Peter120 at 07:39, 8 March 2026

2026-03-08T07:39:11Z

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{{short description|Bengal hereditary aristocrat}}
'''''Jotedars''''', also known as '''Hawladars''', '''Ganitdars''', '''Jwaddars''' or ''[[Mandals]]'', were landlords or well-to-do ''ryots'' or wealthy peasants who exercised control and influence comparable to that of a [[Zamindars]] but were perceived as significantly below them in [[social stratification|social strata]] in agrarian [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] during [[Company rule in India]].

Jotedars owned relatively extensive tracts of [[land]], and their [[land tenure]] status stood in contrast to those of poor ''ryots'' and [[bargadars]] (sharecroppers), who were landless or land-poor. Most of the [[Hindu]] ''Jotedars'' in [[West Bengal]] were from the ''[[Bhadralok]]'' community, members of Hindu upper castes of [[Bengal]] such as ''[[Kayastha]]'', ''[[Brahmin]]'' etc. Many [[Muslim]] ''Jotedars'' were from an ''[[Sharif|Ashraf]]'' or ''Khandani'' family background and were in the elite nobility of [[Bengali Muslims]] who descended from settled foreigners such as the [[Pashtuns|Afghans]], [[Mughal people|Mughals]], [[Arabs]], [[Persians]], [[Turkic peoples|Turks]] and [[Delhi|North Indian]] immigrants. The socially high-standing Hindu and Muslim ''Jotedars'', who were not actually peasants, had adopted the ''de jure'' status of ''[[ryot]]'' (peasant) solely for financial benefiting from the [[Bengal Tenancy Act (1885)|Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885]] afforded to ryots and for the claim that ''Jotedars'' had more freedom and powers than Zamindars.

Others belonged to the intermediate landowning peasant castes, such as [[Sadgop|''Sadgops'']], [[Aguri (caste)|''Aguris'']], [[Mahishya|''Mahishyas'']], [[Rajbongshi people|''Rajbongshis'']], ''[[Shershahabadia]]'' and the rural less-educated [[Brahmin|''Brahmins'']].<ref name=":0" /> By the 1920s, a gentrified fraction of Jotedars had emerged from the more prosperous peasants among the tribes such as [[Santhal people|''Santhals'']] and the Scheduled Castes such as the ''[[Bagdi]]'' and the [[Namasudra|''Namasudras'']]<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Iqbal |first=I. |year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gYslngEACAAJ |title=The Bengal Delta: Ecology, State and Social Change, 1840-1943 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |page=107 |isbn=978-0-230-23183-2}}</ref>

''Jotedars'' were long in actual control of the village land and economy<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guha |first=Ayan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6-SEAAAQBAJ |title=The Curious Trajectory of Caste in West Bengal Politics: Chronicling Continuity and Change |date=2022-09-26 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-51456-0 |pages=141–142 |language=en}}</ref> and were pitted against in the [[Naxalite]] movement.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=The Naxalite Movement that was Not in Naxalbari |url=http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1416.html |magazine=Mainstream |access-date=2016-04-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Naxalbari revisited |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Naxalbari-revisited/articleshow/47044695.cms |newspaper=The Times of India |access-date=2016-04-30}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Bengal Presidency]]
[[Category:Indian feudalism]]
[[Category:History of agriculture in India]]
[[Category:British East India Company]]

Jotedar - Revision history

Peter120 at 07:39, 8 March 2026