INTRODUCTORY RETROSPECT 25 and the scarcity of the cultivators, at a time when there was more land than men to till it, gave the ryot the advan- tage over the zemindar, who was now compelled to court the peasant and make him tempting offers. This not only led to the growth of the two classes of resident and non-resident ryots and to a constant friction between them but it also added to the general misery by fostering violent feuds and quarrels among landed proprietors who had eagerly begun to bid against one another for the hus- bandman. ‘These armed feuds between the landlords very greatly disturbed the repose of the districts! and it is no wonder that the zemindars are described in contem- porary records as “ continual disturbers of the peace of the province”’. From the time of this Famine also, robbery and dacoity became disastrously prevalent. Large tracts of land around every village grew into thick jungles which fostered not only wild beasts Prevalence of rob- মর ওর ৫৩৪, but gave umbrage to terrible gangs of robbers. Besides the numerous and prosperous classes like the thugs, who practised robbery as a hereditary calling, and the bands of cashiered soldiers who turned vagrants, there were thousands of people who were driven by destitution to the desperate course of plundering, and from 1771 the suppression of these lawless sects, who sometimes roved about the country in armies many thousands strong,? was a matter of serious consideration to the Council. Organised outrages took place within an ear-shot from the seat of government. Long records how
+ Hunter, op. cit., pp. 60-61, p. 85.
- See a graphic account of the effects of dacoity in the Regulation
of 1772 (35th Reg.), quoted in Colebrooke’s Supplement to the Digest p. 1-13. Also see Hunter, op. cit. pp. 69 et. seq. 4
