Zamindars were the landlords in the villages of India. They had the hereditary right of collecting land revenue from a number of villages. The villages that came under a Zamindar, was called his ‘zamindari’. For collecting the land revenue, the zamindars received a share of it, which could go up to 25 percent in some areas.
The zamindars had their own armed forces, and generally lived in forts, which was a place of refuge and a status symbol. The combined forces of the zamindars were considerable. They generally had close connections on a caste, clan or tribal basis with the peasants settled in their zamindaris. They had considerable local information also about the productivity of land. The zamindars formed a very numerous and powerful class which was to be found all over the country. They could not be ignored or alienated by any central authority.
Though most of the zamindars fought for control over land, and exploited the cultivators in the area they dominated, there were many zamindars who had close caste and kinship ties with the land-owning cultivating castes in their ‘zamindari’. These zamindars not only set social standard, they also provided capital and organization for settling new villages, or extending and improving cultivation.
The Zamindari system has been abolished in most of the states and the zamindars are on a decline. But they still hold sway in certain parts of North India.
