Recapitulation
| 1. Khalisa, or fisc[[23]] | Rs. 100,000 |
| 2. Dhuan | 100,000 |
| 3. Anga | 200,000 |
| 4. Sair, imposts[[24]] | 75,000 |
| 5. Paseti, plough-tax | 125,000 |
| 6. Malba, land-tax | 50,000 |
| Total | 650,000 |
Besides this, the fullest amount arising to the prince from annual taxation, there are other items which occasionally replenish the treasure of Surat Singh.
Datoi.
In addition to these specific expedients, there are many arbitrary methods of increasing the “ways and means” to satisfy the necessities or avarice of the present ruler, and [208] a train of dependent harpies, who prey upon the cultivating peasantry, or industrious trader. By such shifts, Surat Singh has been known to double his fixed revenue.
Dand, Khushhali.
The term dand is coeval with Hindu legislation. The bard Chand describes it, and the chronicler of the life of the great Siddhraj of Anhilwara, “who expelled the seven Daddas,” or ‘great evils,’ whose initial letter was d, enumerates dand as one of them, and places it with the Dholis and Dakins, or minstrels and witches, giving it precedence amongst the seven plagues which his ancestors and tyrant custom had inflicted on the subject. Unhappily, there is no Siddhraj to legislate for Rajputana; and were there fourteen Daddas by which Surat Singh could swell his budget, he would retain them all for the oppression of the impoverished Jats, who, if they could, would be happy to expel the letter S from amongst them. But it is from the chieftain, the merchant, and the banker that the chief sums are realized; though indirectly the poor peasant contributes his share. There are fourteen collectors of dand,[[27]] one to every chira or division, and these are furnished with arbitrary schedules according to the circumstances, actual or supposed, of each individual. So unlimited are these exactions, that the chief of Gandeli for two years offered the collector of his quarter ten thousand rupees if he would guarantee him against any further demand during even twelve months; and being refused, he turned the collector out, shut the gates of his castle, and boldly bid his master defiance.
One of his expedients to levy a khushhali, or ‘benevolence,’ is worth relating: it was on the termination of his expedition against Bhatner, which added this celebrated desert and castle to his territory, and in which he was attended by the entire feudal army of Bikaner. On his return, “flushed with conquest,” he demanded from each house throughout his dominions the sum of ten rupees to cover the expenses of the war. If the tyrant-ridden subjects of Surat Singh thus rejoice in his successes, how must they feel for his defeats! To them both are alike ominous, when every [209] artifice is welcomed, every villainy practised, to impoverish them. Oppression is at its height, and must work out its own cure.
Feudal Levies.
The household troops consist of a battalion of foreign infantry, of five hundred men with five guns, and three squadrons of horse, about two hundred and fifty in number; all under foreign leaders. This is independent of the garrison of the capital, whose commandant is a Rajput of the Parihar tribe, who has twenty-five villages assigned for the payment of his troops.[[28]]