A jagir, also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) 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. 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, usually for a holder's lifetime, and the land reverted to the state upon the death of the jagirdar.
A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a native synonym for "estate". The term means landowner in Persian. They were typically hereditary, and held the right to collect tax on behalf of imperial courts or for military purposes.
The Permanent Settlement, also known as the Permanent Settlement of Bengal, was an agreement between the East India Company and landlords of Bengal to fix revenues to be raised from land that had far-reaching consequences for both agricultural methods and productivity in the entire British Empire and the political realities of the Indian countryside. It was concluded in 1793 by the Company administration headed by Charles, Earl Cornwallis. It formed one part of a larger body of legislation, known as the Cornwallis Code. The Cornwallis Code of 1793 divided the East India Company's service personnel into three branches: revenue, judicial, and commercial. Revenues were collected by zamindars, native Indians who were treated as landowners. This division created an Indian landed class that supported British authority.
Taluqdars or Talukdar, were aristocrats who formed the ruling class during the Delhi Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate, Mughal Empire and British Raj. They were owners of a vast amount of lands, consistently hereditary, and were responsible for collecting taxes. The Taluqdars played helpful roles in the progression of Indian architecture and Indian economy during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, particularly in Bengal Subah, the most economically developed province in South Asia.
Indian feudalism refers to the feudal society that made up India's social structure until the formation of republic of india in the 20th century.
Pargana 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 parganas may or may not be subdivided into pirs. Those revenue units are used primarily, but not exclusively, by the Muslim kingdoms. After independence the Parganas became equivalent to Block/ Tahsil and Pirs became Grampanchayat.
Ryot was a general economic term used throughout India for peasant cultivators but with variations in different provinces. While zamindars were landlords, raiyats were tenants and cultivators, and served as hired labour.
Bhawal Estate was a large zamindari in Bengal until it was abolished according to East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950.
The Singranatore family is the consanguineous name given to a noble family in Rajshahi of landed aristocracy in erstwhile East Bengal and West Bengal that were prominent in the nineteenth century till the fall of the monarchy in India by Royal Assent in 1947 and subsequently abolished by the newly formed democratic Government of East Pakistan in 1950 by the State Acquisition Act.
The Darbhanga Raj, also known as Raj Darbhanga and the Khandwala dynasty, was a Maithil Brahmin dynasty and the rulers of territories, not all contiguous, that were part of the Mithila region, now divided between India and Nepal.
Numbardar or Lambardar is a title in the Indian subcontinent which applies to powerful families of zamindars of the village revenue estate, a state-privileged status which is hereditary and has wide-ranging governmental powers share in it, the collaboration with the police for maintaining law and order in the village, and it comes with the associated social prestige. In contrast, the Zaildar who was the grand jagirdar and usually had the power over 40 to 100 villages. The Zail and Zaildar system of British Raj was abolished in 1952 in India but the lambardar system still continues in Pakistan and in some places in India.
Feudalism in contemporary Pakistan usually refers to the power and influence of large landowning families, particularly through very large estates and in more remote areas. The adjective "feudal" in the context of Pakistan has been used to mean "a relatively small group of politically active and powerful landowners". "Feudal attitude" refers to "a combination of arrogance and entitlement". According to the Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research (PILER), five percent of agricultural households in Pakistan own nearly two-thirds of Pakistan's farmland.
Natore Rajbari was a royal palace in Natore, Bangladesh. It was the residence and seat of the Rajshahi Raj family of zamindars. The famous queen Rani Bhabani lived here and after the death of her husband, expanded both the estate and the palace.
Dighapatia Raj was a zamindari in present-day Rajshahi, which was ruled by this dynasty of 7 generations of Rajas from early 18th century till the mid-20th century; when the democratic government took power after the end of the British Monarchy's rule in India, in 1950, the East Pakistan government abolished aristocracies and the zamindari system in present-day Bangladesh. The family was seated at the Dighapatia Palace.
The Puthia Raj family was created by the Mughals in the early seventeenth century and is one of the oldest feudal estates of Bengal. A lord named Nilambar received the title of Raja (King) from the Emperor Jahangir. In 1744, the region was divided between King Nilambar's sons and the Puthia Raj family was born. The family built lavish palaces and temples, such as the Puthia Temple Complex, and were noted philanthropists. Later the Puthia Raj estate was maintained by Lahiris until the abolition of the zamindari system under the newly formed democratic Government of East Pakistan after passing of the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950, just two years after the fall of the British Raj. The palaces are currently administered by the Government of Bangladesh.
The Zamindars of Bengal were zamindars of the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. They governed an ancient system of land ownership.
Zamindars of Natore were influential aristocratic Bengali Zamindars, who owned large estates in what is today Natore District in Bangladesh .
The Bengal Tenancy Act 1885 was an enactment of the Bengal government that defined the rights of zamindarslords and their tenants in response to a widespread peasant revolt. In "Pabna Revolts" or Pabna Agrarian Uprisings were actually mass meetings, strikes, and legal battles against exploitative zamindars that had started since 1870s.
Jhargram Raj was a zamindari which occupied a position in Bengal region of British India. The zamindari came into being during the later part of the 16th century when Man Singh of Amer was the Dewan/Subahdar of Bengal (1594–1606). Their territory was centered around present-day Jhargram district. Jhargram was never an independent territory since the chiefs of the family held it basically as the zamindars of the British Raj in India after Lord Cornwallis's Permanent Settlement of 1793. Although its owners were both rich and powerful, with the chiefs of the family holding the title of Raja, the Jhargram estate was not defined as a Princely State with freedom to decide its future course of action at the time of Indian independence in 1947. Later, the Vice-Roy of India agreed to recognize Jhargram as "Princely State" after the Second World War, but the proposal taken back as the British had decided to give independence to India.
The zamindars of Mahipur were a Bengali aristocratic family of feudal landowners. The zamindari estate encompassed the Chakla of Qazirhat under the Cooch Behar State since the Mughal period. Although their aristocratic status was lost with the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950, the Mahipur estate remains an important part of the history of Rangpur and belongs to one of the eighteen ancient zamindar families of Rangpur. The zamindari palace was lost as a result of flooding from the Teesta River, although the mosque, cemetery, polished reservoir and large draw-well can still be seen today.
