My Mother — Page 2
2 my father, but I resigned in favour of my next brother, since whose death in 1947, his eldest son has held it. My great-grandfather died young, leaving him surviving his widow, two sons, and two daughters. The boys were only in their teens, and the elder, my grandfather, became one of the headmen, in succession to his father. The family had been prosperous and comparatively well off, but the early demise of my great-grand - father left it vulnerable. My great-grandmother was a resourceful woman and was determined to safeguard the interests of her chil- dren. It was the time of the Sikh administration and in a way the chief headman, being a Sikh, had an edge on the Muslim head- man, my grandfather, who was only a stripling in his teens. The principal duty of a headman was to collect the revenue due to the administration from the farmers in respect of their lands and to pay it into the government treasury. The chief head- man, taking advantage of the youth and inexperience of my grand- father, would incite the farmers to hold back the land revenue, so that my grandfather was not able to deposit it in the treasury on time and was thus, to some degree, in default. This would bring the staff of the revenue collector upon him seeking to know the reason for the default and to enforce payment of the government demand. The chief headman would suggest that the young head- man should be apprehended and given a beating before the eyes of his mother who would then find the means of satisfying the government demand from her own resources. This tragedy was enacted every six months so that the distracted mother was pro- gressively compelled to sell her gold and silver ornaments for the satisfaction of the government demand. The purpose of the chief headman was that the family should be forced to part with its