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7. The suit property consists of lands, the building called the temple, a house, an orda (room) and certain moveables and outstandings amounting to Rs. 11,000 and odd. 'The lands are of three kinds, devasthan, inam and sarkari. The devasthan lands consist of four survey numbers measuring in all 13 acres 33 gunthas. The total area of the lands in suit is 50 acres 39 gunthas. There is a plan put in showing the nature of the temple premises. Entering the main door there are two wings, one to the right and one to the left. In the right wing there is an open ravesh or verandah in which is a room containing the idol. There is a row of other rooms. There is also an upper storey in which there are more rooms. In the left wing which abuts on the road there is a line of shops. It seems that there is no dome and the usual architectural features of a Hindu temple are wanting. According to the defendants the building is not really a temple but an ordinary house, which has been converted. It is undisputed that the temple is three or four hundred years old. It is also undisputed that the worship has always been performed by a sadhu of the Ramanandi sect and that each sadhu has initiated a chela who has succeeded him. Little or nothing is known of the early history The sadhu in 1862 was one Jugaldas. He had two chelas, Girdharidas and Narandas. Narandas also had two chelas Haridas and Govinddas. But in 1882 Haridas transferred his rights to Govinddas by a formal conveyance which is on record, exhibit 221. It is an interesting document as it appears that the temple or rather "one house called temple" and lands amounting to 28 acres 3 gunthas were transferred as though they were private property for the sum of Rs. 200. Govindas's chela was Baldevdas and his chelas were defendants Nos. 1 and 2.

8. The plaintiffs have relied partly on oral and partly on documentary evidence. The oral evidence deals mainly with such points as the tradition in the village as to the origin of the temple, the use which the Hindu villagers have made of the temple, the income of the temple, how obtained and how used, the alleged control of the sadhus by the villagers and the manner in which they have been installed. Plaintiff No. 4, who is perhaps the most important witness, has asserted that the temple was got built by the village people about 200 or 250 years ago, but he has admitted that there is no document to show this and that his evidence is mere hearsay. Plaintiff No. 2 in his evidence has made the same assertion and the same admission. As to the public user plaintiff No. 4 says that people of the village go to make darshan in the temple and no one has ever been prevented from doing so. Certain festivals are observed there when people attend and sing songs and make presents of corn and small coins to the deity. Every day the deities are washed and garlanded by the sadhu and the arti ceremonies are performed morning and evening. Village people assemble at the time of the artis. According to this witness the income of the temple is derived from the lands attached to it and people of the village have given lands and out of the income the property has increased. Another source of income is the gift of a rupee on the occasion of the marriage of a daughter in a patidar family. Similar gifts are made on some other occasions. The total amount of the income according to him is about Rs. 2,000, but obviously the greater part of that must be derived from the income of the fields. No accounts have been produced in the case except some which were kept by Baldevdas for a period of twelve years altogether during his time. They are not regularly kept accounts, but monthly balances are drawn. No details are given, but the sums received or paid are entered with the name of the payer or payee and the account is headed with the name of the God. I may say, as I have mentioned the accounts here, that it is not clear that they contain any entries relating to the lands which are not devasthan lands.

20. I need only cite Chhotabhai V. Inan Chandra Basak (1935) L.R. 62 I.A. 146, 158, s.c. 37 Bom. L.R. 567 in that connection. It has already been pointed out that there was as long ago as 1882 an area of over fourteen acres of lands in addition to the devasthan. Assuming, as one well may under the circumstances, that the devasthan lands would suffice for the maintenance of this small temple and of the sadhu himself, the fourteen acres of non-devasthan lands would afford a nucleus from which the remaining lands could easily have been acquired. It is necessary for the plaintiffs to show therefore that this nucleus formed part of the temple properties in respect of which a trust for religious purposes of a public nature has been created.

30. This so-called will of Baldevdas on the other hand is an isolated document. In 1882 the properties were transferred by Haridas to Govinddas without any reference to or recognition of any trust. Govinddas in his will which is on record dealt with the estate, including even the devasthan lands, as though it was private property. Baldevdas made this will long before his death, apparently at a time when he was annoyed with his chelas. He did not inform anybody about the will and there is not the slightest reason to suppose that it affected his own conduct in any way or that he ever acted otherwise than as the full owner of the suit properties. The attempt made in the will to restrict the powers of his successors, he himself having enjoyed the property as a private owner, cannot in our opinion have any material bearing on the question whether there is a public charitable trust. Nor can we attach much importance to the assertion that all the suit properties were acquired from the income of Gopalji Maharaj. The meaning of this statement is by no means clear and anyhow Baldevdas could have no knowledge as to how the original nucleus of non-devasthan properties was acquired.