Zamindars of Bihar

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Tekari Maharaj Mitrajeet Singh, 1763 - 1840 AD.JPG
Maharaja Mitrajeet Singh of Tekari Raj
Rai Hari Prasad Lal Gaya.jpg
Rai Hariprasad Lal of Gaya
Koer Singh, watercolour on ivory, c. 1857.png
Kunwar Singh of the Jagdishpur estate
Maharaja Lakshmeshwar Singh, 1888.jpg
Maharaja Lakshmeshwar Singh of Raj Darbhanga in 1888.

The Zamindars of Bihar were the autonomous and semi-autonomous rulers and administrators of the subah of Bihar during Mughal rule and later during British rule. They formed the landed aristocracy that lasted until Indian independence in 1947. [1] The zamindars of Bihar were numerous and could be divided into small, medium and large depending on how much land they controlled. [2] Within Bihar, the zamindars had both economic and military power. Each zamindari would have their own standing army which was typically composed of their own clansmen. [3]

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The majority of these zamindars usually belonged to Hindu communities such as Bhumihars, Rajputs, Brahmins, Kayasthas or Muslims. [4]

The Forward Caste Zamindars also participated in the politics of state of Bihar, and had significant presence in politics in the first few decades of independence. However, since 1970, they started losing this presence and according to DM Diwakar, former Director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Sciences, they were converted into "silent onlookers" by 2020, amidst assertion of Backward Castes and Dalits. [5] Bihar's land reform drive of 1950s led to liquidation of the large landholdings of the big landlords. In the wake of this change, many well to do peasant communities started increasing their landholdings at the cost of big Zamindars. Although, the benefits of these reforms weren't percolated down to the lowest strata of Bihar's society, the Schedule Castes, many new landlords of the post reform period hailed from groups such as Koeri, Kurmi and Yadav caste of Bihar. [6]

Relations with the Mughals

Mughal rule in Bihar was characterised as turbulent and volatile as many of the region's zamindars made continuous efforts to defy the imperial authority. [7]

The nineteenth-century British civil servant, John Beames noted about Mughal-ruled Bihar that "everyone who was powerful enough to rob the state or his neighbours, robbed to his hearts content". [8] Zamindars refusing to pay the state and gathering forces to attack neighbouring zamindars was a common practice in Bihar during this period. [8]

This attitude to authority continued into the period when the Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad became the nominal governors of Bihar. Although Bihar had the potential to provide a large amount of revenue and tax, records show that the Nawabs were unable to extract any money from the chiefs of Bihar until 1748. And even following this, the amount gained was very low. This was again due to the rebellious nature of the zamindars who were "continually in arms". [9]

Relations with the British

After the collapse of the Mughals, the British East India Company held sway over much of South Asia. [10] The colonial power wanted the revenue system "to be simple in its principle and uniform in its operation," but the zamindari system was so ingrained that even the early British rulers, from the grant of Dewani (1765) to the Permanent Settlement (1793), dared not challenge it fundamentally. The early British rulers did not want any "innovation" or "experimentation," even if the zamindars, taluqdars, and many estates were defaulters to the government for not paying the raised land fee. This was because such a radical measure would have violated the 'customary' rights and privilege. [11]

With the exception of a few new men here and there, the old landed nobility formed the social cornerstone of the new establishment in 1793. One could claim that the early British emperors were dependent on a customary class of upper caste aristocrats. Since the majority of zamindars involved in estate auctions were Brahmins or members of upper caste families, Hastings was against the open selling of estates and instead supported giving them a higher position in the rural power structure. The zamindars of Bihar seem to have suffered far less than the old zamindars of Bengal and Orissa, who suffered considerably. The Darbhanga Raj, the Hathwa Raj, the Tekari Raj, the Deo families in Gaya, and the Dumraon families in Shahabad were among the prominent zamindars of Bihar who enjoyed prosperity. [12]

The Brahmins held possession of Darbhanga, Banaili while Bhumihars held possession of Bettiah, Hathwa, Madhuban, Lalganj Sehra [13] , Sheohar, Tekari, Bodh Gaya, Sursand, Maksudpur, Manjhi, Parsa, Chainpur, Dharhara, Budhauli and a plethora of other places. Gidhaur, Namudag, Ramnagar, Ramgarh, Biher, Kulharia, and Dumraon were Rajput estates, while Kayastha controlled two other significant zamindaris, Baghi & Surajpura [12] .

