Defaulting zamindars and rising jotedars

In the first decades after 1793, many zamindars failed to pay, and their estates were auctioned. Why?

• The revenue demand was set very high: the Company wanted to secure its finances once and for all.
• It was fixed in the 1790s, when agricultural prices were depressed, so ryots found it hard to pay the zamindars.
• It was invariable: it had to be paid in full, whatever the harvest.
• Under the 'Sunset Law', if payment did not reach the Company by sunset on the due date, the estate could be auctioned.

The settlement also weakened zamindars' power. They lost their troops, their right to collect customs, and their courts and police, which came under the Company's Collector.

Meanwhile, in the villages, a group of rich peasants called jotedars grew powerful. They held vast areas of land, sometimes thousands of acres, cultivated by sharecroppers (bargadars). They also controlled local trade and moneylending.

Unlike the zamindars, who often lived in towns, the jotedars lived in the villages. They resisted the zamindars' efforts to collect rent, urged ryots to delay payment, and often bought the auctioned estates themselves. The village strongman beat the absentee lord.