Conquest of Northern India

The conquest of North India by Farsi-Turkic-Afghani by language, the Muslim armies by religion and the formation of the Delhi Sultanate meant the replacement of the upper stratum of the ruling class. The surviving Rajput princes retreated to Rajasthan, to Central India, to pre-Himalayan regions. Their lands were placed at the disposal of the sultans, who began to distribute them to their military commanders and their associates. A fairly regular system of military-land ownership was created-Ikt. The owners of large icts washed the mukta, and the holders of the smaller possessions - iqtadaramy.

Initially, the ikta was a temporary holding, and the military lechgpik could keep to himself a small part of the amounts collected on the tax. Gradually prerogatives regarding the population, received taxes and land expanded, so that by the middle of the XIV century. The ikta became in fact a hereditary possession. Mukta entered into direct relations with village elders and other landowners, taxpayers. Thus, with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, there was a sharp centralization in the collection of taxes followed by a return to the predominance of private ownership.

In the Mogul Empire, this process was repeated. The place of ikta was taken by a similar institute, called jagir. At first, especially in the reign of Sher-Shah and Akbar, the jahirdars were under detailed control of the authorities, their accounts were checked, the contingents corresponded to the number of riders and foot soldiers they had to maintain, stamping horses, transferring jagirdars from one area to another. Under Akbar, an attempt was made to introduce a table of ranks according to which all employees of the state (mansabdars), including jagirdars, received a certain rank with the corresponding rights and duties.

In the XVII century. The control of the central authority over the Jarlari was weakened, the regularity in the distribution of land was disrupted. The Jagirdars became more and more independent permanent landowners, who often inherited their lands. However, the maturation of private ownership of land in this way had no prospects, since the Jagirdar could only manage part of the feudal rent (at Akbar about half). The other part remained in the hands of the rural landowners - zamindars. Jagirdar was not involved in production, had no roots in the village, any actual heredity of his possessions could be interrupted as a result of a change in the political conjuncture. He was bound by vassal relations with a well-defined state, and his fate depended on the fate of this state.

Conquest of Northern India