The goal behind the establishment of the revenue farms in Bengal and Bihar was to obtain the highest possible share of the net produce and then fix it for all time under the Permanent Settlement. The colonial authority began to require the zamindars in place, including those who were established as landowners for all time, to make a regular, ongoing payment. [14]

Social condition in Zamindari areas

The Permanent Settlement act by the British East India Company did not significantly alter the landholding patterns in Bihar, leaving Rajputs and Bhumihars as the major Zamindars. It curtailed some of their powers, but also took away the customary occupancy rights of the peasantry. [15]

The British rule enabled Rajputs to continue their dominance by cementing their entitlements related to land and tax collection. [16] Exercise of coercive power by the dominant castes [17] over the vulnerable landless labourers took various forms such as forced labour, higher rents, lower wages, social restrictions, evictions and sexual harassment. [15] : 75  Rape of women from lower caste by Rajput and Bhumihar landowners was common in the Shahabad district, [15] particularly in couple of villages of Bhojpur (modern name for Shahabad district), where sexual desire of the upper-castes was satisfied through arrogant and unrestricted access to the modesty of women belonging to Chamar and Musahar caste. [18] [19] Emerging organizations of middle peasant castes like Triveni Sangh [15] and Kisan Sabhas took up the issues of exploitation, [20] with the Naxal threat also acting as a check. [18]

Abolition and decline in political presence of Zamindars

Lalkothi palace which belonged to the Gidhaur estate Gidhaur lalkothi.jpg
Lalkothi palace which belonged to the Gidhaur estate

Following independence in 1947, there was large-scale support in Bihar for the abolition of zamindari especially among peasants, agricultural labourers and the urban middle-class who stood to gain the most from this. [21] This culminated in a large-scale movement in support of abolition led by lower-castes. The Bhumihar zamindars realised that abolition was going to occur and planned for abolition to be on their terms. [21] However, the Rajput-Kayastha zamindars strongly resisted this. Eventually, the Bihar Abolition of Zamindaris Act was passed in 1949. [21] "The abolition of the zamindari system had a profound impact on the social landscape. Many upper-caste zamindars, who had long held power and privilege, were stripped of their land and influence. Meanwhile, descendants of Kayastha zamindars, who had historically wielded significant local influence, adapted to the new political landscape by engaging in local panchayat politics. This shift allowed them to maintain their influence and shape the destiny of their communities, fostering a new era of grassroots leadership and social change."

In the later period of time, when the abolition of Zamindari took place in Bihar and the castes like Yadav, Kurmi, Koiri and Bhumihar became the prime movers of the emerging capitalist agriculture system of central Bihar. The new semi-feudal social order brought unintended benefits for these caste groups in which the question of dignity and minimum wages came to the fore. The Green Revolution further benefited these communities. [22] Hence, in later periods, many landed Other Backward Castes also emerged as zamindars, primarily from a group called Upper Backward Castes. [23]

Prior to the independence of India, many forward caste Zamindars like Kayastha & Brahmin zamindars started taking interest in politics, and they also participated in the Quit India Movement, anticipating the end of British rule, which protected them. According to DM Diwakar, a former director of Patna’s AN Sinha Institute of Social Sciences, these feudal elites had significant presence in politics of the state in first few decades of the post-independence period, but they started losing this significant position in 1970s. In the first tenure of Nitish Kumar, they staged a comeback in the politics of state, but in the next tenures, they were completely marginalised and according to Diwakar, were converted into "silent onlookers" by 2020. [5]

Notable zamindari estates

Rai Stial Prasad Bahadur.jpg
Rai Sital Prasad Bahadur, an aristocratic landlord from Gaya
Surajpurazamindari.jpg
The haveli of the Kayasth Rajas of Surajpura, this was one of the largest zamindari in North Bihar. The haveli now has been converted into a government school.

