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NAME- SHUVAJIT SARKAR

JAGIRDARI SYSTEM AND

Abstract
The Course is quite a fascinating one while understanding Medieval Indian

History. It gives a clear idea of the economic, social structure operating in the society of that

time period. In this Particular Assignment (Paper) I have tried to focus on the very idea of

Jagirdari System which is one of the cardinal features of the Mughal Economy and in a way

gives a properly structural understanding of the state. The system of Jagirdari later resulted or

to accurate churned in the Agrarian Crisis, Peasant Uprisings- all of them have been

discussed here in a brief manner for a better understanding of the Readers. The Paper also

provides us a message that medieval age in not something which is trivial , but it also had

important things which helped in the process of social evolution of mankind. Mansabdari

system of Akbar, Iqta System during the Sultanate rule all these were prelude systems to the

system of Jagirdari which played a cardinal role in studying the socio-economic as well as

political understanding of the Mughal times. Mostly I have tried to portray the era of
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Aurungzeb who is always victimized for the downfall of the great Mughal Empire. A layman

would simply blame the very idea that Aurungzeb’s conservativeness towards religion lead to

the critical condition of the Empire, but when we are studying and analysing things as an

Historian we are not here to write literature or romanticize the background. Our job is to find

things, perceive them from various sides/angles of the prism and even before giving

statements try to percolate down the matter and available sources.

Introduction

History cannot be divided into such stereotyped zones or ages like the Ancient,

Medieval and Modern phase, but obviously when one is trying to emphasize on a particular

event or time period such periodic divisions indeed help to articulate facts and give a better

understanding of the subject in a better manner. In the recent times when fundamental forces

have roused their heads and started percolating down the societal layer one has to act

carefully try to figure the events and the what happened during that time frame. As students

of History it is our duty to analyse things based on an academic manner and not giving value

judgements based up on our own thought or what is being campaigned all around us by

various forces. One has to understand that the Medieval Age which generally comprises the

rule of the Sultans and the Mughals is not a dark age as being termed by a certain section of

the people claiming to be harbingers of Nationalism. The Jagirdari system was feudal system

which got its shape during the Mughal times, it was Akbar who initiated this system in the

Mughal rule prior to that we get to trace its origin way back in the Sultanate Period. In this

Paper I have tried to focus how the Jagirdari System and the Agrarian Crisis were inter-

twinned with one another and it was the system of Jagirdari which resulted such Peasant

Uprisings and Rebellions and going by a academician’s notion of the Mughal Empire we
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have to admit the fact that this system was one of the very important reasons which led to the

down fall of the Mughal dynasty and in the coming years literally provided space to the

foreigners to fill up the seat of Power at the Centre. Notable Scholars like Irfan Habib , Satish

Chandra have done extensive work on this discourse and their interpretation of the state and

economy prevalent during that time period have really made us aware of the situation and it

is easy for us to analyse and compare the socio-economic state of affairs of that time with

those operating in the contemporary time period. The Jagirdari system was the salary system

of the Mansabdars, the system started during the time of Babur but with a different name- the

Wajahdari system.

A brief understanding of the Jagirdari System

The Mughals ruled the Indian subcontinent for almost 250 years and prior to them the Sultans

had come here and their rule was the introduction of Islam in Indian lands, the trade networks

with the Western World and the Persian world got strengthened, once again the picture of one

Central Government could be seen. The Government tried to centralize the administration

and in many occasions were successful in doing so. The Monarchy was becoming powerful

and expanding every day, the huge expenditure for the running of day to day affairs had to be

met up from collecting taxes from the Subjects. The taxation system was looked up seriously

the Mansabdari System was a system which was in operation before the Jagirdari system.

Akbar had initiated the Mansabdari system during his tenure as the Emperor of India. If we

look at Akbra’s Mansabdari system we see that the Mansabdars were appointed to all civil

and military posts except that of judiciary, and the positions like Wazir, Bakshi, Faujdar and

Subedar were held by the Mansabdars. Detalied studies show that the Mansabdar appears to

be an institution which was Central Asian in nature. There is a view that this institution came

to India with Babur. During Babur’s time, instead of the term of Mansabdar, the term
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Wajahdar was used. There is a definite difference between these two terms of Mansabdari

and Wajahdari system1. Under the regime of Akbar, Mansabdari system became the basis of

military and civil administration. The Mansabdars of the Mughal Empire received their pay

either in cash or in the form of assignments of areas of land from which they were entitled to

collect the land revenue and all other taxes imposed or sanctioned by the Emperor2.

In the Jagirdari system the feudal set up and structure got more and more incorporated.

