BY
KRITI KANAUJIA
PART 1
(UN)CONVENTIONAL MAPPINGS
INTRODUCTION
The recorded human
history of the past has always been pre-dominated by primitive activities and
agriculture. Throughout recorded history, there have been ample evidences indicating
the recording and workings of the agricultural systems and the people
associated with it. In India as well, the Indus valley people were known to
have agriculture, granaries and trade. Perhaps a formalisation of the land
records system in medieval times can be traced back to the reign of Alauddin
Khalji in a primeval form who utilised it for administering land around and in
the present city of Delhi. In the later centuries, with the advent of Mughals
and the stable reign of Akbar, India was formally given its land revenue system[i]
based on empiricism and field study by one of Akbar’s famous courtiers: Raja
Todar Mal. It was Raja Todar Mal’s intellect and foresight that the system is
still followed at the grass roots in contemporary India and even the British[ii]
made a thorough study of such land record documents for administering India.
The system is; at
present practiced formally within the ambit of the concerned revenue
departments of each state and district of India with changes only in the medium
or language of recording data since this is micro level data encompassing local
geology, agricultural regimes and cycles, micro level geography and ownership
and inheritance data.
At some places, the
terminology for patwari may be different because of language and region, for
instance the name of patwari varies from being Patwari in the regions of
Telangana, Bengal, North India and Pakistan to Tapedar in Sindh; the term
further varies in Tamil Nadu wherein they are referred to as Karnam or Adhikari
and Talati in Gujarat. In Maharashtra, Patwari was referred to either as Talati
or Kulkarni. Karnataka presented with North- South diversity wherein Patwari
was referred to as Kulkarni in North Karnataka and as Shanbogaru in South
Karnataka. But across the length and breadth of Indian sub-continent, a Patwari
existed irrespective of diversity of names as a crucial element in the
efficient functioning of the revenue system.
It is interesting to
note however, that many a times, the micro or ground level records’ keepers
(Patwari) are genealogical successors passing information orally and formally
from one Patwari to another. Patwaris and Kanungos[iii]
are the ones who are officially responsible for conducting field surveys,
record changes and are responsible for the upkeep of records.
TRADITIONAL
RECORDS AND MAINTENANCE
Fig.1:
The present day Revenue map for district of North West, Delhi indicating
different revenue villages with their boundaries.
Source:
Department of Revenue, Delhi
Fig.2:
Satellite imagery of village Rithala in present day.
Source:
Google Maps
Traditional records
were based on two very important maps or to technically state; a reference
sketch referred to as Aks Shajra or Shajra Kishtwar and a detailed
topographical map referred to as a Masavi. For administering day to day work,
the Aks Shajra remained/ still
remains with the Patwari and the Patwari is responsible for its maintenance,
record keeping and upgradation based on regular field visits. Aks Shajra is
usually made on white piece of cloth (natural fibre made from cotton) because
practically it is easier to maintain and carry; as it can be folded or shoved
in the widths of a register or pocket for easy transportation and it does not
get torn or creased or any other kind of damage that is possible to a paper
sketch.
Fig.3:
Aks Shajra of village Rithala
Source:
Delhi Development Authority
Fig.4:
An enlarged view of Aks Shajra of Rithala focussed upon Abadi in right side and
agricultural fields on the left.
Source:
Delhi Development Authority
Fig.5:
Masavi map of Rithala following grid pattern and North West to South East
direction.
Source:
Delhi Development Authority
A Masavi on the other hand, was drawn on a piece of paper (the size
of modern day A2 sheets) following a set pattern of grids running from North to
South and East to West along with an Index or Legend for easier reference. The
Masavi was a very detailed map and followed traditional measurements; with a
village being represented on one sheet to ten or twelve sheets sometimes
depending on the size and extent of the village. The Legend Masavi sheet was
counted as plus one for all the Masavi sheets of the village. To exemplify,
If
a village is represented by 8 Masavi sheets along with one legend Masavi, it
would be connotated as x village= 8 +1
The Masavi was a
traditional toposheet outlining the natural relief features along with the anthropogenic
features namely, village settlement area or Abadi, religious structures, roads
and paths, canals and rivers, badlands, ridge, marshes and so on in great
details and were also colour coded with the legend providing information or key
to decipher. An important element of drawing both Shajra and Masavi was that
they were not aligned to the Northerly direction. Rather they were prepared or
started from North West and terminated in South West. This is exemplified by
the numbering of village fields or plots wherein the 1 numbered plot is found
in the top corner of North West and the last numbered plot is found in the
bottom corner of South East.
Fig.6:
Map legend of Rithala and Color legend of Kanjhawala, examples of types of legends
used in Masavi maps.
