question_answer

Explain the role played by Zamindars in Mughal India.

Answer:

1. The Zamindars in the Mughal period were the class of those people who lived off agriculture but did not participate directly in the processes of agricultural production. The Zamindars were landed proprietors who had some social and economic privileges by virtue of their superior status in rural society.

2. Caste hierarchy was also responsible for the higher status of Zamindars. They also performed certain services (Khidmat) for the state.

3. The Zamindars had extensive personal lands termed milkiyat. This milkiyat lands were cultivated for the personal use of the Zamindars, with the help of hired or servile labour.

4. The Zamindars were at liberty to sell, mortgage these lands at will. They could often collect revenue on behalf of the state.

5. The other source of Zamindars power was their control over military sources. Most of them had fortresses as well as an armed contingent comprising units of infantry, cavalry and artillery.

6. If we visualise of social relations in the Mughal countryside as a pyramid, zamindars constituted its very narrow apex. In this context Abu?l Fazl?s account indicates an ?Upper caste?, Brahmana - Rajput combine had already made that firm control over rural society. It also reflects a fairly good representation from intermediate castes along with a liberal sprinkling of Muslim Zamindars.

7. The dispossession of weaker people by a powerful military chieftain was a popular way of expanding zamindari. In Northern India the Rajputs and the Jats followed the strategies to firm up their control over extensive swathes of territory.

8. The Zamindars led the colonisation of agricultural land and helped in settling cultivators by providing them cash loans, and another means of cultivation.

9. Zamindars were an exploitative class and their relationship with the peasantry had a touch of reciprocity, paternalism and patronage. That is why, Zamindars often got the support of the peasantry in their conflict against the state.