The four types of Jagirs were:-

i) Jagir-i-tankwa

ii) Mashrut Jagir

iii) Inam Jagir

iv) Watan Jagir

All of them had their own structure and distinctive features of their own. Professor

Aniuruddha Ray, Former Head of the Department (Islamic History and Culture) of Calcutta

University tells us in an interview that the it was the British who first started taxation on land

by putting extra burden on the tiller. In the Mughal state the taxation was done on the

produced in the land and not simply on the land, if nothing was produced no taxation was to

be there3, the Jagirdari system was a structured well defined system for the collection of

revenue.

Some Problems of the Jagirdari System which can be underlined are:-

i) The Jagirdars must collect the revenue as per the sanctions rate.

ii) The difference between estimate of revenue and the actual collection of revenue.

iii) The Jagiradrs were transferable, and when Jagirdars were transferred at the middle of

their tenure problems arose as to which process he will collect the revenue going by the older

process his predecessor did or new way.

Jagirdari Crisis Lead to Agrarian Problems

The Jagirdari system was initiated by the Central Government to take control of

the entire population by appointing certain section of the population putting them higher up

the ladder which made them feel socially elite and people with paramount authority at least

within the ambit of their domain. Corruptions started which resulted with the birth of the

middlemen where the entire surplus didn’t reach the Emperor but the middlemen sucked all

the capital from the common population. There has been a great deal of debate about the

responsibility of Aurungzeb in the downfall of the Mughal Empire which virtually collapsed

and began to disintegrate in less than two decades after his death4. J F Richard argue Jagirdari

crisis was artificial in nature created due to Aurangzeb’s wrong policy.

“Without any long-term interest in the territory assigned to him for a short period,

the jagirdar unhesitatingly fleeced the peasant. Complaints to the higher authorities,

permitted in theory, were nearly impossible in practice and were at best ineffective. The

system of fanning out jagirs, discouraged by the government, apparently to little purpose,

further aggravated the situation. The financial crisis of the Mughal empire, in the later years

4
Chandra Satish , Medieval India from Sultanate to Mughal Empire (1526-1748) Part II, 1999, p. 346
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of Aurangzeb and afterwards, with too many mansabdars and not enough jagirs to go around

led to a steady deterioration all round.”5

The agrarian crisis in Mughal Empire could be traced around the mid 17th

century, as the economy of Mughal Dynasty was largely dependent on agriculture and on the

revenues collected from peasant agriculture, the crisis of the empire strongly had agrarian

roots. There were many events which led to situation leading to the agrarian crisis of Mughal

India. The Mughal Dynasty covered a whole subcontinent, united under a highly centralized

administration. As per studies it shows that the Mughal Empire owed its great success to the

development of fire-arms that has been regarded as the underlying cause of the formation of

the great Asian empires of the 16th century. Their main strength formerly lay in their cavalry

and it was in the battle in the open field, and in rapid movements, that they remained

invincible. The chief responsibility of the Mansabdars was the maintenance of cavalry

contingents with horses of standard breeds. There was, therefore, an intimate connection

between the military power of the Mughals and the system of Jagirs or territorial assignments

by which the mansabdars and their contingents were maintained.

The unity and cohesion of the ruling class in Mughal India found its

practical expression in the absolute power of the emperor. Further, the rate of the land

revenue demand and the methods by which it was to be assessed and collected were all

prescribed by the imperial administration. The emperor also decreed what other taxes were to

be collected. Imperial revenue policies were shaped by two basic considerations. Firstly,

since military details were maintained by the mansabdars out of the revenues of their jagirs,

the tendency was to set the revenue demand so high as to secure the greatest military strength

for the dynasty. However, secondly, it was clear that if the revenue rate was raised so high as

5
https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/amit/books/alam-1986-mughal-state-15261750.html (accessed on 24th

October,2017)
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to leave the peasant not enough for his survival, the revenue collections would definitely

soon fall in absolute terms. The revenue demand as set by the authorities was thus designed

to approximate to the surplus produce, leaving the peasant just the barest minimum needed

for survival.6

Irfan Habib states the mechanism of collection of revenue by the Mughals was

inherently flawed. If on the one hand the imperial policy was to set the revenue at the highest

rate possible so as to secure the greatest military strength of the empire, the nobles, on the

other, tended to squeeze the maximum from their jagirs, even if it ruined the peasantry and

destroyed the revenue-paying capacity of the area for all time.7

The peasantry was usually left with the barest minimum needed for supporting their lives.

