EHI - 4

9th Part

Q.  Discuss briefly the presence of various categories of land rights in medieval Deccan.                                                     

A. The presence of various categories of land rights in medieval Deccan are as follows - 

Mirasi Right -  It refers to hereditary or transferable right or patrimony (bap roti) obtained by descent, purchase, or gift, etc. The mirasdars were the holders of land under the mirasi tenure. They owned the village land and could exact rent in money or service from persons who lived on their land. There were two categories of the mirasdars (1)the hereditary owners of the miras land, and those who had reclaimed the gatkul land of the village. The hereditary mirasdars were placed in the old land lists of the villages called thalazadas, but they did not possess any title deeds over land. The other category possessed miras patra (miras-deeds) attested by the authorities of the village community where the deed was sanctioned by the village communities of the neighbouring areas and by the deshmukhs and deshpandes of the district. The village land was held by the miradars: 1) on the basis of joint co-parcenary terms according to which the village land was divided into several shares, and 2) on the basis of a single proprietor ownership of the village. The mirasdar possessed complete private proprietory rights in the miras land. The state could not encroach upon the mirasi rights. Also, the headman and other people of the village could not infringe upon the mirasi rights. However, if the state wanted it could convert the mirasi lands into house sites after giving due compensation to the mirasdars in the form of gatkul lands.

Inam lands - Inam implied the grant of a specific amount of revenue of a village to a person. The inam village was assigned on a hereditary basis to persons or officials. The inam lands were either totally exempt from tax or subject to a low tax called inam patti. It was a privileged category of land rights. Inam was assigned to different categories: hereditary village officials. state officials, temples and balutedars (priests). The holders were designated inamdars. There were both residents and absentee inamdars. There is sufficient evidence to prove that these land assignments were hereditary. Rights in the inam land held by a watandar (hereditary village office holder) were saleable and transferable together with the office or watan. 

State Land (Crown Land)

Land held by the government as a corporate body or by the Peshwa/ruler could be treated as state land, although there might have been some kind of difference between the two. State lands existed in many villages of the Deccan managed by the local bureaucrats. They could be sold by them after taking approval from the central government. These lands were granted in inam or could be developed into house sites. 

Waste Lands or Lands of Extinct Families

 These lands could be sold by either the village headman or village assembly or state. The lands of the families which had become extinct were called gatkul zamin. Lands that were left uncultivated for long periods were called pad zamin. Even the miras lands contained pad zamin . Both gatkul zamin and pad zamln meant wastelands.

          The term khalisa pad zamin referred to state wastelands. The wastelands could be appropriated and disposed of by the village headman, local village assembly and government. The lands expropriated by the village headman were regarded as miras lands on which land revenue was levied. The houses and house sites of extinct families could be acquired by the village headman after taking the approval of the local village assembly. Wastelands were disposed of by the local assembly either as miras or as lnam lands. The purchaser (inamdar) of wastelands in the form of inam was not required to pay land tax on the lands. However, the village as a group had to pay land tax to the government on large inam lands thus sold. Wastelands sold as miras lands were subject to a heavy land tax which had to be paid by the new incumbent. The grant of wastelands to local bureaucrats and hereditary officers as a means of encouraging cultivation. Wastelands were also granted as inam to individuals and institutions. The king or Peshwa also received wastelands in the form of grants. Wastelands which were neither appropriated by the village headman nor by the local assembly were resumed by the government. The government granted these lands as inam to priests, state officials, temples, mosques, hereditary officers, etc. In this manner, the government aimed at curtailing state expenditure and also securing the allegiance of the grantees to the state.

Q.  What were the methods of land revenue assessment under the Mughals ? 

A. Under the Mughals assessment was separately made for Kharif and rabi crops. After the assessment was over a written document called patta, qaul or qaul-qarar was issued in which the amount or the rate of the revenue demand was mentioned.  The methods of land revenue assessment under the Mughals were -

1) Ghalla Bakhshi (Crop-sharing):  In some areas, it was called bhaoli and batai. The Ain-i Akbari notes 3 types of crop-sharing:

a)  Division of crop at the threshing floor after the grain was obtained. This was done in the presence of both parties in accordance with the agreement.

b)  Khet batai: The share was decided when the crop was still standing in the fields, and a division of the field was marked.

c)  Lang batai: The crop was cut and stacked in heaps without separating grain and a division of crop in this form was made.

2) Kankut/Danabandl:  Kan denotes grain, while kut means to estimate or appraisal. Similarly, dana means grain while bandi is fixing or determining anything. It was a system where the grain yield (or productivity) was estimated. In kankut, at first, the field was measured either by means of a rope or by pacing. After this, the per bigha productivity from good, middling and bad Lands was estimated and the revenue demand was fixed accordingly. 

3) Zabti: In Mughal India, it was the most important method of assessment. The origin of this practice is traced to Sher Shah. During Akbar's r reign, the system was revised a number of times before it took the final shape. 

               In 1580. Akbar instituted a new system ain dahsala, where the average produce of different crops as well as the average prices prevailing over the last ten years were calculated. One-third of the average produce was the state's minimum share. The main features of the zabti system as it finally came into operation under Akbar were:

i)  measurement of land was essential;

ii)  fixed cash revenue rates known as dastur ul amal or dastur for each crop.

iii)  all the collection was made in cash.

