Jagirdari crisis
Also called: Agrarian crisis of the Mughal empire · Topic: Mughal Agrarian Society and Economy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The jagirdari crisis is how some historians explain the weakening of the Mughal empire in the late 17th century. Mansabdars, ranked officers, were mostly paid through jagirs, which were assignments of land revenue. Their number grew much faster than the land available to give out. Many officers were left without jagirs, a problem called be-jagiri. Jagirdars knew they would soon be transferred, so they squeezed peasants for as much as they could. This led to peasant flight and revolts.
Example
Under Aurangzeb, many new nobles were taken into service during the Deccan wars. There were not enough good jagirs for all of them. In the late 1600s, heavily taxed peasants fell into debt and bonded labour, and agrarian uprisings broke out in northern India.
Don't confuse with
- Iqta system: This was the Delhi Sultanate's earlier system of handing out territories to iqtadars for tax collection. The jagirdari crisis was a late-Mughal breakdown of the mansabdari–jagirdari system.
Related concepts
- Mughal land revenue system
- Jama
- Hasil
- Amalguzar
- Kankut
- Batai
- Khet-batai
- Lang batai
- Classification of lands under Akbar
- Polaj