Indian Economic & Social History Review

http://ier.sagepub.com Contested claims: Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath (New documents from Chamba)
Mahesh Sharma Indian Economic Social History Review 2006; 43; 487 DOI: 10.1177/001946460604300404 The online version of this article can be found at: http://ier.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/43/4/487

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Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 487

Contested claims: Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath (New documents from Chamba)
Mahesh Sharma
Panjab University, Chandigarh Visiting Faculty, University of North Florida
The article grapples with the period of transition from native to colonial rule. It comprehends the crisis of political-economy in transition by contextualising certain civil cases and petitions to understand how people exploited the ambiguity between power and authoritybetween the ideology of tradition and the method of colonial institutionsto elevate their social and economic status. While the colonial institutions could empower individuals and groups economically, only traditional authority could legitimise their revision in social status. The strategy employed by the Jogis of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh, who petitioned the Raja while simultaneously exploring the legal framework and the land settlement regime of their British masters, indicates their comprehension of the system in transition. The institutional framework of the latter empowered them, while the nominal authority of the Raja was invoked to claim social status. This strategy, of social mobility and empowerment, undergirds the transformation in the agrarianscape, and contextualises the ascendance of religious orders/ leaders who cut across caste and sectarian boundaries at the time when the state was in the process of transition.

Immediately after colonial rule was asserted in Kangra (301542 to 325 N and 75 to 7745 E), the purohit-priests corporation of the Jwalamukhi shrine consisting of 22 familiespetitioned the new administration, contesting and asserting their rights to donations made by the royal family, besides the gold donated to the temple by pilgrims. The petition was perhaps motivated by the fact that the Katoch rulers, followed by the Sikhs, had appropriated the donations to the temple as state property. The only exceptions to this rule were the personal offerings of pilgrims, and donations made by the royal family to individual priests. Colonial rule, however, did not appropriate any share of the donations, leaving it The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 43, 4 (2006) SAGE New Delhi/Thousand Oaks/London Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh sharma on February 2, 2007 DOI: 10.1177/001946460604300404for commercial use or unauthorized 2006 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not
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to be distributed among the corporate body of priests serving the shrine. These now included the bhojaki priests, who offered temple services and were inferior in status and ritual hierarchy to the purohits. The purohit corporate alleged that the bhojaki priests had already appropriated a considerable amount of gold (two gold canopies worth Rs 1,600 and 66 tolas799 gmsof gold) offered to the temple.1 The purohit corporation petitioned for the undivided share of the donations that came to the shrine. They went further and demanded as their share the donations in precious metals and cash, which previously was the right of the pre-colonial state. In challenging the old ratio of division of the donations, the petitioners assumed that the colonial regime would not appropriate the share of the state as was past practiceor, it certainly wanted to ensure that it did not claim any such prerogative. Such petitions were common at the stage of transition from one regime to another, made perhaps with an assumption that the new masters would be particularly ignorant of the customs and customary forms of local knowledge. On the other hand, the colonial state sought to control the lives of individuals without necessarily sharing their values.2 While such a control defined the distinctive and peculiar cultural relationship between the state and society, it also exacerbated tensions and affected communal politics. Gilmartin, for instance, illustrates such a relationship of control and tension as an impact of the colonial structure on the conception of community and its politics among Muslims of Panjab.3 Yet, the leaders of the community exploited these instruments of control to leverage their status and economically empower themselves. It has been well-documented that the Brahminical priests and the monastic orders manipulated both the new instruments of land settlement and the judicial process to assert ownershipappropriating land by claiming power and status in connivance with local zamindars. In the Balakrupi shrine of Tika Har in Kangra, for instance, the Brahminical priests appropriated prime land by geographically distancing the low-caste servitors of the shrine. Consequent to the sanskritisation of the peasant deity and the emergence of the shrine as an economically vibrant centre, genealogies and myth were manipulated to ritually exclude the low-caste priests from the temple. That such an assertion of power was legally legitimised undergirds the mechanism through which the agencies of the state connived with ambitious upper-caste leaders.4 This article is a study of the priests of one north Indian shrine in Chamba, an erstwhile princely state and now a district in Himachal Pradesh, bordering the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the northwest and Panjab in the southwest. It presents civil court documents that elaborate on the processes by which one group claimed superior ritual status and the ways in which its efforts at economic dominance were contested by others within the sectarian community. These documents
1 2

Document no III, in Goswamy, Documents from Three Pahari Temples, pp. 25657. Doyle, Empire, as quoted by Gilmartin, Empire and Islam. 3 Gilmartin, Empire and Islam. 4 Sharma, Marginalisation and http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh sharma on FebruaryRealm of Faith, pp. 10015. Downloaded from Appropriation, pp. 7391; also The 2, 2007
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Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 489

are a testimony to the attempt made by the ritually low-caste Jogis of Charpat in Chamba to claim ritual leadership and economic advantage by subtly invoking the authority of the Raja and manipulating the power of the colonial structures present in the instruments of land settlement and judicial process. In the changing context of colonial governance, however, the instruments that allowed for economic betterment and possible upward mobility were open to other members of the sectarian community as well. The competition for these advantages underscored prevailing tensions within the religious community and its conception of religious leadership. The Context According to the medieval vamsavali-genealogy of the Chamba rulers, Charpatnath is closely associated with the formation of the state in the tenth century.5 The Charpatnath shrine is linked with Charpat, who is mentioned in the Buddhist Siddhacharya tradition, and somewhat more elaborately in the Kanphata or Nath tradition as an alchemist or a rasesvara Siddha, the disciple of Goraksanath. These traditions assume that Charpat visited the Himalayan state of Chamba sometime in antiquity to look for herbs in his quest for immortality.6 There is, however, no mention of Charpat in the numerous charters issued by Chamba rulers, other than in the geneology that ends abruptly in 1640. Though there is no evidence about the portal of Charpatnath, the Jogi priests received the first grant in 1783. According to the tanqih no. 522 provided along with the genealogical table to prove inheritance in the first regular land settlement of Chamba, the Jogi priests claimed Saroha gotra-lineage and Jogi caste.7 As a caste group, the Jogis accepted matrimony as a basis of succession. But the ascetic Jogis differed from them insofar as they refused to abide by the norms of householders, and the succession to the seat of the preceptor was decided by an election within the fraternity. A successor was chosen from the group of chelas or ascetic-pupils, who were all defined by a [fictive] kinship term, gur-bhais or sectarian-brothers, descendants of a common guru.8

