Political Administration

Mewar

"Meywar, perhaps the eldest of the Rajput States..."

Rajputana Gazeteer, Volume III, Government Central Branch Press, Simla, 1880, p 3.

Jura

The 1880 Rajputana Gazeteer states that the estimated revenue of the Rao at Jura was Rs. 6,000 while the amount of tribute paid by the Rao was Rs. 600.

Rajputana Gazeteer, Volume III, Government Central Branch Press, Simla, 1880, p 62-63.

In 1908-1909, the revenue of the Rao of Jura was estimated to be Udaipuri Rupees 13, 670 and tribute to the Mewar Durbar of Udaipur Rs. 600. A

___ (1909). Administration Report of the Mewar State for the Year 1908-1909. Scottish Mission Industries Co., Ltd., 1909. p. 43. Link.

This website claims that Juda (one of the major villages in Kotra) was one of the thikanas of Mewar (even issued its own revenue stamps). The Chauhans of Juda were what the wikipedia page of Mewar calls "bhomiya sardars" of Mewar. It seems the bhomiya sardars are the lowermost category of jagirdars (big landowners).

Hilly Tracts

The whole of the mountainous country to the west of Meywar, from the borders of Dungarput on the south to the confines of Sirohi and Marwar on the north, is politically known as the Hilly Tracts of Meywar.

Rajputana Gazeteer, Volume III, Government Central Branch Press, Simla, 1880, p 4.

Bhumia chiefs of Hilly Tracts divided into 'Kherwara group' (Jawas, Para, Madri, Chani and Thana) and 'Kotra group' (Jura, Oghna, and Panarwa).

Walter, KM. (1882). Report of The Political Administration of The Rajputana States for 1881-1882. p.86-87. Link.

The Hilly Tracts of Meywar comprise that part of the country lying to the west and south of Udaipur, up to the borders of the states of Serohi, Mahi Rauta, and Dungarpur, between the 24th and 25th degrees of north latitude and 73rd and 75th degrees of east latitude.

Showers, H. L. (1891). The Meywar Bhil Corps. The Journal of the United Service Institution of India, XX (84). 87. Link.

Kotra Bhomat

In 1909, the Kotra bhomat consisted of 3 estates "ruled by Bhumia chiefs": Jura, Panarwa, and Oghna. At that time, Kotra had not been settled; land revenue was collected at the rate of one-fourth of the crops.

___ (1909). Administration Report of the Mewar State for the Year 1908-1909. Scottish Mission Industries Co., Ltd., 1909. p. 43. Link.

After reorganization of districts in 1940, "the Bhomat lies in the modern district known as Kherwara." As of 1942, the Bhomat had 690 villages, of which 36 were khalsa, 652 were jagir, and 2 were muafi. This document claims that the name Bhomat is based on a misconception; the prevailing tenure in the Bhomat is really jagir not bhum.

___ (1944). Report on the Administration of Mewar State for Years 1940, 1941 and 1942. Madras: The Madras Law Journal Press. P. 37-38. Link.

"The population [of the Bhomat] was turbulent and handed over to the British Administration in 1838 and brought again under Mewar State in 1930.

___ (1944). Report on the Administration of Mewar State for Years 1940, 1941 and 1942. Madras: The Madras Law Journal Press. P. 38-39. Link.

Powers of Hilly Tracts' Chiefs

 The chiefs themselves are said to derive little benefit from [the produce of the land], their share of the revenue or produce being very much in the proportion to tho power they possess of exacting them from their subjects, the more powerful of whom have been in the habit of giving what they do, more as a benefaction to the chiefs, than from any acknowledged or inherent right on their part to enforce it.

Hunter, W. (1846). Report on Some of the Rights, Privileges, and Usages of the Hill Population in Meywar. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 8, 176-192. Link.

Boundary Dispute

It was reported that, in 1908-1909, "the appeal in the long-standing boundary case of Khara-kutra-Maria was heard by Colonel C. Hutton Dawson (Political Superintendent, Hilly Tracts) and Lieutenant-Colonel H.D. Merewether (Political Agent, Mahi Kantha), and the disputed ground was decided to belong to Jura (Mewar)."

Administration Report of the Mewar State for the Year 1908-1909, Scottish Mission Industries Co., Ltd., 1909, p. 43. Link.

Political Subdvisions

During Pratap's reign, his younger brother Jagmal appealed to Akbar upon being rejected by the chiefs as his father's heir. Akbar bestowed upon him the pargana of Jahazpur (in Mewar).

 Ramya Sreenivasan, The Many Lives of a Rajput Queen: Heroic Pasts in India C. 1500-1900, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2007, p. 74 (Link)

As of the 1901 census, the State was divided into the following administrative units.

