Jagir
Encyclopedia
In historic India
, a jagir (hindi जागीर, Persian
: جاگیر) was a small territory granted by the ruler to an army chieftain in fairly short terms usually of three years but not extending beyond his lifetime, in recognition of his military service. The grantee of the jagir, called a jagirdar (hindi जागीरदार, Persian: جاگیردار), was in effect the ruler of that region and substantial income that was earned (taxes, etc.) from this region went to the owner to maintain his family and his troops. The jagirdar would live at court in Delhi
or other capital, keeping up his rank and appearing twice a day before the emperor; consequently the jagirdar preferred to receive his share of the dues from the estates in coin rather than in kind.
Jagir is a Persian
word consisting of Ja (جا) "place" + gir (گیر) "holder".
In historic India "Jagirdar" was also a title given to the most wealthiest person in a village. Jagirdars had the most land compared to other people in different villages.
This feudal form of land ownership and transfer is referred to as the Jagirdar system. It was established in the 13th century by the sultans of Delhi. The net result of this system was to weaken the central government as the land ownership became hereditary. The Jagirdar system was periodically abolished, then resumed. It was last abolished by the government in 1951.
Jagir as per law was a grant made by the ruler was only for the lifetime of the grantee. On the death of the grantee, the grant reverted to the ruler and it was in the sole discretion of the ruler either to re-grant it, or not. It was open to the ruler to re-grant it to the heirs and successors of the previous grantee, or to one or more of them, or to total stranger. The jagirs were in practice hereditary.
The grants were of several kinds and were known under different expressions, including 'jagir', 'samasthan', 'maktha', 'inam', and other terms. If the grant was of a whole village, it was generally referred to as 'jagir' or 'samasthan'; but, if the grant pertained only to a certain land in a given village, it was called 'inam' or 'maktha' as the case may be.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, a jagir (hindi जागीर, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
: جاگیر) was a small territory granted by the ruler to an army chieftain in fairly short terms usually of three years but not extending beyond his lifetime, in recognition of his military service. The grantee of the jagir, called a jagirdar (hindi जागीरदार, Persian: جاگیردار), was in effect the ruler of that region and substantial income that was earned (taxes, etc.) from this region went to the owner to maintain his family and his troops. The jagirdar would live at court in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
or other capital, keeping up his rank and appearing twice a day before the emperor; consequently the jagirdar preferred to receive his share of the dues from the estates in coin rather than in kind.
Jagir is a Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
word consisting of Ja (جا) "place" + gir (گیر) "holder".
In historic India "Jagirdar" was also a title given to the most wealthiest person in a village. Jagirdars had the most land compared to other people in different villages.
This feudal form of land ownership and transfer is referred to as the Jagirdar system. It was established in the 13th century by the sultans of Delhi. The net result of this system was to weaken the central government as the land ownership became hereditary. The Jagirdar system was periodically abolished, then resumed. It was last abolished by the government in 1951.
Jagir as per law was a grant made by the ruler was only for the lifetime of the grantee. On the death of the grantee, the grant reverted to the ruler and it was in the sole discretion of the ruler either to re-grant it, or not. It was open to the ruler to re-grant it to the heirs and successors of the previous grantee, or to one or more of them, or to total stranger. The jagirs were in practice hereditary.
The grants were of several kinds and were known under different expressions, including 'jagir', 'samasthan', 'maktha', 'inam', and other terms. If the grant was of a whole village, it was generally referred to as 'jagir' or 'samasthan'; but, if the grant pertained only to a certain land in a given village, it was called 'inam' or 'maktha' as the case may be.
See also
- Feudalism in PakistanFeudalism in PakistanThe feudal archetype in Pakistan consists of landlords with large joint families possessing hundreds or even thousands of acres of land. They seldom make any direct contribution to agricultural production. Instead, all work is done by peasants or tenants who live at subsistence level...
- MansabdarMansabdarMansabdar was the generic term for the military -type grading of all imperial officials of the Mughal Empire. The mansabdars governed the empire and commanded its armies in the emperor's name...
- ZamindarZamindarA Zamindar or zemindar , was an aristocrat, typically hereditary, who held enormous tracts of land and ruled over and taxed the bhikaaris who lived on batavaslam. Over time, they took princely and royal titles such as Maharaja , Raja , Nawab , and Mirza , Chowdhury , among others...
- DesmukhDesmukhDeshmukh or desmukh Desmookh the tenth handful. In Marathi Des or Desh means a country and Mookh means mouth, hence a spokesman of a district. It was the title given to a person who was granted a territory of land, in certain regions of India, specifically Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and...
- Thikana
- FeudalismFeudalismFeudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
- Chowdhury