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{{Short description|Hereditary landlords in Bengal}}
{{over-quotation|date=April 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Bengal Zamindars series}}
The '''zamindars of Bengal''' were [[zamindar]]s (hereditary landlords) of the [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] region of the [[Indian subcontinent]] (now divided between [[Bangladesh]] and the Indian state of [[West Bengal]]). They governed an ancient system of land ownership.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McLane |first=John R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YH6ijJnUPmcC&q=zamindari+system |title=Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal |year=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-52654-8 |language=en}}</ref>

The Bengali zamindars managed a [[plantation economy]] in the [[Bengal Presidency]] that produced cotton, [[jute]], [[indigo]], rice, wheat, tea, spices, and other commodities. Like the British [[landed gentry]], they were bestowed with titles; their plantation economy has been studied by many scholars and can be compared with historic [[plantation complexes in the Southern United States]]. The land was cultivated by tenant farmers who paid rent to the zamindars. A big portion of the rent was in turn paid to the imperial government as taxes. The zamindars were the principal revenue collectors for the imperial administration under [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] and [[British India|British rule]]. The system was abolished by 1951.<ref name="Chatterjee1996">{{cite book |author=Kumkum Chatterjee |title=Merchants, Politics, and Society in Early Modern India: Bihar, 1733-1820 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUeqQ2buQ80C&pg=PA31 |year=1996 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=90-04-10303-1 |pages=31–32}}</ref>

The British entrenched the precolonial zamindari system through the [[Permanent Settlement]]. The zamindars dominated most of the villages in Bengal by collecting rent from tenant cultivators.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzOmy2y0Zh4C&pg=PA301 |title=A History of Modern India, 1480–1950 |date=2002 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=978-1-84331-004-4 |editor-last=Markovits |editor-first=Claude |location=London |page=301 |orig-year=First published 1994 as ''Histoire de l'Inde Moderne''}}</ref>
The zamindari system mirrored the European system of [[serfdom]].<ref>{{cite book |author=U. A. B. Razia Akter Banu |year=1992 |title=Islam in Bangladesh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XyzqATEDPSgC&pg=PA21 |publisher=BRILL |pages=21– |isbn=90-04-09497-0}}</ref> Bengali zamindars were often recognised with titles like [[Maharaja]], [[Nawab]], and [[Khan Bahadur]], but they never ruled over [[princely states]]. With Bengal being the most populous and politically influential province in British India, Bengali zamindars were the most politically influential landed gentry in British India.

==Etymology==
According to [[Encyclopedia Britannica]], "zamindar, in India, a holder or occupier (dār) of land (zamīn). The root words are Persian, and the resulting name was widely used wherever Persian influence was spread by the Mughals or other Indian Muslim dynasties. The meanings attached to it were various. In Bengal the word denoted a hereditary tax collector who could retain 10 percent of the revenue he collected. In the late 18th century, the British government made these zamindars landowners, thus creating a landed aristocracy in Bengal and Bihar that lasted until Indian independence (1947). In parts of north India (e.g., Uttar Pradesh), a zamindar denoted a large landowner with full proprietary rights. More generally in north India, zamindar denoted the cultivator of the soil or joint proprietors holding village lands in common as joint heirs. In Maratha territories, the name was generally applied to all local hereditary revenue officers".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Zamindar |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/zamindar}}</ref>

==History==
{{See also|Baro-Bhuyan}}
[[File:Isa Khan- Masnad-i-Ala Portrait.png|thumb|[[Isa Khan]], one of the 16th-century [[Baro-Bhuyan]] chieftains of Bengal]]
[[File:DJI 0760 ( Ahsan Manzil).jpg|thumb|[[Dhaka Nawab Estate]], the largest [[zamindar]]i of [[Bengal]]]]
[[File:Rani Rashmoni 1994 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|[[Rani Rashmoni]], a leading [[zamindar]] of Bengal, on a postal stamp by the [[Government of India]]]]
[[File:Rabindranath-Tagore-Mrinalini-Devi-1883.jpg|thumb|[[Rabindranath Tagore]] and his wife, [[Mrinalini Devi]], in 1883]]
During the 14th century, the Hindu zamindar [[Raja Ganesha]] overthrew the [[Ilyas Shahi dynasty]] and placed his son on the throne. In Richard Eaton's ''The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier'', there is mention of [[Khan Jahan Ali]] as the zamindar of [[Mosque City of Bagerhat|Bagerhat]]. According to records collected in 1870, Khan Jahan Ali settled in the area "to reclaim and cultivate the lands in the Sundarbans, which were at that time waste and covered with forest. He obtained from the emperor, or from the king of Gaur, a jaghir [revenue assignment] of these lands, and in accordance with it established himself on them. The tradition of his cutcherry site [court] in both places corresponds with this view of his position, and the fact of his undertaking such large works—works which involve the necessity of supporting quite an army of laborers—also points to his position as receiver of the rents, or chief of the cultivation of the soil....After he had lived a long time as a great zamindar, he withdrew himself from worldly affairs and dwelt as a faqir".<ref>{{cite book |last=Eaton |first=Richard Maxwell |title=The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760 |url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft067n99v9&chunk.id=ch08&toc.depth=1&toc.id=ch08&brand=ucpress |year=1993 |publisher=University of California Press |page= |isbn=978-0-520-20507-9}}</ref>

