AhGaeza at 12:22, 27 April 2026

2026-04-27T12:22:59Z

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{{Short description|British revenue system used in Colonial India}}
The '''Mahalwari''' system was used in India to protect village-level-autonomy. It was introduced by [[Holt Mackenzie ]] in 1822.<ref>{{cite web |title=THE Ting Ling Ting Ling |url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/13529/6/06_chapter%201.pdf |access-date=18 May 2020}}</ref> The word "Mahalwari" is derived from the [[Hindi]] word ''Mahal'', which means a community made from one or more villages..<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/mahalwari-system |title=Mahalwari system |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> Mahalwari consisted of [[landlord]]s or [[Lambardar]]s (also called as Nambardars) assigned to represent villages or groups of villages. Along with the village communities, the landlords were jointly responsible for the payment of revenue . Revenue was determined on basis of the produce of Mahal. Individual responsibility was not assigned. The land included under this system consisted of all land in the villages, including forestland, pastures etc. This system was prevalent in parts of the Gangetic Valley, [[Uttar Pradesh]], the North Western province, parts of [[Central India]] and [[Punjab]].<ref>Chapter 4: Getting Ahead in Social Science with CCE 8 pagal published by [[Orient Blackswan]].</ref>

The other two systems were the [[Permanent Settlement]] in [[Bengal]] in 1793 and the [[Ryotwari]] system in 1820. It covered the states of [[Punjab]], [[Awadh]] and [[Agra]], parts of [[Orissa]], and [[Madhya Pradesh]].

== History ==
During the 1800s, the [[British Empire|British]] established control over the administrative machinery of India. The System of Land Revenue acted as a chief source of income for the British. Thus, they used land to control the entire Revenue system, strengthening their economic condition in India.

The [[North-Western Provinces]] and [[Oudh State|Oudh]] ([[Awadh]]) were two important territories acquired by the [[East India Company]] in modern [[Uttar Pradesh]]. In 1801, the [[Nawab of Awadh]] surrendered the districts of [[Allahabad]] to the Company. The [Jamuna] and the [[Ganges]] valleys were acquired by the British after the [[Second Anglo-Maratha War]]. [[Governor-General of Bengal]], [[Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings]] conquered more territories of [[North India]] after the [[Third Anglo-Maratha War]] in 1820.

The village [[Village head|headman]] or ''lambardar'' was responsible for all recommendations, land survey, maintaining records of land rights, settlement of the land revenues, demand in the Mahals, and collection of land revenue. Regulation VII of 1822 accredited the legal sanction to these recommendations. In cases where estates were not held by landlords, but by the cultivators in common tenancy, the state demand was fixed at 95% of the rental. However, this system broke down as the state demand was large and rigid. The amount payable by the cultivators was more than what they could afford.<ref>http://www.preservearticles.com/2011090412831/brief-notes-on-the-mahalwari-system-in-india-1757-1857.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811221939/http://www.preservearticles.com/2011090412831/brief-notes-on-the-mahalwari-system-in-india-1757-1857.html |date=2017-08-11 }} {{self-published source|date=August 2016}}</ref>

== Bentinck, Bird, Thompson, and Broun-Ramsay ==
[[File:Bentinck william.png|thumbnail|William Bentinck]]
[[Lord William Bentinck|William Bentinck]], the Governor-General of Bengal and afterwards Governor-General of India (1828-1835), revised the Regulation of 1822, introducing the Mahalwari System. They realized that the result of the Regulation of 1822 was widespread misery.

After a prolonged consultation, Bentick's Government passed a new regulation in 1833. The ''mahalwari'' system of land revenue was introduced by Holt Mackenzie and [[Robert Merttins Bird]], which made the system more flexible. The process of preparing estimates of produce and rents was simplified. It introduced the fixation of the average rents for different classes of soil. This scheme functioned under Mettins Bird. The processes of measuring land, examining [[soil quality]] was improved further. The State demand was fixed at 66% of the rental value and the Settlement was made for 30 years.

The Mahalwari system of land revenue under the scheme of 1833 was completed under the administration of [[James Thompson (civil servant)|James Thompson]]. The 66% rental demanded proved onerous. In the Saharanpur Rules of 1855, it was revised to 50% by Governor-General [[James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie]]. However, British officers paid little attention to these rules. This created widespread discontent among the [[Indian people|Indians]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cohn |first=Bernard S. |date=August 1960 |title=The Initial British Impact on India: A case study of the Benares region |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |publisher=Association for Asian Studies |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=418–431 |doi=10.2307/2943581 |jstor=2943581}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Mughal fiscal system]]
* [[Ryotwari]]
* [[Permanent Settlement]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''The History of India, vol.2'', [[T.G.Percival Spear]], Penguin (1990) {{ISBN|0-14-013836-6}}
* ''India: A History'', [[John Keay]], Grove/Atlantic (2001) {{ISBN|0-8021-3797-0}}
* ''A rule of property for Bengal: an essay on the idea of permanent settlement'', Ranajit Guha, Durham, Duke U Press (1996) {{ISBN|0-8223-1771-0}}

[[Category:History of taxation in India]]
[[Category:Legal codes]]
[[Category:South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian feudalism]]
[[Category:Government of British India]]
[[Category:History of agriculture in India]]

Mahalwari - Revision history

AhGaeza at 12:22, 27 April 2026