Erkine, K.D. (1908). A Gazetteer of the Udaipur State with a Chapter on The Bhils and Some Statistical Tables. Ajmer: Scottish Mission Industries, Co., Ltd. p.14. [Preface: "This book is merely a collection of such portions of Vols. II-A and II-B of the series of Rajputana Gazetteers...The chapter on the Bhils has been added because it may be of interest and because these people are numerous here."]

"A hakim is in charge of each of the eleven zilas and six parganas into which Mewar is divided. Each zila is composed of two or more subdivisions with a naib-hakim in charge of each, but, with one exception (Kumbhalgarh), there is no such official in a pargana."

Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. XXIV, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1908, p. 98. (Link)

In 1940, Mewar districts were reorganized. The number of districts at the time, 17, was considered excessive for the area of Mewar. Consequently, the number was reduced from 17 to 8. At that point, the district administrators - hakims - were replaced by deputy collectors. The 8 new districts were:

1. Girwa
2. Kherwara
3. Sarara or Magra
4. Rajsamand
5. Kapasin
6. Bhilwara
7. Chitor
8. Jahazpur

___ (1944). Report on the Administration of Mewar State for Years 1940, 1941 and 1942. Madras: The Madras Law Journal Press. P. 7. Link.

As of 1942, there were 456 jagirs of which 23 were ranked in the first class (solah or Umrao), 33 in the second class (battis) and the rest in lower classes (gole).

___ (1944). Report on the Administration of Mewar State for Years 1940, 1941 and 1942. Madras: The Madras Law Journal Press. P. 13. Link.

As of 1942, the total number of villages in Mewar State was 5,563 of which 1,604 were Khalsa villages.

___ (1944). Report on the Administration of Mewar State for Years 1940, 1941 and 1942. Madras: The Madras Law Journal Press. P. 20.  Link.

During settlement, which according to this document started in 1922 (earlier according to other sources), several forms were tenure were acknowledged. These are described in detail.

___ (1944). Report on the Administration of Mewar State for Years 1940, 1941 and 1942. Madras: The Madras Law Journal Press. P. 25-26.  Link.

Settlement

The first settlement in Mewar State occurred in 1879 (by A. Wingate), but settlement of Kotra was not completed until 1955, when 304 villages were settled.


Agarwal, B.D. (1979). Rajasthan District Gazetteers: Udaipur. Jaipur: Government of Rajasthan. p. 338-340.

Allegiance

"The hill districts of Udaipur to the south and south-west are inhabited by wild and restless tribes of Bhils and Girasias, under Rajput Chiefs owing a nominal allegiance to Udaipur, holding rights of property in the land over which the Maharana has no power, and levying blackmail on neighbouring villages and a tax on the passage of goods and travellers, for whose safety they are considered responsible."

C. U. Aitchison  (Compiler), Treaties, Engagements, and Sanads Relating to India and Neighboring Countries, Vol III, p. 14, Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta, 1909. (Link)

Bhumia Tenure

The Bhumia, the holder of this tenure, "had a proprietorship very different than feudal chiefs or tenants of crown lands. Originally, they seem to have belonged to the aristocrat class, but gradually sank from that position to that which they now occupy, which is, however, one of respectability and of considerable independence."

Sherring, M., The Tribes and Castes of Rajasthan, Cosmo Publications, New Delhi, 1975, p. 9. Link.

Independence of Bhomat chiefs

"None of the Grasia chiefs were ever subjugated by Meywar, and they hold the bhum, or right of property in the land, over which the Rana has no power. They are not liable to be called upon for regular service, to which they are not subject, or to attend at the capital; but they pay a quit-rent in token of submission."

Rajputana Gazeteer, Volume III, Government Central Branch Press, Simla, 1880, p 62-63.

Around 1826, the British political agent in Mewar conducted an inquiry to determine whether any precedent existed for the chiefs of Jura, Merpur, Ogana and Panarwa to pay tribute to the Mewar Durban. It was determined that even if the Mewar Darbar ever had a valid claim of supremacy over these chiefs, it had been dormant for at least a period of 40 years.

Hunter, W. (1843), Art. IX - Report on the Rights, Privileges, and Usages of the Hill Population of Meywar. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 8, p. 176. Retrieved from link. (Captain W. Hunter of the Mewar Bhil Corps)

The plains and foothills of Mewar "were decisively mastered by the Rajputs. The Bhomat, however, presents a completely different picture. There the Bhils were never conquered; even the Jagirdars are of Bhil ancestry."

Carstairs, G. Morris (1955), Bhil Villages of Western Udaipur: A Study in Resistance to Social Change, India's Villages. Bombay: Asia Publishing House. p. 68. Link.