Introduction

Akbar had evolved and perfected various ways to govern his

Empire. One of the mechanisms was the Mansabdari System. It
evolved and matured during Akbars time. The two numbers
zat and sawar assigned to a Mansabdar defined his position
in the court and the number of cavalry he commanded. This
system worked for some time and thereafter like most other
systems, a crisis developed within itself. The Jagirdari System
was evolved to pay the salary of the Mansabdars. In fact both
were complex apparatus to mop up the surplus of the agrarian
sector. As Irfan Habib would say All these mechanisms were to
secure the bulk of the peasants surplus.
We saw the evolution of the Jagirdari System, its development
and working, the different types of jagirs that existed in the
Mughal Empire and dealt with some of the difficulties that the
Jagirdars faced. They ranged from the rates of collection fixed
by the Centre to the mid-season transfer of the jagirdars. We
saw some of the rights of the Jagirdars. We had also seen some
of the functionaries in this system. We shall deal with some
more officials in the Jagirdari System. We shall look at the crisis
that developed in this system leading to its demise.

There was three-tier administration. Staff of the Jagirdar

1) Local officials: a) The Qanungo and b) Chaudhury
2) Staff of the Empire
3) Imperial officials

Local officials: Chaudhury

The Qanungo was either a Kayasth or Kshatriya of Northern

India. They were good in revenue. In Bengal in the early 18th

century most of the Qanungos were Kayasthas. In case of the

Chaudhury, which is the second of the local officials, he was a
Zamindar (a leading zamindar). How the Chaudhury evolved
and came into this position is a long history. It has been
ascertained that Chaudhury originated from the 14th century
onwards. Chaudhurys function as a local official unaffected by
the transfer of the Jagirdar is to collect the Imperial revenue.
Chaudhury is also a hereditary office; it is for his life and after
the death his succession would require an imperial sanat/
order. He may also be revoked only by the Imperial order.

Chaudhury has another function. He collects revenue from the

smaller Zamindars and also becomes a Zamindar i.e. a zamin
surety for the smaller zamindars. So Chaudhury has two very
important functions although he has certain other functions as
well. For example he distributes the agricultural loan called the
Takawi Loan to the peasants along with the Mukaddam, who is
the headman of the area. He also helps to formulate the
Jamadami (the demand for the revenue) and signs the
Jamadami order along with the Mukaddam. Without his seal and
signature the Jamadami is not valid.

Chaudhury: Role and Remuneration

The role of the Chaudhury was very significant in the Mughal

administration. His holding consisted of his whole property
including palatial houses and the land assigned to him by the
emperor. He was given some remuneration for his services. This
remuneration was always a proportion of the land revenue that
he collected. In fact the Mughal government cleverly used the
knowledge of the Zamindar about the land and its productivity
to maximize the land revenue collection.

Chaudhury gets certain remuneration for his services. In the

beginning it was 2 % in Gujarat. Later this was reduced and
finally it was reduced to 5/8%. But during the later years of
Aurangzeb his remuneration increased, given certain cash
allowance called nankar and also certain Inam lands. Since
he is a zamindar, his core zamindari i.e. his personal zamindari
is assessed either at a lower rate or he is not paying any
revenue for his own land. So Chaudhury has certain privileges
and certain functions. as a zamin of the smaller zamindars he
gets 5% of the revenue paid by them. Chaudhury continued till
the British days although from 18th century onwards their
functions, powers and duties of the zamindar changed to a
considerable extent.

According to Abul Fazl the zamindars in the Mughal empire

could muster about 4.5 million retainers mostly infantrymen. In
addition to these they were the imperial staff appointed by the
emperor. All in all as a historian would say it was a viscous
circle of coercion helping to maintain a machinery of coercion.

The Imperial Official

The head of the imperial official in the province is the diwan-isuba (diwan who is in charge of the finance and the revenue).
He has a fairly large number of staff in each province and he
has certain powers. He could report against the Jagirdar to the
emperor but he cannot remove the Jagirdar. If the emperor
gives the command that the Jagirdar should be removed diwani-suba may then take the help of others to remove the Jagirdar.
But on his own he can only report.

