E. Indies. Also 8 tisheldar, 9 tehsildar, tuhseeldar, tusseeldar, taxildar. [Urdū, f. Arab., Pers. taḥṣīl collection + Pers. dār, agential suffix.] The chief revenue-officer of a subdivision of a district under the Mogul rule; retained by the British; formerly sometimes applied to the cashier in a business house.
1799. Sir T. Munro, Lett., in Gleig, Life (1830), I. 215. He [Tippoo] divided his country into 37 Provinces under Dewans … and subdivided these again into 1025 inferior districts, having each a Tisheldar.
1801. Wellington, Suppl. Desp. (1858), II. 564. Accounts since received from the tahsildar of the Currup talook.
1808. in 5th Rep. Sel. Comm. on E. I. Company (1812), 583 (Y.). He continues to this hour tehsildar of the petty pergunnah or Sheopore.
1810. Capt. T. Williamson, E. Ind. Vade-m., I. 209. The sircar, or tusseeldar (cash-keeper) receiving one key, and the master retaining the other.
1849. Direct. Rev. Off. N. W. Prov., 188. Great care should be taken to maintain the respectability of the Tuhseeldars.
1871. Mateer, Travancore, 72. [The provinces] are subdivided into thirty-two counties, with a Tahsildar, or magistrate, at the head of each.