See also

Related Research Articles

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A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a zamindari. The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; zamindar is the Persian for landowner. During the British Raj, the British began using it as a local synonym for "estate". Zamindars as a class were equivalent to lords and barons; in some cases they were independent sovereign princes. Similarly, their holdings were typically hereditary and came with the right to collect taxes on behalf of imperial courts or for military purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kayastha</span> Community of India

Kayastha denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally located—the Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus of Maharashtra, the Bengali Kayasthas of Bengal and Karanas of Odisha. All of them were traditionally considered "writing castes", who had historically served the ruling powers as administrators, ministers and record-keepers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Patna</span> Timeline of the Capital of Bihar

Patna, the capital of Bihar state, India, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world and the history of Patna spans at least three millennia. Patna has the distinction of being associated with the two most ancient religions of the world, namely, Buddhism and Jainism. The ancient city of Pataliputra was the capital of the Mauryan, Shunga, and Gupta Empires.

Kushwaha is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain that has traditionally been involved in agriculture, including beekeeping. The term has been used to represent different sub-castes of the Kachhis, Kachhvahas, Koeris and Muraos. The Kushwaha had worshipped Shiva and Shakta, but beginning in the 20th century, they claim descent from the Suryavansh (Solar) dynasty via Kusha, one of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. At present, it is a broad community formed by coming together of several caste groups with similar occupational backgrounds and socio-economic status, who, over the time, started inter-marrying among themselves and created all India caste network for caste solidarity. The communities which merged into this caste cluster includes Kachhi, Kachhwaha, Kushwaha, Mali, Marrar, Saini, Sonkar, Murai, Shakya, Maurya, Koeri and Panara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhumihar</span> Caste of India

Bhumihar, also locally called Bhuinhar and Babhan, is a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar, the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bettiah Raj</span> Zamindari estate in Bihar, India

The Bettiah Raj was the second-largest zamindari in the Bettiah region of Bihar, India. It generated annual land revenue rentals of more than 2 million rupees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tekari Raj</span> Zamindari estate

The Tekari Raj was a zamindari estate of the Bhumihar Brahmin community in South Bihar. They controlled 2,046 villages on their estate, which covered a 7,500 square kilometres (2,900 sq mi) area, near to the town of Gaya.

The politics of Bihar, a state in east India, is dominated by regional political parties. As of 2021, the main political groups are Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United) (JDU), Indian National Congress (INC), Left Front, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM). There are also smaller regional parties: Samata Party, Rashtriya Jan Jan Party, Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal, Jan Adhikar Party and Vikassheel Insaan Party, Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party. As of 2024, Bihar is currently ruled by NDA. This is after JDU broke away from a Mahagatbandhan coalition and returned to NDA fold.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bihar Subah</span>

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Rajputs in Bihar are members of the Rajput community living in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. They traditionally formed part of the feudal elite in Bihari society. Rajputs were pressed with the Zamindari abolition and Bhoodan movement in post-independence India; along with other Forward Castes, they lost their significant position in Bihar's agrarian society, leading to the rise of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dumraon Raj</span> Princely state

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triveni Sangh</span> Social reform movement

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caste-related violence in Bihar</span> Caste wars of Bihar, India

The Caste based violence in Bihar has a history of conflict between the Forward Castes, who controlled vast swathes of land, and the Lower Castes who were mostly poor. The Zamindari abolition and communist upsurge in Bihar gave rise to a tug of war between upper and the lower castes. The tussle between the Marxists and the landed proprietors was not divided along caste lines as some of the middle peasant castes were also proprietors. The decade of 1960s witnessed communist upsurge in the Bhojpur region of Bihar led by Jagdish Mahto under the banner of Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation, while the 1990s saw dreaded caste wars. The belligerents were Dalits and poor peasantry of middle peasant castes who were fighting for their rights with the supporters of the status-quo, i.e., upper castes as well as the affluent section of the middle peasant castes. Its first mass leader was Jagdish Mahto, a Koeri teacher who had read Ambedkar before he discovered Marx, and started a paper in the town of Arrah called Harijanistan("dalit land"). Religious sentiments also became the cause of bitter strife. The violence that happened in Bhagalpur is a precedent.