What added further to the hardships of the cultivators was the frequent transfer of the jagirs,

as new Jagirdars didn't recognize the tax paid by the peasants to the previous Jagirdar and it

was the peasant who was pressurized by this strict taxation system. The jagirdars held their

jagirs at the pleasure of the Emperor. This constant insecurity of the tenure of office proved

unfortunate in two ways. Firstly it offered little incentive to the holders to exert for

alleviating the distress of their tenancy. Instead it led them to employ all possible tactics to

extort money from the Peasantry. Secondly, quite often at the time of the transfer the hard hit

peasants of the same Jagir were pressurized to pay the same sum twice, first to the collectors

of the outgoing jagirdar and then to those of the incoming one.

Thus this system ended in a mad looting of the peasants by the rival collectors.

If the peasants refused to pay the revenue, very severe punishment was meted out to them. At

times they were left with no other option than to sell their women, children and cattle, or to

run away from their home to avoid extermination through-ill- treatment. The tenure of

Aurungzeb was witnessed by the Satnami Rebellion. “The great Satnami revolt occurred in
6
http://www.indianetzone.com/50/agrarian_crisis_mughal_india.htm (accessed on 23rd October,2017)
7
Alam Muzaffar, The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India , Oxford University Press, 1986, p.4
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the reign of the Mughul Emperor Aurangzeb. Many Hindus resented Aurangzeb’s strict

Islamic policies – which included reviving the hated Islamic Jiziya tax (poll tax on non-

Muslim subjects), banning music and art, and destroying Hindu temples. The revolt began in

1672 when a Mughal soldier killed a Satnami. Other Satnamis took revenge on the Mughul

soldier, and in turn the Moghul soldiers went about repressing the Satnamis. The result was

that about 5,000 Satnamis were up in arms. They routed the Mughal troops situated in the

town, drove away the Mughal administrators and set up their own administration in its place.

The uprising gained the enthusiasm of Hindus in Agra and Ajmer also8.

Conclusion

History is all about School of thought and the way it is presented its how one approaches

events. The Jagirdari as from my point of view had the roots of the corrupted feudal system

and in the later years we do see the British bringing forward the Permanent Settlement,

Ryatwari, Mahalwari system to collect revenue from the people. The Jagirdari system might

differ in degree with the feudal order enunciated by the British but at the of the day all the

feudal systems including the Jagirdari system were of the same kind. The peasantry was

tortured and the entire burden of taxation was put on them by both the Mughal Emperor and

the Jagirdar, raids were done their women were looted and in the previous line I have spoken

that they had to run away from their houses during many occasions. the Jagirdari system led

to the Peasantry crisis and affected the Peasant the most, the Jagirdari system is of course one

of the rasons for the reasons of disintegration of the Mughal Empire as Professor Habib

pioneered that it was the faulty system which led to the downfall of this Gigantic Empire, in

the words of Marx the feudal setup oppressed the peasantry and the sections which were

8
https://hinduperspective.com/2013/03/12/celebrating-the-hindu-spirit-the-satnami-peasants-revolt-against-
auragzebs-fanaticism/
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controlling the peasantry ie the feudal lords of Europe and in India they were known by

various name in different time period.

Bibliography

1. Chandra Satish , Medieval India from Sultanate to Mughal Empire (1526-1748) Part

II, Har Anand Publications, reprinted 2014 (1999 first edition)

2. Chandra Satish , Medieval India: Society the Jagirdari Crisis and the Village, 1982

3. Alavi Seema (edited) , The Eighteenth Century in India, Oxford University Press,

2002

4. Raychaudhuri Tapan , Irfan Habib's The Agrarian System of Mughal India

5. Alam Muzaffar, The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India, Oxford University

Press, 1986,

6. Habib, Irfan, The Agrarian System of Mughal India, 1556-1707, Oxford University

Press, New Delhi, 2014

7. Sarkar, Jadunath, The Fall of the Mughal Empire, Vol. III; 1771 to 1778, Orient

Longman Private Limited, New Delhi, 1991

8. Dube, Ishita Banerjee, A History of Modern India. New Delhi: Cambridge University

Press, 2015.

9. Subramanian, Lakshmi, History of India, 1707-1857. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan,

2010.
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10. Richards John.F , The NEw Cambridge Historu of India Mughal Empire ; Cambridge

University Press , 2001

11. Moosvi , Shireen . The Evolution of the “Mansab” System Under Akbar Untill 1596-7

; The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain andIreland , NO . 2 (1981)

Referred Web Sources

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 https://www.scribd.com/doc/244971208/Done-Decline-of-the-Mughal-Empire-

Peasant-Revolts-Devika-Bahadur

http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/role-of-mansabdari-and-jagirdari-

system-during-mughal-empire/2046

 https://www.scribd.com/doc/294291442/Jagirdari-System

 https://www.scribd.com/doc/91051953/Decline-of-Mughal-Empire