Source:
Delhi Development Authority
Shajra and Masavi were
different in their inception and nature because Shajra was a sketch whereas
Masavi was a map. Following this difference, Shajra traditionally was never
prepared with a legend whereas a Masavi always had a legend. While Shajra was
prepared on one sheet of cloth, Masavi on the other hand was prepared; at the
minimum on two paper sheets. While Shajra has to be updated every 4 or 5 years,
a Masavi is prepared only at the time of Consolidation or Chak bandi /
Bandobast with the year recorded on top. In essence, while Shajra is a
reference to ground reality, Masavi on the other hand is a map which is an
accurate approximate representation of ground/ micro level reality based on a
grid and accompanied by a legend.
The Aks Shajra was/is
administered with a Khasra Girdawari, Khatauni and Jamabandi. Khasra was and is used traditionally to
record details of all the fields in a village along with their area,
measurements, name of owners and cultivators, type of crops grown, type of soil
and even the kind of natural vegetation prevalent on the land. In essence,
Khasra is a record to register harvest inspections which are conducted in the
months of September-October (Kharif crop), February- March (Rabi crop) and
April- May (Zaid crop).
Khatauni
on the other hand, is more specific and is based on Khasra Girdawari. It is
similar to an abstract listing out all the land holdings owned by an individual
or a family in the village providing detailed information on the owner(s) of a
given piece of land(s) in the village.
As the patwari
stationed in each village was the traditional records’ keeper; maintaining
records of not only land/property but also of births, deaths, marriage,
inheritance, ownership and so on, all these changes were recorded and updated
in the official document referred to as the Jamabandi. Jamabandi means rights of records in context of land records. It is
revised every 4 or 5 years depending on state and is prepared by the respective
patwaris reflecting the changes recorded over a course of 4 or 5 years, after
which it is attested by the respective Revenue officer. Two copies are usually
prepared wherein one is housed in government’s record room and the other is
placed with the patwari.
The Patwari was/is
required to maintain a day book referred to as Rognamcha to record its daily activities of the field for record
keeping and cross checking for further reference. Apart from this, the
traditional records are all updated at the time of Consolidation or Chak Bandi/
Bandobast wherein the land holdings are consolidated and re-distributed to
reduce the number of plots in the land holdings and to have efficient
utilisation of land and resources. This varies from village to village or
region to region. In Delhi’s villages this happened variously with Chak Bandi
occurring in 1907-08 and the last one in the beginning of 1960s in the villages
of North- West Delhi. The year of Chak Bandi is always mentioned on top of the
Masavi for reference in future.
Another crucial
document created was Wajib-ul Arz or
record of village genealogy. It was created in 1880 in Urdu for the villages
present in Delhi at that time. It contains information on the beginnings of the
village, its earliest residents and their genealogy. But this practice is lost
at the moment and is overtaken by the modern innovations and practices of
record keeping. However, it is interesting to note that Wajib- ul Arz is
treated as a legal document and is permissible to be presented as evidence in
any court of law in India to resolve land disputes since it is a
record/evidence of recorded ownership.
A
NEED FOR PRESERVATION
In the present world
where everything is virtually[iv]
available, there is a need to preserve these traditional sources of information
recording history and geography of their times. There is a need for their
translation from Urdu to Hindi and English and other contemporary languages so
that they are easier to research upon and are easy to access. These documents
and records are treasure troves of cultural history and geography with
practical applicabilities even in contemporary times and there is a need to
bring them to the light of the masses (atleast the urban populace because they
are still relevant in ruralism and used till date) for better cultural
sustainability and to prevent erasure of traditional knowledge.
END
NOTES
[i]
It is also observed that the Patwar system was first introduced by Sher
Shah Suri in his very short yet eventful rule as emperor of Delhi and India
during 1540 to 1545. This system was further enhanced by Akbar and used by
British few centuries later albeit with only minor modifications.
[ii] In
the year 1814, legislation was enacted by the British government wherein all
the villages were obligated to maintain a village accountant or Patwari as a
representative and official agent of the British government.
[iii] Kanungos along with Patwaris are
trained officials responsible for conducting field surveys, record changes in
field or ownership, maintenance of records and so on. Kanungos are a step
higher in hierarchy than Patwaris. Patwaris are supervised by Kanungos.
[iv] Delhi
Development Authority has made these records available virtually but they are
of poor quality since the original records are in a poor state and it is
difficult to translate as they are mostly in Urdu.
REFERENCES
·
Village
Accountant, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_accountant
·
Department
of Revenue, NCT of Delhi, www.delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/DoIT_Revenue/revenue/home
·
Land
Management Information System, DDA, https://dda.org.in/ddausers/LMIS_SITE/LMIS_HOME.htm
·
Rithala
Google map, www.google.co.in/maps/place/Rithala
Author's Bio- Note:
Kriti Kanaujia is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Philosophy from Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. Her interest areas include urban planning and development, urban culture and society and urban aesthetics.
No comments:
Post a Comment