Akin to any
other feudal government, the Zamindars
or the Lords of an estate in Sikkim had enormous power to enjoy. Their important
duties include collection of taxes (both Land and House Taxes) from the
peasants and also had a right of litigation at their Courts thence designated
as Adda Courts. It is worth to
mention that some of the Zamindars
had seals in their name that manifests the unconcealed position of Zamindars in the feudal organization of
Sikkim.
The picture of a
tax receipt posted with this post belongs to a peasant named Dalbir Limboo of Rateypani
Estate in South Sikkim which was issued to him by his village Mandal Dorjey
Bomjan. According to the receipt, a cash payment of Rs 13/- was made by Dalbir
Limboo as land tax to his Mandal in 1973 which is a bit confusing. However, if one
has to examine the fonts used by the printing press (Gorkha Press Darjeeling) one
can be convinced that the receipt belongs to the first quarter of 20th
century. Further, the receipt has mentioned some other taxes like Madadi, Satsukey, Roadsesh, and Gaddhi which were eliminated immediately
after the Second World War. Therefore, it is apparent that the tax receipt
belongs to AD 1916 and the year mentioned as 1973 is Vikramasamvat era which is still in practice in neighbouring Nepal.
 |
| This tax receipt belongs to Mr. H.B. Subba of Chota Singtam, East Sikkim |
The seal bearing
a name of the Zamindar as Shree Hiralal
is the distinguishing feature of this receipt. Stamped in Devanagari (Nepali) the name seems to be prominent as it also bears
a figure of a half moon and a star on the both ends of the name. Use of such
icons along with their names was in vogue among the exalted Nepalese Zamindars. We are not sure about the
usage of such seals by other Zamindars
in the Kingdom of Sikkim. However, the use of a seal that bears the name of
self indicates least concerned attitude of the Zamindars towards the King and the peasants of the Kingdom.
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