For details, see Sharma, State Formation and Cultural Complex, pp. 387431. Charpati or Charpat finds mention in all standard works on medieval mysticism and the Nath cult, on Gorakhnath and hagiographic literature surrounding him. It is difficult to date him based on this literature. In Chamba the oral tradition of the genealogy (its crediblity notwithstanding) ascribes a tenth-century provenance to him. It is speculated that Charpat existed in the thirteenth century, when some tantric influences were discernable on a singular sculpture of Siddha recovered from Chamba. Bhamboolnath, Sri Charpat Satkam; Yadav, Vajrayani Siddha Sarhyada; Tucci, Animadversiones Indicae, and Tibetan Painted Scrolls; Singh, Gorakhnath and Medieval Hindu Mysticism; Dwivedi, Nath Sampradaya; and recently, White, The Alchemical Body. 7 The shajra-nasab or the genealogical table was attached to the copy of succession to prove inheritance in the misl-haqiyah register of the revenue village, mohal, Chamba vide Khata No. 892/ khatauni no. 1323 in the process of the final settlement of Chamba in 1957. 8 The sacred kinship tie as the basis of organisation and succession amongst medieval mystic sects has been elucidated by Gold, The Lord as Guru, andmahesh sharma on February 2,Among the Sants. Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by Clans and Lineage 2007
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It may also be noted that the suffix Nath after the name of Jogis implied that they were adherents of the Nath-Siddha ascetics, a hatha-yogic sect created by merging 12 Shaivite hatha-yogic sects by Goraksanath. In this case, the members owed allegiance to Charpatnath. It is doubtful if the shrine was terribly prosperous or central in the consideration of the Chamba state. Renewal charters provided the shrine with some customary cesses (mange the muafi), along with a fixed annuity in cash. It also received offerings made by devotees (both in cash and kind) along with contributions made by the royal household on ceremonial and other ritualistic occasions. The tradition of Jogis cut across and fused the narrow sectarian lines between the Kaula tradition bordering the state of Jammu, and the Nath-Siddha tradition popular in Panjab. It was particularly popular in the peripheral areas of the Chamba state. The construction of marhis (hutment) of the Jogis in the pastoral and agrarian ruralscape in the border areas of Jammu and Panjab, particularly in Churah (largely the contested area bordering Jammu and Kashmir), underscores the significance of these cultural outposts in creating a constituency that was drawn into the politicoreligious orbit of the state. These centres were the cultural embodiments of local identities that the state itself protected, much like the Deotas (area-specific godlings) of Simla and Kulu districts. The Jogis of Charpat derived their power by functioning as hinge-figures that linked these cultural outposts on the periphery with the state. Indeed, by abandoning ascetic practices the Jogis lost some of their charisma, and dropped in the caste hierarchy. Yet, by claiming matrimonial ties with the spectrum of professional castes dotting the rural periphery of the Chamba state, the Jogis influenced a vast, albeit fluid, religious constituency bonded by kinship ties. This is evident from the number of Jogis, heads of such marhis, making annual tribute to the Charpat Jogis in both cash and kind, and accepting their sectarian superior status.9 Such a constituency was politically manipulated, even if it remained on the margins of the larger political and social formations in the neighbourhood. For instance, the people of Churah oscillated between Chamba and the Jammu Hill States that patronised the dominant Kaula sectarians, so much so that the treaty signed in 1781 between Brij Raj Dev of Jammu and Raj Singh of Chamba made a particular point of mentioning the religious constituency of the Kaula Dharma in the territory of Churah. They were to be patronised by Jammu, even though political control over them was ceded to Chamba.10 The relations amongst the Jogis were not always tension-free, and in the early 1920s the preeminence of the Charpat Jogis was challenged because some of their practices were outside the purview of Jogi rituals.
9 Account sheets of the Charpat shrine in the possession of the Mahant at Chamba, particularly between 1850 and 1950. 10 Sharma, State Formation and Cultural Complex, pp. 387431; Rose, A Glossary, pp. 320, 566, 57172, 626. For patronage to Kaula practitioners, see the 1781 agreement between Raja Brij Raj of Jammu and Raj Singh of Chamba, C25, Vogel, Catalogue of the Bhuri Singh Museum, p. 70. For a general discussion on Kaula practices, see the second part of Dyczkowski, The Canon of the Saivagama. Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh sharma on February 2, 2007

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Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 491

It may be of some interest to observe that the advocates of a sanskritic civilisation loathed the social and ritual practices of the Jogis, shrouded as they were in mystery.11 Amongst their detractors in this pre-1920s civilisational discourse were also the colonial rulers, who had little sympathy for their practices. Buck despised them as meat-eaters and wine-drinkers,12 while Omen dubbed them as peripatetic, hypocrites and cheats;13 Maclagan revealed their murderous proclivity,14 and Crooke cited data from Mullalys report on Madras to classify them as a criminal tribe.15 They were portrayed as being among those who hovered on the margins of society, eroding its social and cultural order. Yet the fact that they effectively controlled the agrarian-pastoral mindset comes across forcefully. It was their charismatic control over their constituency that catapulted these marginal groups in the consideration of the state until they became one of the elements that [re-]introduced the sacred in the construction of the royal genealogy of the Chamba rulers. The Documents The documents presented have legal concerns and are addressed to the Raja of Chamba, in his personal capacity as a rulerfrom whom grants of rights could be extracted or validatedas well as the chief juridical arbiter. At this time, the criminal and civil courts were located in the capital town, Chamba, presided over by Judges with first class magisterial powers appointed by the Raja.16 There was, nevertheless, a definitive magisterial hierarchy defining the extent of juridical power vested in a particular court. For instance, the Chamba State Gazetteer of 1904 mentions Lala Karam Chand and Jai Dyal as the Judges of Small Cause Courts with their power to fine not exceeding Rs 50, who adjudicated petty criminal cases carrying sentences of not more than three months. The third class magistrate also carrying the functions of Munsif, who was the chief revenue officer as well, and he could inflict fines up to Rs 500. He was superseded, in the judicial hierarchy, by the second class Magistrate and Munsif, who in turn were superseded by the Principal Judicial Officer carrying the functions and power of second class Magistrate and Munsif. Capital punishment could be inflicted only by the Raja, subject to confirmation by the Commissioner of Lahore.17 The cases were tried in
11 The adherence or departure from sanskritic texts and rituals sometimes works as a pointer to the purity of a practice or belief. The debate about auspicious, pious, purity, pollution, unity and diversity has its moorings in the discourse that revolves around non-sanskritic practices. Recently Ursula M. Sharma tried to locate the linkages between different cultural levels of religious tradition and activity in the Kangra hills to the consistent application of the rules of purity and pollution, The Problems of Village Hinduism, p. 21. 12 Buck, Faiths, Fairs and Festivals of India, p. 129. 13 Oman, The Mystics, Ascetics and Saints, pp. 18384. 14 Punjab Census Report, 1891, p. 266. 15 Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore, Vol. II, p. 105. 16 Chamba State Gazetteer, pp. 262, 267. 17 Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh sharma on February 2, 2007 Ibid., pp. 26667.

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the Chamba state according to the Indian Penal Code, which enforced both the Codes of Criminal and Civil Procedure.18 There was, however, also a provision of personal law that accorded primacy to the customary. But the conception of customary in turn became a category of social analysis, which was appropriated by the British to underscore the legitimacy of their institutions and their claim to power through imperial linkages, and not the authority of tradition or the Raja. A wedge was, thus, created between the authority wielded by the Raja, legitimised by tradition and the colonial state, and power, the function of colonial institutions, forced on Chamba. The legal documents presented here are in the collection of the Mahant of the portal of Charpatnath in Chamba, and I transcribed them at a fortunate moment when they were made accessible to me. I am also responsible for the translations of the documents presented in the Appendix. The original documents are in Urdu, the language used for all official purposes relating to governance. They scrupulously detail the date, numbers, witnesses, evidence and the charges in each case. Details of this nature were quite novel and stand as a marked contrast to the documents of the 1850s, before colonial institutions were enforced in Chamba. Despite the impact of colonial jurisprudence, the final court of appeal was presided over by the Raja himself, who styled himself as The Chief Judicial Officer of the Riyasat of Chamba, the final court of justice. The article presents three categories of documents (see Appendix): petitions, notices and court cases. All of these documents were formulated in the 1920s and 1940s, except for two revenue documents which date to the 1960safter Chamba ceased to be a royal state and became one of the districts of the modern state of Himachal Pradesh in the Republic of India. These documents are a window into the relationship between the individual and the state, trapped in the duality of traditional native rule and colonial imperial structures. The legal system supported this duality and, as Washbrook argues, it sustained the traditional while encouraging free market relations.19 The land settlement regime was an instrument that recognised the politico-religious element in the making of landed relationships, securing thereby local bonds of dominance and subordination. Concurrently, it also created a class of ownership that could trade in land as a commodity. The commoditisation of land enhanced the traditional association of prestige, honour and power with land. However, instead of the Raja distributing such honour, individuals now competed to safeguard and enhance their prestige by manipulating the marketability of their assets. These documents provide a glimpse into the mechanism through which a change in status was achieved by manipulating the land settlement regime and the judicial process. However, efforts at improving economic circumstances in a social and political world that straddled two contrasting regimens of authority were never exclusionary; there are other documents that claim that ritual and social status could only be authorised by the Rajathe bearer and protector of tradition.
18 19

