LOCAL AND JIUNICIPAL GOV ERIa-1IE'NT 279
all the revolutions and changes which they have suffered, and
is in a high degree conducive to their happiness, and to the
enjoyment of a great portion of freedom and independence'.'
The typical Indian village has its central residential site, with
an open space for a pond and a cattle stand. Stretching
around this nucleus lie the village lands, consisting of a culti-
vated area and (very often) grounds for grazing and wood-
cutting. The arable fields have their several boundary marks,
and their little subdivisions of earth ridges made for retaining
rain or irrigation water. The inhabitants of such a village pass
their life in the midst of these simple surroundings, welded
together in a little community with its own organization and
government, which differ in character in the various types of
villages, its body of detailed customary rules, and its little staff
of functionaries, artisans, and traders. It should be noted,
however, that in certain portions of India, e.g. in the greater
part of Assam, in Eastern Bengal, and on the west coast of
the Madras Presidency, the village as here described does not
exist, the people living in small collections of houses or in
separate homesteads.
The origin and characteristic features of the ordinary Indian Different
villages have been carefully examined of late years by Mr. B. H. tyes of
Baden-Powell, who divides them into two main classes, viz.:-
(X) The ' severalty' or ryotwari village, which is the prevalent The ryot-
form outside Northern India. Here the revenue is assessed on wari vil-
lage.
individual cultivators. There is no joint responsibility among
the villagers, though some of the non-cultivated lands may be
set apart for a common purpose such as grazing, and waste
land may be brought under the plough only with the permission
of the revenue authorities and on payment of assessment. The
village government vests in a hereditary headman, known by
an old vernacular name, such as pdtel or reddi, who is
responsible for law and order and for the collection of the
Government revenue. He represents the primitive headship
of the tribe or clan by which the village was originally settled.
(2) The joint or landlord village, the type prevalent in the The joint
United Provinces, the Punjab, and the Frontier Province. village
Here the revenue was formerly assessed on the village as a
whole, its incidence being distributed by the body of superior
proprietors, and a certain amount of collective responsibility
still as a rule remains. The village site is owned by the
proprietary body, who allow residences to the tenantry, artisans,
I Quoted in Elphinstone's ZEisloy of.[ndia, Book ii, chal). 2,
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