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{{Short description|Feudal land grant in South Asia started in 13th century}}
{{For|the 1984 film|Jagir (film)}}
{{Redirect|Jagirdar|the 1937 film|Jagirdar (film)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
[[File:Maratha darbar.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Maratha Empire|Maratha]] [[Durbar (court)|Durbar]] showing the Chief ([[Raja]]) and the nobles ([[Sardar]]s, [[Jagirdar]]s, Istamuradars and [[Mankari]]s) of the [[Princely state|state]].]]
A '''jagir''' ({{langx|fa|{{script/Nastaliq|جاگیر}}|translit=Jāgir}}, [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]: जागीर/جاگیر, ''Jāgīr'', [[Marathi language|Marathi]]: जहागीर, ''Jahāgīrá'') also spelled as '''jageer''',<ref>{{cite book|first1=H. H. |last1=Davies |first2=W. |last2=Blyth|title=Report of the revised settlement of the pargunnahs of Umritsur, Sowrian & Turun Tarun of the Umritsur District |trans-title=Report of the revised settlement of the parganas of Amritsar, Sowrian & Turun Tarun of the Amritsar District|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpkIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA29|year=1873|publisher=Lahore: Government Civil Secretariat Press|page=29}}</ref> was a type of [[feudal]] [[land grant]] in the [[Indian subcontinent]] at the foundation of its Jagirdar ([[Zamindar]]) system.<ref name="britjagir" /><ref name="Roy 2015">{{cite book|first=Kaushik |last=Roy |title=Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia |date=2015 |publisher= Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-32127-9 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GpNECgAAQBAJ&pg=PT58 57–59], [https://books.google.com/books?id=q5JECgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 pp. 61–62]}}</ref>{{rp|57–59}} It developed during the Islamic era of the [[Indian subcontinent]], starting in the early 13th century, wherein the powers to govern and collect tax from an estate was granted to an appointee of the state.<ref name="britjagir">[https://www.britannica.com/topic/jagirdar-system Jāgīrdār system: INDIAN TAX SYSTEM], Encyclopædia Britannica (2009)</ref> The tenants were considered to be in the servitude of the jagirdar.<ref name="Qadeer2006pix">{{cite book|first=Mohammad |last=Qadeer|title=Pakistan - Social and Cultural Transformations in a Muslim Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ll02P7G5XD8C |date=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-18617-4|pages=ix, 44}}</ref> There were two forms of jagir, one conditional, the other unconditional. The conditional jagir required the governing family to maintain troops and provide their service to the state when asked.<ref name="britjagir" /><ref name="Roy 2015" />{{rp|61–62}} The land grant, called {{Transliteration|ar|[[iqta']]a}}, was usually for a holder's lifetime; the land reverted to the state upon the death of the jagirdar.<ref name="britjagir" /><ref>{{cite book|first=Claude |last=Markovits|title=A History of Modern India, 1480-1950|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=r2OKvG5wbaAC&pg=PA567| date=2004|publisher =Anthem Press|isbn =978-1-84331-152-2|page=567}}</ref>

The jagirdar system was introduced by the [[Delhi Sultanate]],<ref name="britjagir" /> and continued during the [[Mughal Empire]],<ref>{{cite book|first=Jamal |last=Malik|title=Islam in South Asia: A Short History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FduG_t2sxwMC&pg=491|year=2008|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-90-04-16859-6|page=491}}</ref> but with a difference. In the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] times, the jagirdar collected taxes which paid his salary and the rest to the Mughal treasury, while the administration and military authority was given to a separate Mughal appointee.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Catherine B. |last1=Asher |first2=Cynthia |last2=Talbot |title=India Before Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvaGuaJIJgoC |year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-80904-7|pages=125–127}}</ref> After the collapse and takeover of Mughals, the system of jagirs was retained by [[Maratha Empire|Marathas]], [[Charans]], [[Rajput]]s, [[Rajpurohit]]s, [[Jat]]s, and [[Jat Sikh|Sikh jat]] kingdoms, and later in a form by the [[British East India Company]].<ref name="britjagir" /><ref name="Roy 2015" />{{rp|61–62}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Madanjit |last=Kaur|title=Maharaja Ranjit Singh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4clbRzW8nYkC&pg=PA31|year=2008|publisher=Unistar|isbn=978-81-89899-54-7|pages=31–40}}</ref>

== Definition ==
''Jagir'' ({{langx|fa|{{nq|جاگیر}}}}, [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]: जागीर/جاگیردار, [[Marathi language|Marathi]]: जहागीर, {{langx|bn|জায়গীর}}) is a Persian word meaning 'place holder'.<ref name=britjagir/>

