jagirdar

A jagirdar is the holder of a jagir, a type of feudal land grant that existed in medieval and early modern South Asia, notably under the Mughal Empire and continued in various forms during British rule. The jagir was a defined area whose revenue rights were granted by the sovereign in exchange for service, typically in administration or military support.

Etymology and concept: Jagir comes from Persian, meaning a land or estate granted as a reward. The jagir system linked land, revenue collection, and political authority, allowing the ruler to compensate nobles and officers with a share of the wealth produced by the land rather than cash salaries.

Role and function: A jagirdar held the right to collect revenue from the villages within the jagir and often exercised local authority, including maintenance of order and sometimes provision of troops for the state. Jagirs could be hereditary in practice, though they were subject to reassessment or revocation by the ruler. The system was closely connected to the broader administrative framework of the state, including the mansabdari system in the Mughal period, which tied military rank and land revenue to service.

Relation to other landholding concepts: Jagirs are distinct from zamindari, where the landowner primarily collected rents from peasants and paid revenue to the state, though the two systems overlapped and evolved in different regions. Over time, jagir grants were often transformed, converted, or absorbed into other revenue-right arrangements under colonial reforms.

Decline and legacy: In British India and after, the jagir system diminished as reforms standardized revenue administration and reduced feudal prerogatives. Today, jagirdar remains primarily a historical term and is sometimes used as a family or social designation, with the legacy of jagir grants visible in regional histories and landholding lineages.