Between the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a [[confederation]] of twelve zamindar families existed in the [[Bhati (region)|Bhati]] region of eastern Bengal. They included twelve Muslim and Hindu zamindar families. They were led by [[Isa Khan]], a former prime minister of the Bengal Sultanate. When the sultanate disintegrated due to Mughal invasions, these twelve families retained control of eastern Bengal. They resisted Mughal expansion until the early 17th century. [[Ralph Fitch]], an English traveler to Bengal in 1580, wrote about the twelve zamindars. According to Fitch, "for here are so many Rivers and Lands, that they (Mughals) flee from one to another, whereby his ([[Akbar|Akbar the Great]]) horsemen cannot prevail against them. Great store of cotton cloth is made here. Sinnergan (Sonargaon) is a towne sixe leagues from Serrepore, where there is the best and finest cloth made of cotton that is in all India. The chief king of all these countries is called Isacan (Isa Khan), and he is chief of all the other kings, and is a great friend to all Christians". In Bengal, for the year(s) 1880/1881, there were 150,420 estates, of which 140,007 were permanently settled, 7,670 were temporarily settled, 2,720 were under the government, and 23 were ryotwari tracts. The land tax on all these was 37,541,188 rupees, with arrears being nearly 4 million pounds sterling. Of the above 150,420 estates, some 500 had an area of 20,000 acres (31.25 qq. miles or 80.93 km2), and upwards of 15,000 with from 500 to 20,000 acres. The rest, or about 89 per cent, were under 500 acres each.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archive.org/details/ralphfitchenglan00rylerich |title=Ralph Fitch, England's pioneer to India and Burma; his companions and contemporaries, with his remarkable narrative told in his own words |first=J. Horton (John Horton) |last=Ryley |date=29 December 1899 |publisher=London, T.F. Unwin |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

In the words of a Jesuit mission in 1600, "Twelve princes, however, called Boyones [bhūyān] who governed twelve provinces in the late King's name, escaped from this massacre. These united against the Mongols [sic], and hitherto, thanks to their alliance, each maintains himself in his dominions. Very rich and disposing of strong forces, they bear themselves as Kings, chiefly he of Siripur [Sripur], also called Cadaray [Kedar Rai], and he of Chandecan [Raja [[Pratapaditya]] of Jessore], but most of all the Mansondolin ["Masnad-i 'ālī," title of [[Isa Khan]]]. The Patanes [Afghans], being scattered above, are subject to the Boyones".<ref>{{cite book |last=Eaton |first=Richard Maxwell |title=The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gKhChF3yAOUC&pg=PA146 |year=1993 |publisher=University of California Press |page=146 |isbn=978-0-520-20507-9}}</ref> The capital of the confederation was [[Sonargaon]].

[[Emperor Akbar]]'s Land Regulation System of 1582 could not be implemented in Bengal.<ref name="Banglapedia">{{cite web |url=https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Zamindar |title=Zamindar |website=Banglapedia}}</ref><ref>The extension of the Khalsa,
however, was effective in a limited area. Abul Fazl says that the provinces of Bengal, Bihar and Gujarat were from foresight and appreciation, left as they were. {{cite journal |last=Singh |first=Vijender |date=March 2016 |title=Akbar's Land Revenue System |url=http://www.ijemhs.com/Published%20Paper/Volume%2019/Issue%2001/IJES%2003/IJEMHSMarch2016_8_15_VijenderS.pdf |journal=International Journal of Engineering, Management, Humanities and Social Sciences Paradigm |volume=19 |issue=1 }}</ref> Instead, the Mughals relied on zamindars to consolidate the expansion of farmland, religion, and administration. Zamindars were responsible for collecting taxes. The zamindars also had policing, judicial, and administrative functions. The zamindars were integral to Mughal government in Bengal. They were also known as [[jagirdar]]s. Under [[Company rule in India]], the [[Cornwallis Code]] introduced the [[Permanent Settlement]]. Zamindars were made responsible for collecting taxes on behalf of the colonial government. The zamindari system became further entrenched under British rule. In 1950, the [[East Bengal Legislative Assembly]] enacted the [[East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950]], which abolished the zamindari system as part of [[land reforms]]. In [[West Bengal]], the zamindari system was abolished under federal laws enacted by the Indian government in 1951.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