Chamba State Gazetteer, p. 267. Washbrook, Law, State and Agrarian Society,mahesh sharma on February 2, 2007 Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by pp. 63554.
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Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 493

Problematic Rights: Ritual Performance and Religious Cess In 1913, the civil court of Chamba decided an interesting case involving the rights to donations in a ritual performance by contesting Jogis. Apparently the Jogis of Charpati performed ritual ceremonies in Chamba. The rights to perform these ceremonies had earlier belonged only to the family of the Jogis of Thitholi, and they took the Charpati Jogis to court. The court upheld the hereditary rights of a family to the performance of ritual ceremonies in the area, but also decreed that the claim to donations was an inalienable right of an individual as wages (Appendix 1; Document I). While the court upheld the livelihood and wages secured by the Charpati Jogis, it did notice how their efforts to perform rituals in Chamba augmented their prestige within the local community and challenged the hereditary rights of Jogi Thitholi. Clearly, these developments had generated considerable strife and tension within the sectarian community of the Jogis, leading to the litigation. In an effort to arrest the disturbance caused by the Charpati Jogis, the court upheld the hereditary rights of the contesting Thitholi Jogis. In its judgements the court noted:20 Our considered view is that the right over the donations made at the nawala ... is that of the respondent (Charpati Jogi) because he went there on invitation and performed the nawala rituals as is customary. However, henceforth this shall not be his right and none shall interfere in the performance of the nawala rituals in the town except the appellant (Thitholi) because we have come to know that the appellant has been earning through the performance of the nawala rituals in the township. The lawsuit came up again in a different incarnation in 1915 and 1925, and it seems that litigation over ritual rights and jurisdiction between the contestants was noxious during these years as well. In this case the geographical rights of the two rivals was delineated.21 ... the respondent has been instructed not to appropriate the right of the appellant. The respondent has earned this (particular) nawala, it is therefore, rightfully his. However, if he does so in the future, the appellant is empowered to sue him on the count of contempt of court (dawah fazaha).
20 Copy of the Final Orders of the Highest Court of His Highness (Nakal Hukum Tajvij Faisla Aakhir Ujjalasa Janab) Sriman Raja Sahib Bahadur, Riyasat Chamba, 1913, in Thitholi, son of Situ, caste Jogi, resident of pargana Bhattiyat. Plaintiff (Muddai aalaha) versus (banam) Madho, son of Shyama, caste Jogi, resident of Chamba respondent. 21 Copy of the Final Orders of the Court of the Chief Judicial Officer Sahib, Riyasat Chamba Civil suit (Mukadma Diwani), Appeal No. 65, 1925, in Thitholi, son of Situ, caste Jogi, resident of Mohalla Drubhi, Chamba town, Appellant, Versus Madho, son of Shyama, caste Jogi, resident of Chamba; and Nanaku, son of Maffal, caste Khatri, resident by mahesh sharma on February 2, 2007 Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com of Chamba town, respondents.

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The contesting Jogi Thitholi could perform the Nawala ritual, the bone of contention, in the Chamba town only, and other Jogis, including the Jogis of Charpat, were free to perform these rituals elsewhere (Appendix 1; Document II). Apart from the question of the rights of an individual to a ritual performance from a particular performer, the case also brings into sharp focus the role of caste and sectarian practices vis--vis individual priests (non-brahmanic priests) and their rights. It upholds the prerogative of the community over that of an individual; of hereditary rights over individual rights; of cultural continuity over change. The judge also observed that: From investigation (tehkikat-i-hal) it is evident that the respondent, Madho, has been performing the nawala ritual and has not committed any crime in doing so. We have ascertained this from the people of the town and caste members. We have ascertained that within the township it is indeed the right of the appellant but outside the town any one can call any person for performance.22 The judge apparently asked whether the Jogis of Charpat, or for that matter other Jogis as well, could legitimately perform the nawala ritual. According to the earlier documents available in the collection of the Mahant, the state only required the Jogis of Charpat to ritually worship Mahakali (Badrakali of vamsavali), for which it provided them a grant of Mangani-muafi on every harvest, or a tax free grant in kind from various maintenance grants.23 They also received fixed amounts of food-grains and provisions as maintenance every month, together with a fixed share from the proceeds of temples such as Champavati (Mahisamardini) and Laksmi-Narayana in Chamba.24 It is important to note that the Jogis of all the marhis contributed fixed tribute at the end of each harvest in grain, livestock, forest produce and cash to the Charpat Jogis. Thus, within their sectarian confines, Jogis accepted the ritual leadership of the Mahants of Charpat. What they refused to accept was the ritual role of an individual outside the confines of their sectarian practice. The performance of Nawala, for example, had little to do with the sectarian practice of the Jogis; it was a popular cultural-religious offering to Siva that was widely prevalent in the region and cut across the sectarian divide. Within the confines of Nath-Siddha sectarian rituals, neither the Charpat Jogis nor the contesting Jogis could perform such rituals as nawala. The nawala is an offering made to Siva in his local form as Dhudu, and the ritual performer entered into a trance, possessed, as it were, by Dhudu. The trance was considered an auspicious moment, and was accompanied by a ritual sacrifice of a ram or a goat. This was also a part of the feast given by the family conducting the
Ibid. The grants made to the Jogis of Charpat by Raj Singh, Ajit Singh, Charhat Singh and Sri Singh, all rulers of Chamba, explicitly state this. The grant deeds are in the collection of the Mahant of Charpat in Chamba. 24 The account sheets of the portal of Charpat for 188095 provide graphic details of the proceeds made over to the shrine. Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh sharma on February 2, 2007
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Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 495

ritual to all the other participants/devotees. While the performer was in a trance, the devotees took the opportunity to ask him personal questions regarding present and future maladies. In return they made sumptuous offerings. The ritual was extremely popular in the Chamba state and obviously lucrative for the ritual performer. In areas like Brahmaur and Churah, the ritually low-caste specialists like Sippis and Halis performed the ritual. It may be pointed out that the householder Jogis, too, belonged to the ritually low castes. Thus, it was not just the Jogis who tried to appropriate rights to this ritual performance, but other castes who were involved as well. Soothsayers who had a track record of approximate predictions along with performance precision were in great demand. And these individuals cut across sectarian and caste boundaries. The Jogis could not compete effectively, and they therefore tried to win an exclusive right to the performance of these rituals through litigation. It may be surmised that by upholding the ritual rights of the contesting Thitholi Jogis in Chamba township, the decision of the court not only complicated the aspirations of the Charpat Mahants to play a leadership in the community, it also closed opportunities for other performers to perform this ritual within the circumference of the Chamba township. Meanwhile, in 1922, Madho Chari, son of Jogi Shyama, who was the priest of the portal of Charpat, also petitioned the Raja of Chamba to grant him the right to collect one takka per house from the subjects of the state as a sectarian due (religious cess?). He claimed that his ancestors had been authorised to collect this cess by Maharaja Jit Singh (17941808), and that he had personally collected the amount for a while. Interestingly, he uses the word company to describe himself as a collector of this cess. His petition appealed to the Raja for a restoration of his right to this cess, since people had stopped paying it (Appendix 2). Both these cases, seeking enhanced ritual status and its authorisation by the defunct Raja, came up almost simultaneously. It seems that this was a well thought-out strategy by the priest of the shrine, Jogi Madho Chari, perhaps to deflect attention from the challenge to his ritual leadership by Thitholi. The Jogi of Charpat, Madho Chari, was also an official of the Chamba state, as is evident from his title Chari. This was not an exceptional instance where a professional title was used as a caste [sur]name. In fact, the genealogy attached to the revenue records of the Charpat Jogis specifies Jogi as caste name and Siroha as gotra (clan), a fact also stated in all documents and charters pertaining to these Jogis. But no one before Madho Chari had used the title as surname.25 Char was one of the old administrative offices in Chamba, who was at one time perhaps an administrator of a pargana with judicial powers to inflict fines or imprisonment. By 1904, however, the European Superintendents had withdrawn these powers. The Chari now was only responsible for making preliminary investigations in civil and criminal cases and apprehending criminals for trial. Subsequently, the office of Chari was reduced to carrying the orders of the central authority, and
25 The documents in the Charpat Mahants collection attest to this fact. His son, Baijanath, the successor Mahant, whom I interviewed in 1992, also confirmedon February 2, 2007 Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh sharma it.

