Zamindars and land revenue

The essentials

Zamindars were people who lived off agriculture but did not take part directly in the process of production. They held extensive personal lands called milkiyat (property), cultivated for their private use, often with hired or servile labour. They could sell, bequeath or mortgage these lands. Zamindars derived their power from collecting revenue on behalf of the state and from their control over military resources: most had fortresses (qilachas) and an armed contingent of cavalry, artillery and infantry. Many were drawn from upper castes, though some came from other groups that rose through colonisation of new land.

Land revenue was the economic mainstay of the empire. Revenue assessment had two stages: jama, the amount assessed, and hasil, the amount actually collected. The revenue collector, the amil-guzar, was asked to try to collect in cash while keeping the option of payment in kind.

Key points

• Land was classified under Akbar: polaj (cultivated every year), parauti (left fallow for a while to recover fertility), chachar (fallow for three or four years) and banjar (uncultivated for five years or more).
• The measurement of land was taken up under Akbar, with Raja Todar Mal associated with the zabt system.
• The mansabdari system: mansabdars held ranks (zat and sawar) and were paid through revenue assignments (jagirs).
• Silver: Voyages of discovery and the opening of the New World expanded Asian trade with Europe. Huge amounts of silver came into India to pay for goods. This helped the minting of the silver rupee and the monetisation of the economy. The Italian traveller Giovanni Careri, who passed through India around 1690, described how silver flowed from across the world into India.
• The Mughal empire was one of the great empires of Asia along with the Ming (China) and Safavid (Iran).

Common mistakes

• Jama is the assessed amount; hasil is the collected amount.
• Banjar is the longest fallow category, not chachar.