==Duties==
[[File:Raja Ganesha.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A sketch of the 15th-century zamindar [[Raja Ganesha]]]]
[[File:Isa Khan.jpg|thumb|upright|The 16th-century zamindar [[Isa Khan]]]]
According to [[Banglapedia]], "All categories of zamindars under the Mughals were required to perform certain police, judicial and military duties. With elements of both fiscal and political power at their disposal, zamindars exercised enormous local influence that made them the most undisputed potentates within the bounds of their territories. However, a full-fledged police system did not develop in rural Bengal during the period and hence some revenue staff were simultaneously entrusted with police duties. For instance, the gram-saranjami paiks who were employed primarily to assist zamindars in the collection of rents and guard the crops on the fields, were also made responsible for apprehension of thieves and robbers and preservation of peace, law and order in public places such as haats (fairs) and bazaars, and fairgrounds. The regular police forces of big zamindars were organised and controlled within a system of thanas which were the largest police units, and under these came the smaller posts known as chaukies or pharies. In the heyday of the Mughals, the faujdar retained supreme authority over the thanas, nominally placed under the zamindari control. In nawabi Bengal (under the [[Nawabs of Bengal]]), the thanas gradually fell under the control of the monopolistic zamindari estates.<ref name="Banglapedia" /> Territorial zamindars had judicial powers. The encyclopedia further states that "Since the Mughals did not maintain a large standing army, they had to depend heavily on the indirect recruits of soldiers drafted from the territorial chiefs, clan or caste leaders. Some zamindars were even enrolled personally into the imperial service as mansabdars (nobles, holding military titles or ranks) and were remunerated in grants of jagirs, proportionate to their status. Moreover, torrential monsoon rain in the flat and riverine Bengal rendered the cavalry and artillery almost useless except in the dry season. In such a situation, to fight against the rebellious chiefs, the Magh and Feringi pirates who had been intermittently raiding the southern and eastern frontiers of Bengal, the Mughals had to depend greatly on the military assistance of the zamindars who were obliged to provide the troops with victuals and other daily necessaries and to cut off supplies to the enemies of the government. The great territorial zamindars were empowered to keep armed establishments and construct forts with a view to defending their territories, protecting agriculture, trade and commerce, ensuring the safe despatch of the revenues and keeping the raiyats under control. But the erosion of the imperial authority and the subsequent unsettled condition of the subah considerably weakened the Nawab's hold on the landed gentry, who changed their loyalties as the tide of conflicts between the awab and the Marathas or the nawab and the English East India Company flowed and ebbed".<ref name="Banglapedia" /> Under British rule, members of zamindar families often served in the Bengal Civil Service, the Bengal Judicial Service, and the [[Bengal Army]].

==Politics==
[[File:AK Fazlul Huq Cabinet 1937.jpg|thumb|The first elected cabinet of Bengal in 1937 included many zamindars]]
[[File:Nathan Commitee.jpg|thumb|Zamindars were part of the [[Nathan Committee]], which founded the [[University of Dhaka]] in 1921]]
The zamindars of Bengal were involved in the creation and leadership of the [[Indian National Congress]] and [[All India Muslim League]]. Many zamindar families produced leading politicians and members of the [[British Bengal Legislative Council|Bengal Legislative Council]] and [[Bengal Legislative Assembly (1937—1947)|Bengal Legislative Assembly]]. Opposition to Bengali Hindu zamindars was a major factor in the rise of the [[Bengal Provincial Muslim League]] and the [[Krishak Praja Party|All Bengal Tenants Association]].<ref name="Banglapedia" /> Debt relief for tenants was pursued by the government of Prime Minister [[A. K. Fazlul Huq]]. Huq's first cabinet in 1937 included several Bengali zamindars, including Maharaja [[Srish Chandra Nandy]], [[Khawaja Nazimuddin|Sir Khwaja Nazimuddin]], Nawab [[Khwaja Habibullah]], and [[Musharraf Hussain (nawab)|Nawab Musharraf Hussain]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Huq,_AK_Fazlul |title=Huq, AK Fazlul |website=Banglapedia}}</ref>