           From an administrative point of view, zabti system had some merits-

i)  measurement could always be rechecked;

ii)  due to fixed dastur, local officials could not use their discretion; and

iii)  with fixing the permanent dasturs, the uncertainties & fluctuation in levying the land revenue demand was greatly reduced.

        Zabti system was adopted only in the core region of the Empire. The main provinces covered under zabti were Delhi, Allahabad, Awadh, Agra: Lahore and Multan. Even in these zabti provinces, other methods of assessment were also practiced, depending on the circumstances of the area.

       Nasaq was not an independent method of assessment; it was subordinate to other methods. It was a method or procedure which could be adopted whatever be the basic method of revenue assessment and collection that was in force. In North India it was nasaqi zabti, while in Kashmir it was nasaqi ghalla bakbhi. When it was applied under zabti the annual measurement was dispensed with and previous figures were taken into account with certain variations.

Ijara System - or revenue farming was another feature of the revenue system of this time. Generally, these villages , where peasant did not have resources available for undertaking cultivation or where owing to some calamity cultivation could not be done, were farmed out on Ijara. The revenue officials or their relatives were not supposed to take land on Ijara . It was expected that revenue farmers would not extract more than the stipulated land revenue from the peasants. But this was hardly the case in actual practice. The practice of ijara became a common feature in Jagir lands. Revenue assignees (jagirdars) farmed out their assignments in lieu of a lump sum payment, generally to the highest bidders.

Sometimes Jagirdars sub-assigned part of their Jagirs to his subordinates/troopers. During the 18th century, Ijara system became a common form of revenue assessment and collection.

Q.  Explain the various categories of "Zamindari" rights within the context of Mughal empire.                                                     

Q.  Who were Zamindars ? Mention their rights and perquisites.      

Q.  Discuss the nature of Zamindari rights. What were their relations with peasantry ?                                                         

A.  Zamindars were the chief of the territory or land . The zamindars were present in every part of the Mughal Empire and held the most significant position in the agrarian structure of Mughal India. There were 3 types of zamindars- 

a)  Primary zamindars who had some proprietary rights over the land;

b)  Secondary zrunindars who held the intermediary rights and helped the state in collecting land revenue; and

c)  Autonomous chiefs-had autonomous rights in their territories and paid a fixed amount to the Mughal State.

Zarnindari Rights

Zamindari did not signify a proprietary right inland. It was a claim on the produce of the soil, co-existing in a subordinate capacity, with the land revenue demand of the state. It was also inheritable and divisible, that is, the heirs of a zamindar could divide the fiscal claims and perquisites of their inherited zamindari , in accordance

with the law of the land. The zamindar acquired his rights by virtue of the historical tradition of control he and his kinsmen exercised over the inhabitants of particular villages. At some time, the zamindar had settled villages and distributed its land among the peasantry. In eastern Rajasthan, wasidar (a category of peasants) were settled by the bhomia (zamiadar as known there) in the village to undertake sometimes the cultivation of his personal lands. The king, however, could create zamindari in villages where none existed. He could also dislodge a zamindar, but this was a right he exercised only in case of sedition or non-payment of revenue. 

            The medieval rulers recognised the rights of the zamindar, but were equally insistent on treating them as agents of the government for revenue collection. When the zamindari took this form, that is, it came to assist the government in the collection of revenue, for the service so rendered, the zamindar was entitled to a percentage of the total revenue collected. This percentage in official documents is stated to be 10% and is described as nankar ("allowance"). When the administration decided to collect the revenue through its own agents, by-passing the zamindar, the latter was entitled to a share in the collection of revenues called malikana (proprietary right), and like nankar, was fixed at 10% of the total revenue collected. 

        In Gujarat, this claim of the zamindar was described as banth or vanth, but unlike malikana in Northern India, it was considerably higher. Like malikana, it was paid in the form of cash. In the Deccan, it was called chauth ( "one fourth") & stood at one-fourth of the revenues collected. Sardeshmukhi, another fiscal claim of the zamindar in the Deccan, was equivalent to 10% of the revenues. Under the Marathas, the cesses of chauth and sardeshmukhi came to be realised not through a legal claim based on actual zamindari right, but by the sheer use of force. 

        Besides their principal fiscal claim, the zamindars also exacted a number of petty perquisites from the peasantry. Some of the well-known cesses so realised were (dastar shumari) , (turban tax), house tax (khana shumari), cesses on marriage and birth, etc. The zamindars used to collect taxes from weekly markets also in their

areas. At times, they are found collecting toll tax on merchandise passing through

their territories.

              Apart from primary and intermediary zamindars, there were chiefs or chieftains-the rajas, raos, ranas and rawatas-who were more or less autonomous in their estates, governing them without any interference from the imperial administration. Their obligation to the king did not go beyond paying him a fixed amount as tribute (peshkash). Their share in the surplus produce of the peasant, therefore,'amounted to the difference between what they collected from the peasants and what they paid to the king as peshkash. The Imperial administration recognised their semi-autonomous status, and exercised no control over their internal administration once they had paid the usual peshkash. 

Military Strength of Zamindars

The zamindars employed their footmen and cavalry. These troops helped them in the realisation of land revenue and subjugation of peasantry. Almost all zamindars had their own small or big forts.

Relation with peasants - Zamindar fed upon the surplus produce of the peasant. peasants had all the rights over land as long as he cultivated it. The zamindar or state had no right to evict the peasant as long as he cultivated the land and paid the revenue. The peasant had to pay a large part of their produce as land revenue.