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organising forced labour (providing coolies) for European travellers.26 They received no salary for their office, but collected certain emoluments called rakm over and above the revenue demand, forming a separate charge of cash and kind on the malguzar or taxpayer. Of the total rakm, each officer paid a fixed sum to the state as a customary tax or bachh. The state in return provided them with food, free of charge.27 Apparently, 1904 was a tough year and the priest, who combined his experience of revenue and judicial procedure, sought to augment his income by performing sacred rituals. He went further and claimed rights to a religious cess, which he legitimised by invoking an earlier grant. The grant that Madho Chari was citing was the one made by Ajit Singh to the Jogis of Charpat, which, interestingly enough, made no such concession. It offered only an annuity of Rs 25, which was also granted by his successor Charhat Singh (180844) and Sri Singh (184470).28 In other words, no grant to collect religious cess was ever made by the Raja to the Jogis of Charpat. Madho Charis was a novel claim. Not surprisingly, the Raja of Chamba, a nominal ruler under the larger jurisdiction of the European Superintendents, dismissed the plea and noted perfunctorily: ... we cannot force any one to contribute one takka. It is the personal pleasure of a person to make such a contribution (see Appendix). Economic Empowerment: Tenancy, Eviction and Landownership The Jogis of Charpat were extremely active in the pursuit of their interests through the first two decades of the twentieth century. As we have already seen, they tried to arrogate for themselves a superior ritual status as exclusive performers of popular rituals in the township of Chamba, and they tried to seize special rights and prerogatives as claimants of a religious cess from the subjects of the state. Additionally, they also litigated to appropriate land at various places from professional and ritually low-caste cultivator-tenants. In fact, Madho Jogi obtained ex-party decrees in his favour along with costs of Rs 10 from two low-caste tenants: a nai or barber of Pihura pargana in 1925 (case no. 438 & 439, both filed in 1923 and awarded in 1924), and a widow of a fellow Jogi from Sarol in 1943 (case no. 200). All three ex-party decisions were significant, as the tenants could ill-afford the cost of litigation and its wherewithal. That it happened in 192325 confirms that it was a part of a wider strategy of the Jogis of Charpat to attain social and economic empowerment. This coincided with the changes made by the colonial Superintendents in the titular arrangement of land in the Chamba region to leverage tax collection along the lines of the mahalbandi settlement (demarcation of revenue estates) in Panjab. These changes
Chamba State Gazetteer, p. 268. Ibid., p. 265. 28 Both the charters are in takri script and Chambiali dialect, in possession of Charpatnaths portal in Chamba. The late Jogi Baijanath allowed me access to these on February 2, charters in his collection. Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh sharma and other 2007
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Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 497

confirmed the dominance of the local magnates, both secular and religious, and placed them within a bureaucratic hierarchy where the colonial administration could deal with them more comfortably. As in Panjab, land was also central to the conception of honour, status and brotherhood (biradari) in Chamba.29 The ownership of land provided both control over material resources and social status. In 1874 Col. Blair Reid started the measurements of the cultivated area, accounting for the revenue to be paid according to possession. The old system of levying cash or kind payments (bacch or sal) biannually at the end of each harvest was also partly replaced by one of cash payments. Formal revenue rates were fixed in 1891 at Rs 4 per acre on irrigated and Rs 2 per acre on non-irrigated lands.30 The settlement was resisted, and as peasant unrest spread in the 1920s in Kangra, the fertile area of Bhattiyat was affected. The fixed revenue, enhanced to Rs 7.50 in 191011, was beyond the means of occupant-cultivators or owners of marginal acreage. In many cases the tillers reclaimed the land from owners on a long-term basis, standing as surety for the future payment of revenue. In fact, it was an accepted practice in Chamba, even by 1910, to cede the land on a long-term basis on surety of revenue payment by the occupant-tenants. Occasionally a rupee or two was demanded as rent to assert ownership rights (haq malikana), a customary usage also upheld/imposed by the Court whenever such disputes came forth.31 The way in which protracted revenue receipts, occupant status (kabiz) and the judicial process were put to the advantage of the Jogis underwrites the unusual dexterity of Madho Chari. It may be pointed out that the ritually low-caste Jogis became a landed caste through the display of such enterprise. Thus, when the first regular settlement of Chamba was initiated in 195158, the Jogis (populated throughout the erstwhile Chamba state) had a titular claim over 4, 494 bighas of land (one acre was about five standard bighas of land), about 0.07 per cent of the total area in the Chamba state. Out of this, 3,466 bighas were cultivated, which was about 0.7 per cent of the total cultivated area in Chamba.32 These land ownership estimates were besides their claims as kashtkars or tenants, the actual tillers of soil. Was it coincidental, then, that the family of Thitholi, who contested the ritual leadership of the Charpat Jogisto whom they paid tribute in kind and cash at the end of each harvestbelonged to Bhattiyat pargana? After the death of Madho Chari his son Baijanath became the priest of Charpat and followed his father in further developing his interests in the lands under his cultivation. This is clarified from the two documents cited below (I and II), which belong to the first regular settlement of 195158. The scant and ill-prepared nature of the earlier record made the issue of settling rights and titles (tankihat-i-haqiyah)
29 30

For Panjab, see Fox, Kin, Clan, Raja and Rule. Negi, Settlement Report of the Chamba, no. 30, p. 13. 31 Chamba State Gazetteer, p. 231. 32 Negi, Settlement Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com byno. 14,sharma on February 2, 2007 Report of the Chamba, table mahesh p. 11.
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498 / MAHESH SHARMA

particularly arduous during the settlement process when 48,565 issues were settled.33 Since the previous record was treated as a record of a summary settlement, mutation procedures were necessitated, and 27,690 mutation cases were settled.34 These developments are the general context in which the Jogis of Charpat furthered their claims on land. In the land settlement records, the cultivators, in this case Charpat Jogi Baijanath, are shown as having murusi or transferable rights, perhaps since 1874 when the first limited settlement was executed. Prior to the first settlement, their rights over the land were non-transferable occupancy or ghair-murusi. A permanent interest of cultivators was created over the land they tilled by manipulating this title. Revenue was fixed at the rate of Rs 18.75, which was revised in 1890 and 191112 to Rs 3 per acre and further to Rs 7.50 per hectare. Interestingly, the land that the Jogis thus received, as in the two cases produced below, for example, was further sublet while retaining the status of occupanttenant as khudkast or self-tiller. This was to obviate any further alienation of land from non-tilling owners (absent landlords) to cultivators, as is evident from both cases.35 I: Mauza Bhanauta36 Pargana Udaipur Village Kuthala, Khasra No. 626, Khewat 68 Owner: Vastu son of Gopalu. Murusi or transferred to Baijanath son of Madho Chari, caste Jogi, Saroha, resident of Chamba. Kashtkar or cultivator: Ramu son of Naranjanu, caste Dreha, residents of Deh. Tenancy, non-ownership/based on sharecropping, galla-batai,37 to the tune of , fourth of the productivity. Area: 59five kanal and nine marla, awwal barani, or non-irrigated rain-fed land of top order. Cropping: 11101955 351956 2111956 Maize Uncultivated Maize 59 i.e. in the entire area 59 i.e. one crop a year 59