==Cultural contributions==
[[Banglapedia]] further states that "Zamindars developed a system of zamindari management of their own through their privileged hereditary position and built up their courts and a style of private life, vying with each other in pomp and grandeur. The landed aristocracy of the pre-British period included few absentee zamindars. Those who retained their official position as qanungos or chowdhuris were zamindars of the same locality. Consequently, the social life and public activities of the landed class were usually confined within the bound of their 'little kingdoms'. Their luxurious lifestyle boosted local crafts and small-scale industries like fine quality cotton textiles, exquisite silks, jewellery, decorative swords and weapons. Again, the extravagance of the prime zamindars in socio-religious festivities helped in no less degree the circulation of wealth in the society. Their darbars (courts) were modelled after the nawabs', and the Mughal dress, food, art and architecture were emulated which paved the way for a synthesis between the [[Turco-Persian tradition|Turko-Persian]] and the indigenous cultures".<ref name="Banglapedia" /> The chieftains of the [[Chittagong Hill Tracts]] also engaged in elaborate ritual ceremonies.
[[File:Munshibari.jpg|thumb|Former Munshibari Zamindari in Northern Bangladesh, an example of [[Indo-Saracenic]] style]]
The zamindars of Bengal were great patrons of [[the arts]]. Many libraries were established by zamindars under British rule. The Great Bengal Library Association was formed in 1925.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Library |title=Library |website=Banglapedia}}</ref> Zamindars established museums like the [[Varendra Research Museum]] and the Dacca Museum (which later became the [[Bangladesh National Museum]]). They set up numerous educational institutions like the [[BUET|Ahansullah School of Engineering]]. The [[Tagore family]] and the [[Janbazar Raj]] became pioneers of the [[Bengali Renaissance]] among the Hindu population. Writers like [[Mir Mosharraf Hossain]], [[Begum Rokeya]], [[Annada Munsi|Annada Munshi]], and [[Michael Madhusudan Dutt]] were born and brought up on [[zamindar]] estates.
[[File:Bawali Rajbari building 2025-05-23 165444.png|thumb|Mansion of the [[Bawali Raj]], built in [[Indo-Saracenic]] style]]
The zamindars built their mansions in the [[Indo-Saracenic]] style.

==Wealth==
Under the British, the zamindars grew very wealthy.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/amp/raj-darbhanga--home-of-indias-wealthiest-zamindars-column/1660682 |title=Raj Darbhanga - home of India's wealthiest Zamindars (Column) |magazine=Outlook India |date=12 November 2019 |access-date=8 October 2021}}</ref> In 1934, the Muslim [[Dhaka Nawab Family]] had an estate that covered almost 1200 km2 across different districts of Bengal and Assam and in the cities of [[Calcutta]] and [[Shillong]]. They earned £120,000 in rent annually (US$16.5 million in 2022). With its wealth, social status, and close relationship with the British Raj, the family of the Nawab of Dacca was the single most powerful Muslim family in Bengal.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chatterji |first=Joya |title=Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition |year=2002 |url=https://archive.org/details/bengaldividedhin00chat_422 |url-access=limited |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/bengaldividedhin00chat_422/page/n98 80]}}</ref> The Dhaka Nawab Family also owned a major diamond, which is now preserved in a vault of [[Sonali Bank]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Daria-i-Noor |title=Daria-i-Noor |website=Banglapedia}}</ref> The largest 100 estates out of 1200 tier 1 estates covered 75% of the land in Bengal, and the remaining 25% was divided between the remainder, i.e., approximately 1100 estates. Some families, such as, the Hindu [[Rajshahi Raj]] estate, covered territories covering 13,000 km2, [[Burdwan (Zamindari)|Burdwan Raj family]] (or [[Bardhaman Raj|Burdhaman]]) ruled over territories in excess of 13,000 km2, Bhawal Raj estate covered 1500 km2. Muslim Chowdhury
Moyezuddin Bishwash estate covered nearly 4000 km2. Similarly, a group of estates in Southern and Western Bengal like [[Narajole]], [[Jhargram]], [[Mallick Bari (Midnapore)|Mallick Bari]], and [[Mahishadal]] covered several districts in what is today [[Paschim Medinipur district|Paschim Medinipur]], [[Purba Medinipur district|Purba Medinipur]], [[Contai]], [[Jhargram]], and the industrial township of [[Kharagpur]]. Some of these families, notably Narajole and Mallick Bari - whose zamindars Raja Narendralal Khan and Chowdhuri Jamininath Mallick were convicted in 1911, were also significantly involved in financing the Indian nationalist movement.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dasa |first=Narendranath |title=History of Midnapur: Part 2 |date=1984 |publisher=Midnapur Sanskriti Parishad |year=1984}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col}}
* [[Indian feudalism]]
* [[Indian honorifics]]
* [[Princely state]]
* [[Zamindars of Bihar]]
* [[List of zamindari estates in Madras Presidency]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* [[s:Treaty of Allahabad|Wikisource: Text of Allahabad Treaty]]

==Further reading==
* [http://ier.sagepub.com/content/12/3/263.extract The Bengal Zamindars] at ''[[Indian Economic and Social History Review]]''

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Bengali zamindars}}
* [http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/misc/bengal-zamins.html Zamindari in Bengal] by Henry Soszynski

{{Bengal Zamindars}}

[[Category:Bengali zamindars| ]]
[[Category:British East India Company]]
[[Category:1765 in India]]
[[Category:Feudalism in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Indian landlords]]

Zamindars of Bengal - Revision history

FranciscaFortney: entry