Mansabdari system

  • A military bureaucracy system set up by Akbar5605
  • Officials had dual functions
  • Mansab = post
  • Mansabdar = Holder of Mansab
  • Jagir = land whose LR goes to holder of jagir i.e. Jagirdar.
  • Khalisa land = royal land & LR from khalisa lands = income of emperor

2 types of Jagirs

  1. Tankha Jagirs - emperor could transfer them from one mansabdar to another (Kingfeels powerful). Given to Mansabdar for payment of salary.
  2. Vatan jagirs - Non-transferable & hereditary Jagirs as given permanently by Emperor (eg to powerful mansabdars). (Vatan means hereditary).

2 types of Mansabdars

  1. Naqdi Mansabdar: got salary in cash. Were less powerful
  2. Tankha jagirdar mansabdar: were given Jagir & got salary from LR from jagir. Were more powerful
  • From Vatan jagir, 10% of LR given to King as Peshkash/Tribute. (as king gave up right to take away jagir. Therefore, to compensate him & also as symbol of his authority).
  • Criteria/Basis for becoming mansabdar was lineage/family background.
  • Every mansabdar had dual rank:
    • personal rank = Zat
    • Sawar signified no. of horsemen/army to be maintained by Mansabdar.
    • Net rank = ZAT + Sawar (* eg 1000 + 1500= 2500)
  • Emoluments of mansabdar
    • his personal salary
    • allowance for maintenance of army as per his sawar.
  • Hence, Mughal emperor was dependent on Mansabdars for army + LR from a jagir paid for personal salary & for maintaining army for King. (aha so king gets 10% of LR from Vatan Jagir and army from Tankha Jagir)
  • In Mansabdari system, give & take relationship or a patron client relationship existed b/w emperor & mansabdar. Emperor as patron gave mansab & jagir & in return mansabdar gave loyalty & maintained army. There existed personal loyalty to the King & if in future King couldn’t give desired mansab & jagir then it may lead to disloyalty to King.
  • corrupt mansabdar will not maintain army as per his sawar
  • Jagirdar Mansabdar should collect only allowed LR & for this a system of supervision existed so he does not oppress peasants & zamindars
  • After death of Tankha Jagirdar Mansabdarjagir & wealth from jagir was confiscated i.e. why they spent money lavishly
  • In Early 18thc - 8000 Mansabdars + 1/5th of LR came from khalisa land while 4/5th from Jagirs

Land Revenue System

  1. Zamindar collected LR & had police duties
    • In return for their service they kept some % of LR as commission (usually 10%)
    • ZMNDR had vatan rights of LR collections
    • ZMNDR not owner of land from which he collected LR. Ryot was owner in practice as he had occupancy rights over land.
    • ZMNDR also collected abwabs i.e. tribute from ryots. Abwabs were additional demands by State on ZMNDR who passed it on to ryots.
  2. Personal land/estates of ZMNDR were called milkiyat & he paid LR from milkliyat like others
  3. Ryot paid LR as mentioned in Patta (document). Prevented over extraction by ZMNDR.
  4. Intermediary ZMNDR (IZ) collected LR from Primary ZMNDR (PZ) & passed it on to JGDR of State after keeping commission (i.e. LR from Jagir to JGDR & from Khalsa land to state)
  5. Ryot were of 2 kinds
    • Khudkashts: cultivated a land since long time thus had customary/traditional occupancy rights i.e. could not be removed. Therefore, these were small land owner cultivators
    • Pahikashts: cultivated different lands in different seasos, therefore also called Vagrant (Banjara) peasants. Landless & rightless.

Ijardari System

  • System to enhance LR collection eg for bad harvest, war, greed
  • Ijardar
    • not part of traditional rural economy that included ZMNDR & ryots
    • were men of money eg merchants, moneylenders
  • right to collect revenue was auctioned off to highest bidder i.e. Ijardar or revenue farmer (temporary revenue collector)
  • Auction done by State in Khalisa land & by Jagirdar in Jagir
  • Ijardar paid revenue in advance fully or partially in auction & later recovered it from area along with profits
  • facts
    • introduced by Shah Jahan27568
    • spread rapidly in 1700s
    • introduced by Jahandar Shah 1213 in Punjab & Begnal
    • also in Awadh & Hyderabad
    • Farukhsiyar 1319 introduced it even in Khalisa lands
  • Warren Hastings 7385 introduced it as Farming System 1772 in Bengal