33 Notification by the chief commissioner, E.P. Moon, whereas it appears that no proper recordsof-rights exist for any estate in the whole of Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh, it is hereby directed, under section 32 (1) and (2) of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, as applied to Himachal Pradesh that records-of-rights for all estates of the said district be made. Vide no. R. 38-29/48, dated 17 Jan. 1951, Simla4. Notification for re-assessment of land revenue of Chamba under section 49(2) of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, vide no. R. 38-29/48, dated 17 Jan. 1951, Simla4. See also Negi, Settlement Report of the Chamba, no. 48, p. 18. 34 Negi, Settlement Report of the Chamba, no. 72, p. 20. 35 Also, for general information, Sandhu, First Regular Settlement of Dalhausi. 36 The receipts of Baijanath, the Jogi of Charpatnath, based on the Jamabandi or Settlement Records of 196465. 37 Also called bahisa-nisfi as well as gharh. In revenue terms this meant collection of rent in kind at the rate of half the produce. First Regular Settlement of Chamba District, p. 63. Obviously, there was variance in local practices or arrangements, as indicated in the rent, demanded to the tune of a quarter of the produceDownloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh sharma on February 2, 2007 in this particular case.

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Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 499

551957 13101957 1341958 11101958 Revenue Khewat Mamala or Rent Sawai (fourth) Mizan or Cess Khewat Khatauni

Uncultivated Mash Uncultivated Mash Uncultivated

59 29 300 29 300 68 Rs 3.68 Rs 9.00 Rs 4.68 115 181

II: Owner: Madhav Neel Kanth transferred to Kashtkar or the cultivator, Baijanath, son of Madho Chari, caste Nath. Tenants: Ramu, son of Niranjanu of village Deh, non-transferable or ghair murusi. Tenancy on share-cropping at the rate of fourth of the productivity. Khita 8 Area 99 or nine kanal and nine marla out of which 53 is paddy irrigated and 43 is rain fed. Revenue Maala or rent Cess Khasra Area Rent Cess Rs 10.36 Rs 8.28 Rs 2.06 No. 166 59 rain-fed, five Kanal Rs 2.49 Rs 2.49

The differential rents realised in the first case and the type of soil-irrigation classifications appearing in the revenue records of the second had a bearing, ultimately, on the revenue assessed. This was intrinsic to the land settlement procedure, whose agenda was to classify cultivated land based on broad soil-type and irrigation facilities.38
38 Thus, dhani-i-awal was the irrigated land producing generally two crops (the kharif crop usually being paddy) and climatically fully suitable for paddy cultivation. The second category of irrigated land (dhani-i-doem) was also irrigated and paddy producing, but due to inadequate irrigation facilities or unsuitable climate, as in the miland belt (majaith), had lower productivity. Similarly, dhani-isoem or third quality produced only one crop of paddy. There were, however, other irrigated lands where rice was not the main kharif crop, following a similar tripartite classification as kulahu-i-awal, doem and soem. In the rain-dependant or non-irrigated typology there was a similar triplet: barani-iawal, doem and soem. The first category of rain-dependent land was situated sufficiently near the abadi or habitation and could, as a consequence, be sufficiently manured, thus producing two crops a year with the kharif crop being paddy. Uncultivated land was categorised as banjar jaded, that which was under cultivation but left fallow for less maheshfive years; banjar qadim, fallow for more Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by than sharma on February 2, 2007

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500 / MAHESH SHARMA

The second part of the revenue documents cited above refer to the apportioning of the produce between the owner and the tenant. For the most part of Chambas recorded history, the produce-rent arrangement between the owner and tenant was popular, though by the turn of the twentieth century cash-rent was also gaining ascendancy. The most general form of produce-rent was gahr, which consisted of an equal division of every kind of produce raised by the tenant, one of which was set aside as rent due to the owner. There were inevitable allegations regarding pilferage in this arrangement, and the yield was a constant subject of dispute. Hence, a small adjustment in the arrangement was made, called mudda, where the landowner received a fixed amount of produce irrespective of a good or bad harvest.39 In the case of Charpat Jogis the galla-batai or sharecropping, in one case, was fixed at the fourth of the productivity. Both cases illustrate the modus operandi of the Jogis of Charpat, the ways in which they established their claims over these lands, and the terms under which they were further subleased. The Jogis of Charpat first became absentia cultivators and later landowners. For this they had to evict their tenant. Interestingly, we have the notices issued by Jogi Bijanath to his tenant for these two lands, accusing him of not making over his share and fixing a date after which:40 It would be in your best interest that you pay my share of both Rabi and Kharif crops for the year 1967 within a week. Otherwise I shall be forced to demand rent (crop share) at the prevailing market price for both crops and file a landeviction suit in court, with costsas court fee, charges of lawyer, etcagainst you for which you alone shall be responsible (see Appendix). The Jogi also threatened that: You have no right to not to pay the galla-batai or the share fixed on the basis of share-cropping41 (Appendix 3; Documents 2 and 3). In both the documents he gave the tenant, the same person renting lands at two different places, a week to transport his share. He was careful to register the notices that he sent to his tenants, creating, thereby, a significant body of legal evidence which fortified his legal claims. The intent of the Jogis was successful, and the poor cultivators were evicted. Eviction was necessary to achieve single ownership. The Jogis themselves had been transferred the land from the original owners on the plea that they were hereditary occupant-cultivators. However, the Jogis taking the issue to court was an

than five years; challa, uncultivated but a private grassland; bani, uncultivated but used to grow fodder leaves; ban, for grazing and forested produce; and gahr/trkkar used as meadows and forests. Settlement Report of Chamba, no. 8, I&II, pp. 68. 39 Chamba State Gazetteer, p. 230. 40 Notice against Ramu, son of Rajanu, caste Dareha, of village Bhatala in pargana Udaipur, district of Chamba, 27 Dec. 1967. 41 Notice against Ramu, son of Naranjanu, caste Danehi, of village Shehnauta in pargana Udaipur, district of Chamba, 26Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh sharma on February 2, 2007 Dec. 1967.
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Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 501

unexceptional event for the time; land litigation was especially high during the period of transition after the merger of Chamba in the Indian union in 1948. Between 1951 and 1963, about 21,801 disputes were addressed, of which 1,220 muafi or taxexempted cases were settled between 195759 along with 183 revisions.42 The transitions in land arrangements, leading to the creation of proprietary rights, eviction and appropriation of land, may be seen in the context of larger institutional changes occurring in this period. In pre-independence Chamba, the Raja was the theoretical owner of all landcultivated and uncultivatedfrom whom all rights originated subject to his over-lordship and pleasure. With the introduction of the new settlement regime after 1874, even though the formalisation of private ownership increased, the inherent over-lordship of the ruler was never totally absent.43 However, with the merger of the state with the union of India, the malguzars were recognised as proprietors.44 The malguzars or peasant-proprietors were those landholders who were responsible for the payment of the state demand. This arrangement, however, did not confer upon them full ownership rights. Besides, there was also a category of adna-maliks or inferior-owners, who were accorded full proprietary rights in the settlement. The kashtkars, the actual tillers, were legally recognised tenants, who could acquire ownership under certain conditions: one of these was by proving their hereditary succession over land as tillers over generations. Thus the legality between occupancy tenants and nonoccupancy tenants acquire significance, particularly in the context of eviction and ownership disputes, as in the case of the Jogis of Charpat.45 Conclusion: Authority and Power Within this debate, the Jogis position is interesting. As the legates of Charpat, they enjoyed a strong correspondence with the state process, recognised by the royal genealogy-vamsavali. They received grants, even if restrictive in nature, as well as a share from the major shrines of Chamba and from the royal family for conducting specific rituals. Yet, as householder Jogis, who abdicated the vow of celibacy and could never be in the same league as renouncers, they occupied low ritual status in the caste hierarchy. Oscillating between a perceived status and their actual status, the Jogis tried to use the state apparatus to improve their social and ritual standing. As Parry informs us for Kangra, the authority of the Raja was crucial in legitimising a change in the status order.46 The 1924 District Gazetteer of Kangra also confirms that the Raja used his powers to manipulate the caste hierarchy.47 We need to place the efforts of the Jogis within a larger perspective.
Settlement Report of the Chamba, no. 136, p. 40. Ibid., nos 15, 16, p. 11. 44 Communication of the Chief Commissioner to all Deputy Commissioners R-98-3/48, dated 28 Aug. 1948. 45 Settlement Report of the Chamba, no. 73, pp. 2223. 46 Parry, The Koli Dilemma, p. 99. 47 Punjab District Gazetteer,from http://ier.sagepub.com Kangra sharma on February 2, 2007 Downloaded Part A: 192425, by mahesh District, p. 152.
43 42