In its 1955 {{notatypo|judgment}} of the case ''[[Thakur Amar Singhji v]]. State Of Rajasthan'', the [[Supreme Court of India]] used the following definition of ''jagir'' in interpreting the ''Rajasthan Land Reforms and Resumption of Jagirs Act (Rajasthan Act VI of 1952)'':<ref>{{cite court|litigants=Thakur Amar Singhji v. State Of Rajasthan|vol=2|reporter=SCR|opinion=303|pinpoint=305|court=Supreme Court of India|date=15 April 1955|quote=(iv){{nbsp}}...{{nbsp}}that is the sense in which the word jagir should be construed in Art. 31-A.{{pb}}"The object of Art. 31-A was to save legislation which was directed to the abolition of intermediaries so as to establish direct relationship between the State and the tillers of the soil. Construing the word in that sense which would achieve that object in full measure, it must be held that jagir was meant to cover all grants under which the grantees had only rights in respect of revenue and were not tillers of the soil. Maintenance grants in favour of persons who were not cultivators such as members of the ruling family would be jagirs for purposes of Art. 31-A.|postscript=none|url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1750663/}}. [https://api.sci.gov.in/ 1955 825 SC] 1955 AIR SC 504</ref>
{{Blockquote|The word 'jagir' connoted originally grants made by [[Rajput]] Rulers to their clansmen for military services rendered or to be rendered. Later on grants made for religious and charitable purposes and even to non-Rajputs were called jagirs, and both in its popular sense and legislative practice, the word jagir came to be used as connoting all grants which conferred on the grantees rights in respect of land revenue, and that is the sense in which the word jagir should be construed{{nbsp}}...|source=''Singhji v. Rajasthan'', (15 April 1955; <small>SCR 1955 2 303; AIR 1955 SC 504</small>)}}

== Succession ==
A jagir was technically a feudal [[life estate]], as the grant reverted to the state upon the jagirdar's death. However, in practice, jagirs became a hereditary position.<ref>{{cite book|first=John F. |last=Richards |title=The Mughal Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHyVh29gy4QC&pg=PA292|year=1995|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-56603-2|pages=292–293}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=((Pollen, J. (Assistant Commissioner in Sind Province) )) |author2=((Revenue Department of the Sind Commissioner's Office)) |publisher= Government of Bombay |title=History of Alienations in the Province of Sind |url=https://archive.org/details/historyalienati00unkngoog|date=1886 |location=Karachi |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyalienati00unkngoog/page/n211 143]}}</ref> The family was thus the ''de facto'' ruler of the territory, earned income from part of the tax revenues and delivered the rest to the treasury of the state during the Islamic rule period, and later in parts of India that came under Afghan, [[Sikhs|Sikh]] and Rajput rulers. The ''jagirdar'' did not act alone but appointed administrative layers for revenue collection. These positions, according to Shakti Kak, were called, among other titles, ''[[patwari]]'', [[Tehsildar|''tahsildar'']], [[Amils|''amil'']], ''[[Dahsala system#Fotedar|fotedar]]'', ''[[munsif]]'', [[Dahsala system#Qanungo|''qanungo'']], ''[[Chowdhury|chaudhri]]'', and ''[[dewan]]''.<ref name="Kak 2007">{{cite book|first=Shakti |last=Kak |editor1=Waltraud Ernst |editor2=Biswamoy Pati |title=India's Princely States: People, Princes and Colonialism |chapter=The agrarian system of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir: A study of colonial settlement policies, 1860–1905 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9eKbW3ukh9oC&pg=PA68 |date=2007| publisher=Routledge| isbn=978-1-134-11988-2|pages=68–84 |postscript=none}}. See pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9eKbW3ukh9oC&pg=PA71 71–72]</ref>

== 13th-century origin and successors ==
This [[feudal]] system of land ownership is referred to as the ''jagirdar'' system. The system was introduced by the [[Sultans]] of [[Delhi]] from the 13th century onwards, was later adopted by the [[Mughal Empire]], the [[Maratha Empire]] and continued under the [[British East India Company]].<ref name=britjagir/>
 
Some Hindu jagirdars were converted into Muslim vassal states under [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] imperial sway, such as the [[nawab]]s of [[Kurnool]]. Most [[List of princely states of India|princely states of India]] during the colonial [[British Raj]] era were jagirdars such as Mohrampur Jagir. Shortly following independence from the [[British Crown]] in 1947, the ''jagirdar'' system was abolished by the [[Indian government]] in 1951.<ref>{{cite dictionary | page=834| access-date =9 January 2024 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=V2d12iZkgOwC&q=pg=PA834 | title=Jagirdar system|encyclopedia=Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Encyclopedia | publisher=Merriam-Webster | date=2000 | isbn=0-87779-017-5 |quote=After independence, measures were taken to abolish absentee landownership.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Kumar Suresh |last2=Lal |first2=Rajendra Behari | page=1350 | title=Gujarat, Part 3 | volume=22 | series=People of India, Kumar Suresh Singh Gujarat, Anthropological Survey of India | publisher=Popular Prakashan | date=2003 | isbn=81-7991-106-3 }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Indian honorifics]]
* [[Desmukh]]
* [[Indian feudalism]]
* [[Feudalism in Pakistan]]
* [[Kulkarni]]
* [[Lambardar]]
* [[Mankari]]
* [[Mansabdar]]
* [[Patil (title)|Patil]]
* [[Saranjamdar]] 
* [[Sardar]]
* [[Zamindar]]
* [[Ghatwals and Mulraiyats]]
{{col div end}}

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Jagirs|*]]
[[Category:Feudalism in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Feudalism in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Indian feudalism]]
[[Category:Indian words and phrases]]
[[Category:Administrative divisions of India]]
[[Category:Types of administrative division]]