Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 edition. Excerpt:...Village Community." In the book before us be sums up the results for general reading. He reduces the villages of India to two main types, which he calls the Severalty village and the Joint village. The distinguishing marks are in the former, independent holdings and a hereditary headman; in the latter, the land held in common by the villagers or a certain privileged part of them, and a council for administration made of the heads of the sharing families. The former class (a Dravidian type) is found in all India south of the Vindhya Hills; the latter prevails in the Punjab,N.'.Provinces, and Oudh, and was probably introduced by the Rajputs, Sats, and later immigrants. There are some doubtful forms, such as the Kolarian village. Mr. Baden-Powell is probably right in denying that this type developed into the Dravidian; but it is doubtful what relation there may be between the two. There are some indications of communal customs; Mr. BadenPowell denies that allotment and redistribution of land prove communal holding, but many will not follow him so far. In the Joint villages. the class of co-sharers is not always the same. Some are the descendants of one man--that' is a large family; others are groups originally split off some larger tribe, or a number of persons come together by voluntary association. The prevailing theory is that all village types have been derived from the communal. But this must be dismissed as unproven in view of the fact that there is no evidence in the Dravidian area of anything preceding the " severalty " type. Had the knowledge now available been available thirty years ago, it is pretty certain that the above theory would never have been formed. VVe do not assert that Mr. Baden-Powell meets all...