The Backward Caste movement in Bihar can be traced back to the formation of Triveni Sangh, a caste coalition and political party, in the 1930s, which was revived after the introduction of land reforms in the 1950s aimed at removing intermediaries from agrarian society. But, this drive could not succeed in bringing long-lasting changes in the condition of lower strata of society, as they lacked political representation and economic power. The period since land reform included caste conflicts and the class struggle which eventually led to a transfer of absolute political power in the hands of Backward Castes, who had been kept away from it earlier. The class struggle succeeded the struggle of some of the Upper Backward Castes against the sacerdotal authorities for improvement in their ritual status. By the 1990s, the conflict between upper-castes and the lower-castes continued, with nearly 17 massacres taking place during this time period. But with the advent of politics of social justice and the Janata Dal in the 1990s, the lower caste became more active politically.

A dominant caste is one which preponderates numerically over other castes and also wields preponderant economic and political power. A large and powerful caste group can be more easily dominant if its position in the local caste hierarchy is not too low. The concept of dominant caste was introduced in 1959 by sociologist M. N. Srinivas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalits in Bihar</span> Post independence mobilisation of Dalits in Bihar

Dalits in Bihar are a social group composed of many Scheduled Castes, placed at the bottom of the "caste-based social order". The Dalits also include some of the erstwhile untouchable castes, who suffered various forms of oppression in the feudal-agrarian society of Bihar. Some of the Dalit castes have specific cultural practices, which differ from those of orthodox Hinduism.