The diwan-i-suba has certain other officials as well. One who

was fairly important is the faujdar. Technically he is the military

representative of the Mughal emperor in the province. He is not

supposed to be under the diwan-i-suba but under the subedar.
But because of the collection of the revenue involved, the
faujdar had to obey the order of the diwan-i-suba. So he is not
under the diwan-i-suba but has to follow his orders so far as
revenue collection is concerned.

Some of the bigger zamindars had problems with the faujdar

and during the later years of Aurangzeb he tried to solve the
problem by giving faujdari powers to the bigger Jagirdars. This
did not solve the problem at all.

Apart from the faujdar, the other person was called Wakianawis. He is actually the news reporter. He has no power to
remove anybody but he could give adverse report against
somebody on which some action maybe taken. It is stated that
the Wakia-nawis was very corrupt but some were honest too.
These are the staff of the Imperial officials.

In the 27th year of Akbar he ordered a new official be appointed

called Amin. This Amin created by Akbar has the same power a
diwn-i-suba. But in 1634 during the reign of Shah Jahan the
post of Amin was abolished because it was thought to be a
mere duplication of the work that diwan-i-suba was doing. So
there were certain changes within the staff pattern of the
Imperial officials in the jagir itself. But basically these remained
more or less the same except that in the 18th century the
faujdars were becoming too much powerful.

Problems in the Jagirdari System

In the early days of Akbar (till the 31st year of Akbar), the jama
i.e. the revenue estimate of the Khalsa was of the total jama.
The Mughals divided the land into two types as far as revenue
is concerned the Jagirdari areas and the Khalsa areas
(managed by the state). In the 31st year of Akbar Khalsa
occupied of the total jama. After the death of Akbar during
the time of Jahangir this changed abruptly. The reasons are not
very clear even today. But it appears that after accession,
Jahangir increased the number of the Mansabdars, increased
their salaries and gave more jagirs. So at one point of time it
became a strain on the Mughal Empire. As a result of this
during the time of Shah Jahan certain measures were taken to
reduce their salaries. But so far as the Jagirdari System is
concerned, Shah Jahan tried to follow the policy of Akbar in the
sense that he tried to increase the Khalsa land. By the end of
his reign Khalsa land had reached 1/5 of the jama of the Mughal
Empire almost to the point where Akbar had left it.

During the first 20 years of Aurangzeb the Khalsa land

increased more and more. But during the last years of
Aurangzeb there was a crisis which could be seen very clearly
in the fact that after a certain time no jagir was available for
the Mansabdar. One of the contemporary writes Anand Ram
Muklis stated that it is very difficult to get a jagir but it is almost
impossible to take possession of it without a very large force.
So Aurangzeb had to increase the number of Mansabdars
because of his wars in Rajputana and in Deccan. Instead of the
Rajputs he had taken the Deccanis and the Marathas and the
number of Mansabdars increased to a great extent during the
last 20 years of his reign. This led to a severe crisis in the
Jagirdari System.

Problems in the Jagirdari System (Contd.)

After the death of Aurangzeb this problem increased. During

the first years of Bahadur Shah he had given Mansabs to almost
anybody he met in the darbar. The number of Mansabs
increased tremendously but there was no jagir. So there was
fierce faction fighting within the court on which Prof. Satish
Chandra written a book Parties and Politics of the Mughal Court
1707 1740. Here he had shown that the faction fighting is not
based on religious grounds which was earlier thought. This was
based on personal loyalties and personal interests.

