Mandal
Also called: Village headman · Topic: Colonial Economy: Land Revenue, Drain, Deindustrialisation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Colonialism and the Countryside"
Meaning
Mandal was a name used in some parts of Bengal for a rich peasant or leading man of the village. He was like the jotedar of North Bengal. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, after the Permanent Settlement of 1793, such men grew powerful in the villages. They controlled land, local trade and moneylending, and they weakened the authority of the zamindar.
Example
In early 19th-century Bengal, rich peasants called mandals, jotedars, haoladars or gantidars made poorer ryots depend on them. They used these ryots to resist the zamindar's officials. They also delayed rent payments, which pushed zamindars towards auction.
Don't confuse with
- Zamindar: under the Permanent Settlement, he collected revenue for the state across a large estate and often lived in a town. The mandal held power from inside the village.
Related concepts
- Francis Buchanan
- Jotedar
- Bargadar
- Gantidar
- Haoladar
- Under-ryot
- Patta and qabuliyat
- Kist
- Munsiff
- George Chinnery