5) Minor Agricultural Tribes, or tribes, like the Arunis, which are to be found throughout the Province, without being dominant anywhere; and (6) Foreign Races, like the Shekhs and Moghals. These six groups constitute 504 per 1,000 of the total population of the Province, and more than half of the 504 per 1,000 are Jats or Rajputs, the figures being Jats, 189; Rajputs, 82. Speaking broadly, the tribes are distributed in the following manner: All the Panjab to the east of the Satlaj, including the districts of Delhi, Gurgaon, Rohtak, and Hissár, which were formerly attached to the North-West Provinces, is held by tribes, mainly Jats and Rajputs, of Hindu origin, most of whom, though some have become Muhammadans, have remained Hindus. The same is the case in the central districts of the Panjab to the north of Montgomery, from the Satlaj to the Chenab. In these parts many of the Hindus have become Sikhs, who are also to be found in other parts of the Province, without changing in any material respect their Tribal Law. The frontier districts, from Hazárah

to Derah Ghazi Khan, are held by original Muhammadan tribes-Pathans in the north, Beluchis in the south. In the intermediate districts, comprising the old Rawalpindi Division on the north, and the Multan Division on the south, there is, as might be expected, a mixture of tribes, the great majority of whom are now Muhammadans, though most of them were originally Hindus.

It is impossible within the limits of this article to attempt any detailed account of the origin of the various tribes. Much interesting information on this point is to be found in Mr. Ibbetson's Census Report. The general characteristic of them all is that the tie between the members of the tribe is a belief in a descent from a common ancestor. It is very improbable that this belief is absolutely true in the case of any tribe, but it is probable that it is partially true in the case of all—that is, in each tribe there has been a nucleus of families who really had a common ancestor, and outsiders who have been admitted into the tribe have become so completely absorbed into.it that all trace of their foreign origin has been lost.

A second characteristic common to all the tribes is that they are always stated by their traditions to have come from other parts-in other words, that they were originally migratory. Whilst they were so, there could obviously be no idea of property in land. But as soon as migration ceased and the tribe finally settled in a certain locality, it would within a very short period regard the land on which it settled as its own exclusive property. The first conception of proprietary right would necessarily be a tribal one; the tribe had a right to hold the lands on which it settled against all other tribes. What would be the rights of the tribesmen amongst themselves could only be so regulated by further social developments. What this process of development would naturally be, I have endeavoured to show in my first chapter of "Tribal Law." It cannot be supposed that there was ever a formal meeting of the whole tribe, at which the land was subdivided into villages,

and the villages allotted to different families, or groups of families. What would naturally take place, and what—as far as we can ascertain-generally did take place, would be that families, or groups of families, nearly related by blood, would select the most favourable spots, build houses on them, and cultivate the land jointly. Each collection of groups would soon cease-if it ever commenced--the practise of contributing its produce to a common stock for the whole tribe, and would be regarded as exclusively entitled to permanent possession of the cultivated land. The waste lands would continue to be the common property of all the groups of settlers. But in course of time these also would be demarcated. When this is done, the village takes the place of the tribe as the social unit. No doubt there are parts of the Panjab-especially in the south-west ---where many villages have been formed by enclosing in one boundary, and bringing together for administrative purposes, groups of settlers, unconnected by any tie of blood, who have broken up patches of waste land. But for every village in the Panjáb a village pedigree table has been prepared, giving the names and descent of all the existing owners of land, and a history of the village from its foundation; and, after making full allowance for myths or legends which must necessarily creep into such docu-. ments, I think that it may be safely affirmed that taken as a whole they show that speaking generally in the Panjab the order of social development has been, not the individual, the family, the village, and the tribe, but the tribe, the village, the family, the individual. For whilst our conclusion that the village was formed from the tribe can only be based on the circumstantial evidence afforded by the fact that groups of villages, owned by men of the same tribe, with the same tribal customs, are found in one locality (in the Firozpur District a single tribe thus owns over 1,000 square miles of country without a break), we have, as regards the internal development of the village, the direct evidence of the pedigree tables, which show that

almost invariably where there has been a single founder, and most frequently when there have been groups of founders nearly related, the village was for some time after its foundation held jointly; that when it was partitioned, the partition took place according to descent from a common ancestor, and that where possession alone has taken the place of ancestral shares as the measure of right, the change has been very gradual.

I will not attempt any detailed explanation of the organization of the village community; to those who have served in India such an explanation would be superfluous—to those who have not it would be unintelligible. I would, however, call attention to two most important bodies which are to be found in every village which has originated from a tribe, whatever may be its present state of development— whether it is still held jointly or on ancestral shares, or whether possession has become the measure of right-and these are the Barádaré, or "brotherhood," consisting of all the male proprietors belonging to the same tribe, who are -or were-regarded as the arbiters to settle all disputes, and especially questions of customs; and the "warisan yak jade," who are the male descendants in the male line of the ancestor of each family who first founded or settled in the village, and are the agnatic heirs of every proprietor in that family, and as such have a power of control over his actions in dealing with the land which has descended to him from the common ancestor.

I have dwelt thus at length on the actual conditions of the holding of land in the Panjáb, because both in judicial and in scientific inquiries, and also in dealing with political matters, it is essential that we should investigate and be sure of our facts before we attempt to apply theories or principles of law. If, as some suppose, a tribal state of society, or of occupation of the land by villages originating in a tribe, has long since passed away-if, indeed, it ever existed at all-if the peasant proprietors of the Panjáb are mere groups of individuals formed into village communities

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