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C OLONIALISM AND THE C OUNTRYSIDE 253 figures. A variety of customary norms regulated the relationship between the moneylender and the ryot. One general norm was that the interest charged could not be more than the principal. This was meant to limit the moneylender’s exactions and defined what could be counted as “fair interest”. Under colonial rule this norm broke down. In one of the many cases investigated by the Deccan Riots Commission, the moneylender had charged over Rs 2,000 as interest on a loan of Rs 100. In petition after petition, ryots complained of the injustice of such exactions and the violation of custom. Source 9 Deeds of hire When debts mounted the peasant was unable to pay back the loan to the moneylender. He had no option but to give over all his possessions – land, carts, and animals – to the moneylender. But without animals he could not continue to cultivate. So he took land on rent and animals on hire. He now had to pay for the animals which had originally belonged to him. He had to sign a deed of hire stating very clearly that these animals and carts did not belong to him. In cases of conflict, these deeds could be enforced through the court. The following is the text of a deed that a peasant signed in November 1873, from the records of the Deccan Riots List all the commitments that Commission: the peasant is making in this I have sold to you, on account of the debt due to you,deed. What does such a deed my two carriages having iron axles, with their of hire tell us about the appurtenances and four bullocks … I have taken from relationship between the you on hire under (this) deed the very same two peasant and the moneylender? carriages and four bullocks. I shall pay every month How would it change the the hire thereof at Rupees four a month, and obtain a relationship between the receipt in your own handwriting. In the absence of a receipt I shall not contend that the hire had been paid.asant and the bullocks he previously owned? The ryots came to see the moneylender as devious and deceitful. They complained of moneylenders manipulating laws and forging accounts. In 1859 the British passed a Limitation Law that stated that the loan bonds signed between moneylenders and ryots would have validity for only three years. This law was meant to check the accumulation of interest over time. The moneylender, however, turned Reprint 2026-27