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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 15, p. 183.

A'DYWIMSTRATION 183 was originally established for three years; but it was continued for a succession of short periods, and was eventually, abolished on April !899. Since its. establishment the peace of Kathiawar has seldom been broken by, the more unruly members of the chiefs' families; but a real or fancied grievance may still produce -a body of outlaws; and as recently as 1892 a band of these bahdrwattias was not captured until they had caused the death of the British officer in charge of the pur- suing troops. At the present time disputes between the first four" classes of chiefs are usually referred to the State courts, and are dealt with by the Agent to the Governor in appeal. Similar disputes between the tdlukddrs of other classes are decided by the judicial Assistant, subject to the control of the Agent to the Governor, according to rules published in x898. As each tribe of Rajputs invaded the peninsula, its chiefs bestowed on their relations portions of the land they had won. This share was named kapalgiras, and passed to the descendants of the original grantees. The more enterprising girdsias continued to acquire fresh lands from their neighbours, until they found themselves sufficiently strong to set up as independent rulers. Others, less enterprising, surrendered the greater portion of the land to a neighbouring chief in return for pro- tection, and fell into the position of mulgirdsias or ' original sharers:' When a girdsia succeeded in gaining his independence he became a tdlukddr, and assumed the title of Thakur, Raval, Rana, or Raja. As he rose in the social scale, the landed proprietor became anxious to leave his possessions intact to his eldest son; at the same time the custom of the country compelled him to set aside a portion of his estates for each of his younger sons, and these in turn became girasias owing submission to the head of the family, but otherwise independent. Thus in Kathiawar landed property has been minutely subdivided, and the process still continues, so that some estates not larger than .a single village have upwards of a hundred shareholders. As a rule, the revenue control of these estates has been left to the shareholders, except during minority; &c: In addition to the landed estates held by tdlukddrs and girdsias, many villages or portions of villages are held hereditarily as religious 'and service grants. Another large class of proprietors are jivaiddrs, or holders of estates as maintenance or on service tenure. They have not the position or privileges of girasias, and possess neither civil nor criminal jurisdiction. Some of them are life tenants. Common forms of service tenure are lands held by village headmen, watchmen, or scavengers, or by tribes such as the 1Vlers who pay a hearth-tax and a plough-tax for cultivation, though in some cases holding rent free: The talukddrs of Kathiawar have absolute power over property in their private or khalsa land: The landlord's rent-or rdj bkdg is; a fixed share of the produce. In practice this share is supplemented by numerous