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502 / MAHESH SHARMA

Their appeal to the Raja for rights to a religious cess, and a claim to the right to perform and collect donations from specific rituals, their efforts at economic empowerment by appropriation of land rights, are merely a part of this larger phenomenon. Jogis, like the Purohits of Jwalamukhi, were quick to appreciate the transformation in the functioning of the state and tried to elevate their status by exploiting the ambiguity between power and authority, between the ideology of tradition and the method of colonial institutions. That they appealed to the Raja while simultaneously exploring the legal framework and the land settlement regime indicates their comprehension of the system in transition.48 The institutional framework empowered their claims while the authority of the Raja, even if nominal, was sought to legitimise their social rights. That they were only partially successful in their strategy of social, ritual and economic empowerment is a different story. The case of the Charpat Jogis of Chamba clarifies the dilemma of choices faced by dominant subordinates and their creative efforts to rework past hierarchies during the transition from a local-autonomous rule to the systems of colonial rule. It enumerates how a person with an insight into the working of the system could twist it to create a contested niche of localised power. It also establishes that while the colonial institutions could provide economical benefits, only the traditional authority of the subordinate Raja could legitimise revisions in social status. This explains the strategy of the Jogis to petition the Raja for religious
48 This could be realised in the changing nature of governance in Chamba and the consequent subordinate position of the Raja. On 22 Dec. 1862, Maj. Blair Reid was appointed the Superintendent of Chamba, and undertook to streamline the administration. The regular army, consisting mostly of Purbia and Pathan soldiers, was disbanded. A Public Works Department under European supervision was organised, new lines of communication, particularly roads, were surveyed and constructed, thus linking Chamba to the Panjab plains. Telegraph and Post Offices were set up, and initiatives in education taken. The most significant was the organisation of the forest department to exploit the timber and produce of Himalayan forests. An initiative in reorganising land settlement was undertaken, particularly to asses and collect revenue. The police force was strengthened and the judiciary was reorganised. Though the Raja was the titular head, his authority was nominal and subject to colonial scrutiny. Dalhousie became the colonial hill station with its cantonment at Balun, while a detachment of the British regiment was stationed at Banikhet during summers. (Kanwar, Essays on Urban Patterns, p. 132.) The increased presence of colonial jurisdiction in the Chamba region communicated the message of the Rajas subordination. The roads, bazaars, elementary education, hospital, forest exploitation not only added to the awareness among peopleof resources, markets and the world beyond but also placed the power of the Raja in perspective to larger forces sweeping the area. The reorganisation of revenue and the land settlement regime, particularly in Bhattiyat, was resisted. There was a peasant agitation in 1895. The erosion of the Rajas authority was also evident in the renewal grants of the Jogis. While there are successive renewals of the first grant, with some modifications, there is no grant renewed or made after the 1860s. The tenor of annual offerings by the Raja changes. As an administrative head, he only orders the pargana officials to help the Jogis in undertaking an annual pilgrimage to Manimahesh, culminating in the sacred dip. Only a nominal fee is provided by the state, along with portage. People are requested to provide customary dues and victuals during the seven days of journey from Chamba and back. For a detailed account see Hutchison and Vogel, History of the Panjab Hill States, Vol. I, pp. 32939; also, Chamba State Gazetteer.

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Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 503

cess, while simultaneously writing eviction notices and appropriating landed titles, manipulating settlement procedures, and initiating litigation to claim outright ownership. The Jogis adroit perception that the state was governed by the written word led them to seize records and rules of precedence to consolidate their superior rights as functionaries ministering to their rural agrarian-pastoral constituency, with claims to sectarian leadership as well. Notices were registered, landed titles and rights (tankihat-i-haq) were manipulated by constructing genealogies (shajra-nasab in the misl-haqiyah in the first settlement) to bolster their claim. These documents also created a body of evidence and referents on which social and ritual status as well as the rights of ritual performance and land titles/ownership was hereafter contested. That historical reference and past precedent was highly respected in the civil courts explains the efforts of the Jogis to claim rights to a religious cess, even when such claims were patently fraudulent. Similarly, the purohit-priests of Jwalamukhi cited precedence in their petitions to colonial rulers in their efforts to safeguard (and enlarge!) their share in temple donations, denying their competitors any rights to a share in the collection. Finally, the strategy of the Jogis of Charpat substantiates the functional nuances of the state: where authority was separated from power and the Raja from the colonial Superintendents. In the efforts of the Jogis petitions to the Raja for status elevation and the manipulating of colonial institutions for economic empowerment lie the dimensions of the larger changes in the agrarianscape of Chamba. The ascendance of religious orders/ leaders cutting across caste and sectarian boundaries needs to be placed in this context. While these processes clarify the popular comprehension of the layered roles of the autonomous princely states and their colonial masters in the society and economy of the region, it also asserts the power of traditional symbols available to aspirants looking for wide-ranging advantages during a period of considerable flux.

Appendix 1
Rights to Ritual Performance and Donation Document I: Appeal against Encroachment of Nawala Rights No. 1
Copy of the Final Orders of the Highest Court of His Highness (Nakal Hukum Tajvij Faisla Aakhir Ujjalas Janab) Sriman Raja Sahib Bahadur, Riyasat Chamba Civil suit (Mukadma Diwani) Appeal No. 71. Number of witnesses (Goshwaran) 15 The date of filing the case (Tarikh Majruh) 24 Savan 1970 (1913) The date of passing orders (Tarikh Faisla) 15 Magh 1970 (1913) Plaintiff (Muddai aalah), Thitholi, vald Situ, caste Jogi, resident of pargana Bhattiyat, versus (banam) Madho, son of Shyama, caste Jogi, resident of Chamba: respondent. Appeal against the orders passed by the court of honourable Lala Karam Singh Sahib, against the amount of decree awarded Rs Four hundred.
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504 / MAHESH SHARMA

Translation
Today this appeal was taken up in the presence of the litigants and the point of contention is such that Raghubir Hawariya had organised the nawala ceremony at his home. For the rituals of the nawala he called the appellant, who instead of going himself deputed some other person. Raghubir did not get the nawala rituals performed from this person (the replacement); instead, he called the respondent who later performed the rituals as is customary and appropriated the collection, monetary as well as in kind (chartar), as his service prerogative (haq al Khidmat). That donation has become the point of contention and the litigants are quarrelling over it. The appellant contends that this is his prerogative while the respondent counters that he has right over the wages that he earned. Our considered view is that the right over the donations made at the nawala organised by Raghubir is that of the respondent because he went there on invitation and performed the nawala rituals as is customary. However, henceforth this shall not be his right and that none shall interfere in the performance of the nawala rituals in the town except the appellant, because we have come to know that the appellant has been earning through the performance of the nawala rituals in the township. According to the orders passed on 23 Poh, 54 (1878 AD), civil suit (appeal diwani) 1365, and based on the witness of one Dalip (of village) Diyor, the appellant has been earning through performance of the nawala rites for the populace. Therefore, the respondent has been instructed not to appropriate the right of the appellant. The respondent has earned this (particular) nawala, it is, therefore, rightfully his. However, if he does so in the future, the appellant is empowered to sue him on the count of contempt of court (dawah fazah). This decree has been duly obtained from the court of his lordship and is certified as true.

