The zamindars

Zamindars were a class of people who lived off agriculture but did not work the land themselves. Their high status came from their caste, and from certain services (khidmat) they performed for the state.

They had extensive personal lands called milkiyat (property), cultivated by hired or servile labour, which they could sell or pass on. They collected revenue on behalf of the state, for a fee. Many had forts (qilachas) and armed units of cavalry and infantry.

Most zamindars were from the upper castes, a Brahmana-Rajput combine, though some came from intermediate castes; and there were also Muslim zamindaris.

Zamindaris were built up in several ways: by conquest (often of weaker groups), confirmed later by an imperial order, a sanad; by colonising new lands; by transfer of rights; and by purchase.

Zamindars could be exploitative, but their relationship with peasants was also paternal: they helped with loans and cultivation. Significantly, the bhakti saints, who attacked caste and other oppression, did not attack zamindars; and peasants often backed them in revolts against the state. Exploiters and patrons at once.