Governing property, making the modern state - PSI424

TABLE 10.2 Khanzira, share per person and per holding in 1884
Holdings ¼-shares Co-sharers ¼-share per
person
Single individual
¼-share 4 4 4 1
½-share 16 32 16 2
¾-share 3 9 3 3
1–share 4 16 4 4
TOTAL
Partnerships
27 61 27 2.15
Brothers, BS, FBS 22 50 51 0.98
Brothers + ZS 1 4 4 1
Father-son 2 6 6 1
Equal unrelated 9 25 21 1.19
Unequal unrelated 7 29 30 0.97
TOTAL 41 114 112 1.02
GRAND TOTAL 68 175 139 1.26
at the 1895 survey. A further three or four individuals who each made up a final
share in a musha‘ holding in 1884 may also not have been permanently resident
in the village at the time. Others who were listed as co-sharers in musha‘ holdings
may have been living with relatives. 24 One or two people, both in 1884 and 1895,
were registered as belonging to the neighbouring village of Juffain.
Allotment of plough land The principle of allotting shares in the common plough
land in Khanzira was the same as in Kufr ‘Awan, by counting the number of
male heads and by making up viable shareholding units through partnerships.
But there may have been more land per head available in Khanzira despite its
greater population, for there is only one holding in which two brothers shared
a quarter-share and the majority of holdings by a single person were of half
a share, or two zalama not one. In other words the calculation of household
labour may have been less exact, and a married man could take on half a share
or more if he felt his labour prospects sufficient. The total number of shares was
43¾, equivalent to 175 zalama, giving an average of 15q per holding or 7½q per
person registered. A breakdown of the composition of musha‘ holdings is given
in Table 10.2. Three-fifths of the holdings were in partnerships in which each
partner had a quarter-share, corresponding to one zalama.
In Table 10.2 partnerships have been classified into three types. The majority
were between close agnates, usually brothers or a brother’s son but in two cases
between a father and two sons, and in two other cases between cousins whose
exact relationship is unknown. A partnership between a father and sons, each
179
Two hill villages