The problem was tried to be resolved by the Mughal court and

the secretary of the dead Aurangzeb, Hinayatullah tried to
make some reforms. But by that time the vested interest in the
court had solidly entrenched themselves and the emperors did
not have any power at all. By the mid 1720s during the time of
Farruksiyar who was a very incompetent emperor with is
incompetent wazir Abdullah Khan, the court order was a mere
paper; nobody listened to it. Furthermore the diwan Ratan
Chand gave Ijara (contract) mostly to the Hindu merchants and
the Kashmiris. It is not clear why the Kashmiris, but the Hindu
merchants and the Mutsuddis (clerks) of the court maneuvered
to get mansabs and Ijaras in the jagirs. This led to serious
problems and in 1721 Mizam-ul-Mulk who founded the dynasty
in the Deccan in Hyderabad was appointed the wazir. He tried
to cancel the Ijara and tried to increase the Khalsa land. He
tried to solve the problem. But by that time it was too late
because of the vested interests.

Thus nothing was done; things continued to deteriorate as

years rolled on. Some of the Jagirdars, particularly the big ones
like Sadat Ali Khan or Awadh or Murshid Quli Khan of Bengal
created their principalities out of the jagir and became almost
semi autonomous kings themselves.

That is why earlier emperors transferred the Jagirdars at short

intervals. It had its own problems but it did not give the Jagirdar
an opportunity to settle down. Once a Jagirdar becomes stable
they establish themselves as kings. This was the beginning of
the end of the Jagirdari System.

Almost till the end of 1740 these people and their descendents
used to get the formal order of succession from the Mughal
emperor which was obviously given for money. But after that
the whole thing changed. The Mughal Jagirdari System
developed into something else by the 1740s and the Jagirdars
had the Provincial setups of their own later becoming kings by
themselves.

Crisis of the Jagirdari System

Different people have different opinions. Eminent historians

such as Irfan Habib, Athar Ali, Satsih Chandra and Siddiqui have
given different reasons. Some agree and some do not.

The earlier historians of 19th century did not pay much

attention to the Jagirdari System or their crisis. Irfan Habib in
The Agrarian System of the Mughal Empire had shown that
the Jagirdari crisis is linked to the crisis of the Mughal Empire.
But it is basically a crisis in the agrarian system. Because the
agrarian system was in crisis therefore the Jagirdars began to
oppress leading to peasant revolts that were supported by the
smaller Zamindars and the Mughals were in the difficulties.

The second opinion could be seen in the writings of Prof. Satish

Chandra. He said that due to various reasons the aspirations of
the upper class could not be met by the existing revenue

resources. Therefore there was a greater oppression not only by

the Jagirdars but also by the Zamindars. As a result there were
revolts and there was intense faction fighting within the court
resulting in the paralysis of the court; there was no decision in
the court excepting one or two cases.

Athur Ali in his The Mughal Nobility under Aurangzeb followed

the opinion of Prof. Satish Chandra. He called it a Jagirdari
crisis. To him the crisis of the Mughal Empire was basically a
Jagirdari crisis. He had given not only the crisis in agriculture
but also various administrative measures and problems like the
Emperor Aurangzeb leaving north India during the last 20 years
and staying in the Deccan creating a deadlock in the north
Indian Mughal administration. To Athar Ali it was a Jagirdari
crisis but it is slightly different from Irfan Habib.

Crisis of the Jagirdari System (Contd.)

According to N.A. Siddiqui who had worked from 1707 to 1752

on the Mughal land revenue system. He also found that the
Jagirdari crisis was the crisis of the jagirdars not necessarily a
crisis in the agrarian system. The crisis was that of the Jagirdars
because due to various wars and difficulties the Jagirdars could
not collect the revenue of their salary, could not maintain the
sawar and therefore they had to oppress the peasants and the
problem starts. After a certain time no Jagirdar was transferred;
he remained as long as he wanted. Siddiqui had produced a
copy of the order of a diwan during this period. It shows that
the diwan accepts that the Jagirdars could only en transferred
when they wanted.

Therefore the crisis was manifold not only a crisis in the

agrarian sector or the higher aspiration of the Mughal ruling

class or the Jagirdars not being able to collect the revenue or

the institution of the Ijara but there was also the faction
fighting. So it was a breakdown of a polity not only of one
particular system but a breakdown of a Mughal polity in all its
different whorls known to us. It is this failure to reform, to
survive, and to re-establish itself that the English East India
Company took advantage of.