References

  1. ↑ "Zamindar | Definition, System, & Mughal Empire | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  2. ↑ Lata Singh (2012). Popular Translations of Nationalism: Bihar, 1920–1922. Primus Books. pp. 5–7. ISBN   978-93-80607-13-9.
  3. ↑ Tahir Hussain Ansari (2019). Mughal Administration and the Zamindars of Bihar. Taylor & Francis. p. 2. ISBN   978-1-00-065152-2.
  4. ↑ Jha, Hetukar (1 October 1977). "Lower-Caste Peasants and Upper-Caste Zamindars in Bihar (1921–1925): An Analysis of Sanskritization and Contradiction between the Two Groups". The Indian Economic and Social History Review. 14 (4): 549–559. doi:10.1177/001946467701400404. S2CID   143558861 . Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Bihar Assembly Election 2020: Royal, zamindar families remain a marginal force". Hindustan Times. 23 October 2020. Archived from the original on 10 July 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  6. ↑ Chetan Choithani (2023). Migration, Food Security and Development: Insights from Rural India. Cambridge University Press. p. 107. ISBN   978-1009276771. Archived from the original on 29 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023. Although the end of zamindari led to a mass eviction of sharecroppers and tenant cultivators who were the actual tillers of the land, big landlords from high castes also saw their landholdings diminish. A new class of landlords belonging to the upper-middle caste groups such as Kurmi, Koeri and Yadavs – officially categorised as other backward classes in contemporary Bihar – emerged. These were mostly small and middle peasants who were able to consolidate their landholdings and position in society in the midst of zamindari reforms (Wilson, 1999; Sharma, 2005).
  7. ↑ Kumkum Chatterjee (1996). Merchants, Politics, and Society in Early Modern India: Bihar, 1733–1820. Brill. pp. 31–32. ISBN   90-04-10303-1.
  8. 1 2 Gyan Prakash (2003). Bonded Histories: Genealogies of Labor Servitude in Colonial India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 88–90. ISBN   978-0-521-52658-6.
  9. ↑ P. J. Marshall (2006). Bengal: The British Bridgehead: Eastern India 1740–1828. Cambridge University Press. pp. 58–60. ISBN   978-0-521-02822-6.
  10. ↑ P. J. Marshall (2006). Bengal: The British Bridgehead: Eastern India 1740–1828. Cambridge University Press. pp. 95–. ISBN   978-0-521-02822-6.
  11. ↑ Shukla, P.K. (1996). "The Zamindars of North Bihar During the Early British Rule (1765–1793)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 57: 507. ISSN   2249-1937. JSTOR   44133355.
  12. 1 2 Shukla, P.K. (1996). "The Zamindars of North Bihar During the Early British Rule (1765–1793)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 57: 508–509. ISSN   2249-1937. JSTOR   44133355.
  13. ↑ Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers Patna. Concept Publishing Company. 1924. ISBN   978-81-7268-121-0.
  14. ↑ Shukla, P.K. (1996). "The Zamindars of North Bihar During the Early British Rule (1765–1793)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 57: 513. ISSN   2249-1937. JSTOR   44133355.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Vinita Damodaran (1992). Broken Promises: Popular Protest, Indian Nationalism, and the Congress Party in Bihar, 1935–1946. Oxford University Press. p. 75. ISBN   978-0-19-562979-8. The rape of lower-caste women by Rajput and Bhumihar landowners was common in Shahabad where , by the 1930s , anger and resentment against the frequent violation of women were openly expressed on the platform of the Tribeni Sangh
  16. ↑ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2000). "The Rise of the Other Backward Classes in the Hindi Belt". The Journal of Asian Studies. 59 (1): 86–108. doi:10.2307/2658585. ISSN   0021-9118. JSTOR   2658585. S2CID   162845558. But the upper castes remained politically dominant in the Hindi belt also because of the pattern of land ownership that enabled them, especially the Rajputs, to consolidate their grasp over the countryside as zamindars, jagirdars, or taluqdars under the British and to retain some of their influence in spite of the efforts toward land reform after 1947.
  17. ↑ Bailey, F. G. (1960). Tribe Caste and Nation. Oxford University Press. p. 258. The system works the way it does because the coercive sanctions are all in the hands of the dominant caste.
  18. 1 2 Kaushal Kishore Sharma; Prabhakar Prasad Singh; Ranjan Kumar (1994). Peasant Struggles in Bihar, 1831–1992: Spontaneity to Organisation. Centre for Peasant Studies. p. 247. ISBN   9788185078885. According to them, before the emergence of Naxalism on the scene and consequent resistance on the part of these hapless fellows, "rape of lower caste women by Rajput and Bhumihar landlords used to cause so much anguish among the lower cates, who, owing to their hapless situation, could not dare oppose them. In their own words, "within the social constraints , the suppressed sexual hunger of the predominant castes often found unrestricted outlet among the poor, lower caste of Bhojpur-notably Chamars and Mushars.
  19. ↑ Fernando Franco (2002). Pain and Awakening: The Dynamics of Dalit Identity in Bihar, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. Indian Social Institute. p. 52. ISBN   9788187218463. Even as late as the 1970s , the rape of lower caste women by Rajputs and Bhumihars had almost become a tradition , 'an accepted social evil , a fate which many bore unquestioningly', in parts of central Bihar
  20. ↑ Kelkar, Govind (1989). "Women and Land Rights Movements". Case Studies on Strengthening Co-ordination Between Non-governmental Organizations and Government Agencies in Promoting Social Development. United Nations (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific). Sec. "Kisan Sabha and Kisan Samiti: Peasant Movemnts and Women (India)", pp.  72–73.
  21. 1 2 3 Mitra Subrata K; Bhattacharyya Harihar (2018). Politics And Governance In Indian States: Bihar, West Bengal And Tripura. World Scientific Publishing Company. pp. 155–158. ISBN   978-981-320-824-7.
  22. ↑ Kumar, Ashwani (2008). Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar. Anthem Press. p. 94. ISBN   978-1-84331-709-8.
  23. ↑ The National Geographical Journal of India. National Geographical Society of India. 1975.
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