Mirasi System in Pre-Colonial South India MIZUSlDMA, Tsukasa Tokyo University of Foreign Studies I. Mirasi System In the pre-colonial South Indian society land had been located and incorporated in the nexus of social relationship. Any rights viewed to be landed had been just one of the expressions in it. It has been elsewhere presented by the author a view to understand pre-colonial south Indian so­ ciety from the aspect of 'share distribution system' (Mizushima 1986). The village produce in pre-colonial period was divided into many shares in the shapes of dues, state tax, or cultivators' share. Lives of those engaged in production activities were maintained by these shares in the produce, which had been customarily established and linked to the assigned roles in maintaining the pre-coloniallocal society. Such customary right like inheritance or inherited right was called kliTJi and the person with such right was called kliTJiyatchikkliran in Tamil. In the British revenue ad­ ministration the right was generally designated as mirasi, an Arabic term, and the holder was called mirasidlir. Their right had been so fIrmly established that it was transferable either by sale, mortgage, or inheritance. The system constituted the core of the local society. Economic structure, class struc­ ture, and other features of the society were expressed in it in the pre-colonial period. The author named such system as mirasi system. One of the most salient features of the mirasi system was its high flexibility and adjustability to an emerging new situation. The right to the share was linked not necessarily with the recipient but with the role performed by him. Even if the players of roles were changed or replaced, the shares were still reserved. Vacancy caused by the recipient's movement could be easily fIlIed by any newcomer wishing to undertake the role. It could, therefore, accommodate the people's high mo­ bility, which has been commonly observed in Indian rural area due to the precarious nature of Indian 22 agriculture, to the nomadic herding, and other reasons. In the same way newly created roles could be absorbed in the system by allocating a new share from the produce. Here the activities concerned not only the economic aspect but also the religious and other aspects, which was indicated by the fact that the temples and Brahmins were also included among the recipients of various dues. In ad­ dition any change in class relation among the members of the local society could be covered by the adjustment of internal mechanisms (shares, tax-free land, and their recipients) , so that the sys­ tem itself would never break down. Though it is not yet ascertained when the mirasi system as a sys­ tem was established in South India,l this flexibility surely allowed the mirasi system to survive as the core system for a very long period. Mirasi system was a very indigenous and highly effective institution in the history of South India. n. Community and State From a study about the amount of various types of dues, the extent of tax-free land, the number of villages where dues or tax-free lands were granted, or the composition of the recipients, we can observe in the mirasi system a highly competitive relationship between the state and local so­ ciety, from which two competitive forces can be discerned. If we term 'the wielding of power as well as movement to maximize one's own interest' as 'formation', the force to protect and maximize the interests of the local society may be called as 'community formation' and the counter-force to enlarge the state's interests as 'state formation'. Each of them seeks dominance over another to reach a maximum of autonomy. By discerning these two formations in operation, we can clearly understand the nature of different type of shares or the mirasi system itself. The state and the communal formations operated competitively in enlarging own shares in the produce. That is, the state tried ac­ commodating the local interests by allowing dues to the core members of the local society while seek­ ing more shares for its own. On the other hand the local society tried hard to increase their share in the shape of dues, tax-free land, or cultivators' share. There must have been serious conflict between the state and the members of local society to fmalize the share proportion, as was often observed at the initial period of colonial rule. The mirasi system was thus formed and maintained in the course of conflicts and compromises between the two formations. 23 m. N~ in Colonial Administration If we assume the two formations in operation, our next task is to discern the bearers of the formation. In Chola period we know narrars as the representatives of the local society called M4u. According to Subbarayalu, M4u was the groupings of agricultural settlements formed by natural fac­ tors conducive to agriculture, and each nallu was basically a cohesive group of agricultural people tied together by marriage and blood relationships. The people who occupied the dominant position in each M4u were narrars. Among the group members in the M4u assembly, narrars, being the rep­ resentatives of the villages· of agricultural landholders and being the prime landholders in the re­ spective n04u, presented themselves as the chief spokesmen of the people in the region. Matters con­ cerned with the naq,u were settled by the narrars in the local assembly called by the same name or nallu. These narrars must have had some communal tie like caste or kinship relation among them­ selves in the respective M4us (Subbarayalu 1973: 33-34,39-40). Though it is beyond the scope of the present study to verify his argument, narfQrs may be presumed to be the bearers of communal for­ mation in the original form. Later historical development, however, naturally brought changes into the local societies, which caused significant changes to the role and status of the narrars. In this regard it is interesting to note that some records in the early colonial period suggest the existence of very influential nar!ars in some parts of South India. For instance, Warren Hastings wrote in 1771 that 'the Nattwars, or chief inhabitants of each district, are by the established custom of the country the agents or representatives of the people, and negotiate all transactions between their constituents and the circar [state]. Their in­ fluence is commonly very great with the people... .' (Letter of Warren Hastings, 2 December 1771, Fort St. George Public Consultations, 3 December 1771: 873). The point to be clarified is to what extent this remark was applicable in the period. As the author has done the study on narrar in a few districts in South India elsewhere by utilizing contemporary records, we will briefly follow it below (Mizushima 1986: Chapter IT). Chingleput or the Jagir had some very influential narrars. As cited before, Warren Hastings stated in 1771 that they acted in the locality as the representatives of the inhabitants and negotiated all the transactions with the government. When Place, who took the collectorship in 1794, met the strong resistance from the inhabitants against his attempt to enforce village lease system, he tried utilizing the nanars' influence. He requested the Board of Revenue strenuously the appointment of na!!ar as the revenue officer acting between the Collector and the inhabitants. They were accordingly appointed in the respective paraganas in 1797. What were expected from them were to extend 24 cultivation, to improve the revenue, to gather information, and to assist in making jummahbundy (revenue assessment). For these duties, they were confIrmed or newly granted the privileges of shrotrium (lowly assessed land) ,ma~iyam (tax-free land) , and higher varam (share in the produce) . These narrars thus appointed by Place were, however, destined to be abolished in 1799 when the permanent zamindari settlement was ordered to be introduced. The region was to be divided into sixty zamindari units and was to be auctioned out in 1802. Narrars' role in the revenue administration became totally unnecessary as the assessments of the zamindaris were to be permanently fIxed. Though the zamindari settlement was not successful and the village lease system or raiyatwari settlement was reintroduced into the area, na!!ars never became the subject for discussion any more. Of the three privileges granted to the narrars in Place's time, only the shrotrium was allowed to be possessed. Shrotriums continued to be held by them till the 1860s, when the Inam Commission reconfrrmed them in most of the cases. When Tiruvendipuram near Pondichery was occupied by the English East India Company in 1750, six narrars took the lease. They claimed to be the descendants of the narrars who originally opened the area. The narrars enjoyed the privileges of ten percent landlord rent from the lands cul­ tivated by others, higher share in the produce, twenty-five percent deduction of their rent, the right of mortgage, the fees on the goods, and the ma~yam land. The area was then auctioned in 1756, which the narrars failed to bid. The outsiders became the renter. The narrars' privileges were officially abolished by the Company in 1768, though most of them continued to be held by the na!!ars even after that. The narrars requested the restoration (actually reconfrrmation) of their previous priv­ ileges in 1775 and all except their landlord rent were restored in the same year. Their privileges, however, were again abolished in 1779 by some unknown reason. The narrars were once again re­ instated in their post in 1786. Na!{ars were expected to improve the cultivation. At the same time they were granted five percent allowance upon the net annual revenue from the farm instead of regaining their old privileges.