![Maratha darbar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Maratha_darbar.jpg)
A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of
feudal land grant in the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
at the foundation of its Jagirdar (
Zamindar
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...
) system.
It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, starting in the early 13th century, wherein the powers to govern and collect tax from an estate was granted to an appointee of the state.
[Jāgīrdār system: INDIAN TAX SYSTEM](_blank)
Encyclopædia Britannica (2009) The tenants were considered to be in the servitude of the jagirdar.
There were two forms of jagir, one being conditional and the other unconditional. The conditional jagir required the governing family to maintain troops and provide their service to the state when asked.
The land grant was called
iqta
An iqta ( ar, اقطاع, iqṭāʿ) and occasionally iqtaʿa ( ar, اقطاعة) was an Islamic practice of tax farming that became common in Muslim Asia during the Buyid dynasty. Iqta has been defined in Nizam-al-Mulk's Siyasatnama. Administrat ...
, usually for a holder's lifetime, and the land reverted to the state upon the death of the jagirdar.
''
The jagirdar system was introduced by the
Delhi Sultanate,
and continued during the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
, but with a difference. In the Mughal times, the jagirdar collected taxes which paid his salary and the rest to the Mughal treasury, while the administration and military authority was given to a separate Mughal appointee. After the collapse of Mughal Empire, the system of jagirs was retained by
Marathas
The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...
, Rajput, Jat, and Sikh jat kingdoms, and later in a form by the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
.
Definition
''Jagir'' ( fa, ,
Devanagari
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...
: जागीर, bn, জায়গীর) is a Persian word, and means "place holder".
[
The Supreme Court of India used the following definition of ''jagir'' ''Rajasthan Land Reforms and Resumption of Jagirs Act (Rajasthan Act VI of 1952)'' in its ''Thakur Amar Singhji vs State Of Rajasthan (And Other ...)'' in a 15 April 1955 judgement: ]
Succession
A jagir was technically a feudal life estate
In common law and statutory law, a life estate (or life tenancy) is the ownership of immovable property for the duration of a person's life. In legal terms, it is an estate in real property that ends at death when ownership of the property may ...
, as the grant reverted to the state upon the jagirdar's death. However, in practice, jagirs became hereditary to the male lineal heir of the jagirdar. The family was thus the ''de facto'' ruler of the territory, earned income from part of the tax revenues and delivered the rest to the treasury of the state during the Islamic rule period, and later in parts of India that came under Afghan, Sikh and Rajput rulers. The ''jagirdar'' did not act alone, but appointed administrative layers for revenue collection. These positions, according to Shakti Kak, were called'' patwari
A Village accountant or Patwari (Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal), Talati (Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra) or Lekhpal (Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand), is an administrative government position in rural areas of the Indian subcontinent ...
'', ''tahsildar'', ''amil'', ''fotedar'', ''munsif
Pargana ( bn, পরগনা, , hi, परगना, ur, پرگنہ) or parganah, also spelt pergunnah during the time of the Sultanate period, Mughal times and British Raj, is a former administrative unit of the Indian subcontinent and each ...
'', ''qanungo'', ''chaudhri
Choudhury ( bn, চৌধুরী); also: Choudhuri, Chaudhuri, Choudhuary, Chowdhury) is a sanatan dharma-based- hereditary title of honor which was used to denote only those Brahmins and Kshatriyas of Gour who are the actual Ruler
...
'', ''dewan
''Dewan'' (also known as ''diwan'', sometimes spelled ''devan'' or ''divan'') designated a powerful government official, minister, or ruler. A ''dewan'' was the head of a state institution of the same name (see Divan). Diwans belonged to the e ...
'', rao and others.
13th-century origin and successors
This feudal system of land ownership is referred to as the ''jagirdar'' system. The system was introduced by the Sultans of Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
from the 13th century onwards, was later adopted by the Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
, and continued under the British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
.[
Some Hindu jagirdars were converted into Muslim vassal states under Mughal imperial sway, such as the ]nawwab
Nawab ( Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب;
bn, নবাব/নওয়াব;
hi, नवाब;
Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ;
Persian,
Punjabi ,
Sindhi,
Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Nobab, ...
s of Kurnool. Most princely states of India
A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...
during the colonial British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was him ...
era were jagirdars such as Mohrampur Jagir. Shortly following independence from the British Crown in 1947, the ''jagirdar'' system was abolished by the Indian government
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...
in 1951.
See also
* Indian honorifics
Indian honorifics are honorific titles or appendices to names used in the Indian subcontinent, covering formal and informal social, commercial, and religious relationships. These may take the form of prefixes, suffixes or replacements.
Native hon ...
* Desmukh
Deshmukh (IAST:Dēśamukh), is a historical title conferred to the rulers of a . It is used as a surname in certain regions of India, specifically in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh whose family received it as a ...
* Indian feudalism
Indian feudalism refers to the feudal society that made up India's social structure until the Mughal Dynasty in the 16th century. The Guptas and the Kushans played a major role in the introduction and practice of feudalism in India, and are exam ...
* Feudalism in Pakistan Feudalism in contemporary Pakistan ( ur, ''zamīndāri nizam'') usually refers to the power and influence of large landowning families, particularly through very large estates and in more remote areas.Nicholas D. Kristof "Feudalism in Pakistan" '' ...
* Kulkarni
Kulkarni is a family name native to the Indian state of Maharashtra. The name "Kulkarni" is a combination of two words (''kula'' and ''karni''). ''Kula'' means "family", and ''Karanika'' means "archivist". Historically, Kulkarni was the title gi ...
* Lambardar
Numbardar or Lambardar ( hi, नम्बरदार, pnb, ਲੰਬੜਦਾਰ, لمبردار, ur, لمبردار or نمبردار, bn, লম্বরদার/নম্বরদার, Lombordar/Nombordar) is a title in the Indian subcon ...
* Mankari
Mankari (Mānkari or Maankari) is a hereditary title used by Maratha nobles and troops from the Indian subcontinent who held land grants, and cash allowances. They held an official position at the Darbar (court) and were entitled to certain cer ...
* Mansabdar
The Mansabdar was a military unit within the administrative system of the Mughal Empire introduced by Akbar. The word ''mansab'' is of Arabic origin meaning rank or position. The system determined the rank and status of a government official an ...
* Patil
* Saranjamdar
* Sardar
Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been ...
* Zamindar
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...
* Ghatwals and Mulraiyats
Ghatwali was a feudal tenure/'' jagir'' for quasi-military services, only found in the district of Santhal Parganas and some parts of Munger. The ruling chiefs of these ''jagir'' were known as Ghatwals. They were responsible for maintaining safety ...
References
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017
*
Feudalism in Bangladesh
Feudalism in Pakistan
Indian feudalism
Indian words and phrases
Administrative divisions of India
Types of administrative division