Order
Ordered that this appeal is dismissed and the costs of the court to be borne by the plaintiff.

Reverse
Substantiation and summons to be ascertained by the department of revenue. Dated, 15 Magh 1970 (1913) Signed in English Sri Maharaja Sahib Bahadur COURT OF THE CHIEF JUDICIAL OFFICER The Seal of the Chamba State CHAMBA STATE Certified that this is the true copy of the original. The orders have been passed on Indian Penal Code act (dafa) 76 of the Evidence Act of 1872/49 on the application 10 Vaisakh 82/ diary no. 11 Vaisakh 82/preparation 14 Vaisakh 82/Charges 332/fine Rs 5/outside the records Rs 1 and 8 Anna/orders 12 Vaisakh 82/copy made by Jind Pal/date of witness 14 Vaisakh 82/warrant issued by Jaid Pal Signed: Sohan Singh
Indian Penal Code was in force, both the Codes of Criminal as well as the Civil Procedure. Chamba State Gazetteer, p. 267. http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh sharma on February 2, 2007 Downloaded from
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49

Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 505

Document II: Appeal against Encroachment of Nawala Rights No. 2

Copy of the Final Orders of the Court of the Chief Judicial Officer Sahib, Riyasat Chamba Civil suit (Mukadma Diwani) Appeal No. 65; No. of witnesses (Goshwara) 387 The date of filing the case (Tarikh Majruh) 20 Jeth 1982 (1925) The date of passing orders (Tarikh Faisla) 12 Savan 1982 (1925) Thitholi, son of Situ, caste Jogi, resident of Mohalla Drubhi, Chamba town, Appellant Versus Madho, son of Shyama, caste Jogi, resident of Chamba; and Nanaku, son of Maffal, caste Khatri, resident of Chamba town, respondents. Appeal against the orders passed by the court of Lala Baldev Ram Sahib, against the decree awarded Rs Eight hundred as damages (harzana) against nawala report no. 1.

Translation
(Legal Document in Urdu) This appeal has been filed by Mister Thitholi, appellant, against the orders passed by the court of Lala Baldev Ram Sahib, and damages in Vaisakha 1982, in this court. In that order, the honourable court had dismissed the petition with a decree of damages for nawala rituals, as earlier. We have seen the copy of the order of the appellant and the case in detail, and found that the honourable court did not establish any issues of title (tanqih, the issue of title in the first regular settlementtanqihat) and dismissed the case on the evidence of one witness only. Therefore, the court on 11 Har 1982 (1925 AD) took cognisance of this fact and demanded utmost caution and in conformity with the rules (hast javat) desired a report be filed on this situation. The applicant also forwarded for perusal an earlier decision of Lala Karam Singh, son of Mokha, 20 Bhado 72 (1915), in which the appellant has been awarded the rights against the same defendant. Now the detailed report has also been filed and the evidence of the litigants and witnesses has been completed. As per the report filed the right of the appellant to perform the nawala rituals rests within the periphery of the township of Chamba, and this has also been upheld by various courts, but he enjoys no such status, nor has he any grant of right to this effect, outside the boundaries of the town. The decree referred to against the main respondent, Madho, is for performance of nawala rites within the boundaries of Chamba town. From investigation (tehkikat hal) it is evident that the respondent, Madho, has been performing the nawala ritual and has not committed any crime in doing so. We have ascertained this from the people of the town and caste members. We have ascertained that within the township it is indeed the right of the appellant, but outside the town any one can call any person for performance.

Reverse
The particular nawala in question in this case took place at Sarol, which is two and a half miles away from the town. The respondent was called to perform nawala at the personal pleasure of the master. Therefore, the appellant cannot demand damages (harzana). The court is empowered (adalat mukhtiyar) to dismiss the petition and has ordered against the submission of the applicant, and ordered the court to make him abide by the decision (amal daramad). The order was stated in front of the contestants. The orders were signed on Downloaded sharma on February 2, 2007 AD 12 Savan 1982 (1925SAGE). from http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh commercial use or unauthorized 2006 Publications. All rights reserved. Not for
distribution.

506 / MAHESH SHARMA Signed in English by the Chief Judicial Officer Sahib Bahadur. COURT OF THE CHIEF JUDICIAL OFFICER The Seal of the Chamba State CHAMBA STATE Certified that this is the true copy of the original. The orders have been passed on dafa 76 of the Evidence Act of 1872/on the application 12 Katik 1982/diary no. 12 Katik 1982/ preparation 17 Katik 1982/Charges 484/fine Rs 5/outside the records Rs 1 and 5 Anna/ orders 17 Katik 1982/copy made by ....

Appendix 2
The Right to Collecting Religious Cess Translation
(Legal Document in Urdu) Your Highness Humbly submitted that the appellant is the priest of the portal of Charpatnath. The appellant is fortunate to have received a grant-patta from the times of Sri Maharaja Jit Singh Sahib. According to this grant the plaintiff is entitled to collect one takka per house from the entire state of Chamba. The ancestors (literally, fathergrandfather) of the appellant collected from the subjects of the state a takka per house and the present company (the present Jogi establishment?) too collected the same for some time. Now, for some time the subjects of the state refuse to contribute this takka and say that there is no order from the stategovernment (sarkar) to such effect. I am, therefore, forwarding this application through proper channel (ba-zariya). You are requested to enquire and do justice by ordering [subjects] to contribute a takka per house, as was customary, and also renew the grant-patta. This is a fair request. Justice, however, is the prerogative of the state. Date, 24 Savan 1982 (1925 AD). Plaintiff: Madho, son of Shyama, caste Jogi Signed in Takri: Madho

Order
The orders passed in the presence of all that we cannot force any one to contribute one takka. It is the personal pleasure of a person to make such a contribution. We have nothing to do with this. The request is dismissed and returned to the plaintiff. Dated 26 Savan 1982 (1925 AD). Signed in English: Ram Singh.

Appendix 3
Land: Ownership, Eviction and Notices
Note: Of the three decrees cited below, the first is by the last appellate civil court (muqadma diwani) at Chamba,Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.comtheNot for commercial useof unauthorizedat Bhattiyat. and the other two from by mahesh sharma on February wizarat circuit courts or 2, 2007 2006 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.
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Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 507

Document I: Eviction Decrees in Favour of Madho Jogi

3.1.1. Ex-party (aik tarfa) digree (decree) in favour of Madho Jogi, son of Shyama, resident of Chamba town, in case no. 439 against Jawhar, son of Mamaluk, caste Nai (of barber occupation) resident of pargana Piyora (Pihur) from revenue court in Bhattiyat, riyasat Chamba. The case filed on 14 Kartika 1980 (1923 AD) and awarded on 29 Jyestha 1981 (1924 AD), as an ex-party decree with Rs 10 as cost. 3.1.2. Ex-party (aik tarfa) digree (decree) in favour of Madho Jogi, son of Shyama, resident of Chamba town, in case no. 438 against Byajo, son of Haria, caste Nai (of barber occupation) resident of pargana Piyora (Pihur) from revenue court in Bhattiyat, riyasat Chamba. The case filed on 14 Kartika 1980 (1923) and awarded on 29 Jyestha 1981 (1924), as an ex-party decree with Rs 10 as cost. 3.1.3. Ex-party (aik tarfa) digree (decree) in favour of Madho Jogi, son of Shyama, resident of Chamba town, in case no. 200 in year 2000 (1943) against Jayanti, widow of Jogi, resident of Sarol in diwani court. Awarded on 12 Magh 2000 (1943).

Document II: Notice Threatening Land Eviction No. 1 Translation

(Legal Document in Urdu) Original Notice Notice against Ramu, son of Rajanu, caste Dareha, of village Bhatala in pargana Udaipur, district of Chamba. You are notified through this notice that you are my tenants and till for me the land which is 9 bigha and 9 biswa in area vide khata no. 115/181 in Mahal Bhanauta pargana Udaipur in district of Chamba, but you have not remitted to date my share (literally rent) both for Rabi and Kharif harvests for the year 1967 despite constant reminders. Few days back on summoning and complaining you had promised that I should visit you with labour and carry my share of crops. However, when I reached with labour at your place you refused to give me my share. On your refusal I had to come empty handed and without any purpose pay Rs 15 to the labour. It would be in your best interest that you pay my share of both Rabi and Kharif crops for the year 1967 within a week. Otherwise I shall be forced to demand rent (crop share) at the prevailing market price for both crops and file a land-eviction suit in court, with costsas court fee, charges of lawyer, etcagainst you for which you alone shall be responsible. The copy of the notice has been kept. Notice sent on 27 December 1967. The notice sent by Baijanath of Jogi caste Resident of Chamba town.

Document III: Notice Threatening Land Eviction No. 2 Translation

(Legal Document in Urdu) Registered Notice Date: 26 December 1967 Time one week Notice against Ramu, son of Naranjanu, caste Danehi, of village Shehunta in pargana Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com mahesh sharma on February 2, 2007 you Udaipur, districtof Chamba. You are notifiedbythrough this noticeunauthorized are my tenants that 2006 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or
distribution.

508 / MAHESH SHARMA and till for me the land which is 9 bigha and 9 biswa in area, vide khata no. 146 in Mahal50 Busehra pargana Udaipur in district of Chamba, but you have not remitted to date my share (galla) both for Rabi and Kharif harvests for the year 1967 despite constant reminders. A few days back on summoning and complaining you had promised that I should visit you with labour and carry my share of crops. However, when I reached with labour at your place you refused to give me my share. On your refusal I had to come away empty handed and without any purpose pay Rs 15 to the labour. It would be in your best interest that you pay my share of both Rabi and Kharif crops for the year 1967 within a week. Otherwise, I shall be forced to file a land-eviction suit along with tenancy rights in court, with costs as court fee, charges of lawyer, etcagainst you for which you alone shall be responsible. You have no right to not to pay the galla-batai or the share fixed on the basis of sharecropping. The copy of the notice has been kept. Words do not come cheap. The notice sent by Baijanath, son of Madho, of Jogi caste Resident of Chamba town

Bibliography

Primary Sources
The documents procured (cited, translated and transcribed) are from the portal of Charpat at Charpati Mohalla in Chamba town, Himachal Pradesh. The documents are land grants from 1774 to 1950, and consist of account sheets in possession of the Mahant (Late Mahant, Baijanath, made these accessible to me in 1996). These documents are in Takri script and Chambiyali language. The legal documents are in Urdu. The present Mahant, Som Nath, allowed me access to the documents in 2003. The settlement and administrative records for Charpatnath were accessed at the office of Tehsildar (revenue) in the District Headquarters Chamba. The documents used in the present article are: The grants made to the Jogis of Charpat by Raj Singh, Ajit Singh, Charhat Singh and Sri Singh, all rulers of Chamba. The grant deeds are in the collection of the Mahant of Charpat in Chamba. Account sheets of Charpat shrine in the possession of the Mahant at Chamba, 18501950. Communication of the Chief Commissioner to all Deputy Commissioners R983/48, dated 28 Aug. 1948. Copy of the Final Orders of the Highest Court of His Highness (Nakal Hukum Tajvij Faisla Aakhir Ujjalasa Janab) Sriman Raja Sahib Bahadur, Riyasat Chamba, 1913, in Thitholi, son of Situ, caste Jogi, resident of pargana Bhattiyat. Plaintiff (Muddai aalaha) versus (banam) Madho, son of Shyama, caste Jogi, resident of Chamba respondent. Copy of the Final Orders of the Court of the Chief Judicial Officer Sahib, Riyasat Chamba, Civil suit (Mukadma Diwani) Appeal No. 65, 1925, in Thitholi, son of Situ, caste Jogi, resident of Mohalla Drubhi, Chamba town, Appellant, Versus Madho, son of Shyama, caste Jogi, resident of Chamba; and Nanaku, son of Maffal, caste Khatri, resident of Chamba town, respondents. Misl-haqiyah register of the revenue village, mohal, Chamba vide Khata No. 892/khatauni no. 1323 in the process of the final settlement of Chamba, 1957. Negi, T.S., Settlement Report of the Chamba District (First Regular Settlement 195158), Simla, 1966.

Contemporary revenue term meaning delimited revenue estate, usually at the first regular settlement for the purpose of assessment and settlementby mahesh sharmaSettlement 2007 Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com of revenue, on February 2, Report of Chamba, p. 63.
2006 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution.

50

Land, ritual and the Jogis of Charpatnath / 509

Notice against Ramu, son of Rajanu, caste Dareha, of village Bhatala in pargana Udaipur, district of Chamba, 27 Dec. 1967. Notice against Ramu, son of Naranjanu, caste Danehi, of village Shehnauta in pargana Udaipur, district of Chamba, 26 Dec. 1967. Notification by the chief commissioner, E.P. Moon, vide no. R. 3829/48, dated 17 Jan. 1951, Simla4. Notification for re-assessment of land revenue of Chamba under section 49(2) of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, vide no. R. 3829/48, dated 17 Jan. 1951, Simla4. Sandhu, Rajwant, First Regular Settlement of Dalhausi in Tehsil Bhattiyat, report, 198387. The receipts of Baijanath, the Jogi of Charpatnath, based on the Jamabandi or Settlement Records of 196465.

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Rose, H.A. A Glossary of the Castes and Tribes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, Vol. I, Lahore, 1919. Schomer, K. and W.H. McLeod, eds, The Sants: Studies in a Devotional Tradition of India, Delhi, 1987. Sharma, Mahesh. Marginalisation and Appropriation: Jogis, Brahmins and Sidh Shrines, IESHR, Vol. 33 (1), 1996, pp. 7391. . Artisans and Monastic Credit in Early Twentieth Century Himachal, IESHR, Vol. 36 (2) 1999. . The Realm of Faith: Subversion, Appropriation and Dominance in the Western Himalaya, Shimla, 2001. . State Formation and Cultural Complex in Western Himalaya: Chamba Genealogy and Epigraphs7001650, IESHR, Vol. 41 (4), 2004, pp. 387431. Sharma, Ursula M. The Problems of Village Hinduism: Fragmentation and Integration, Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol. 4, Dec., 1970. Singh, Mohan. Gorakhnath and Medieval Hindu Mysticism, Lahore, 1937. Tucci, Giuseppe. Animadversiones Indicae, Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 36 (1), 1930. . Tibetan Painted Scrolls, 2 Vols, Roma, 1949. Urban, Hugh B. Sex, Secrecy Politics, and Power in the Study of Religions, Berkeley, 2003. Vogel, J. Ph. Catalogue of the Bhuri Singh Museum at Chamba, Calcutta, 1909. . Antiquities of Chamba State, Part I, Calcutta, 1911. Washbrook, David, Law, State and Agrarian Society in Colonial India, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 15 (3), 1981, pp. 63554. White, D.G., The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India, Chicago, 1996. Yadav, D., Vajrayani Siddha Sarhyada, Shantiniketan, 1972.

Downloaded from http://ier.sagepub.com by mahesh sharma on February 2, 2007 2006 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution.