In a district record room, a historian finds an old Company file from the 1790s. It reports a large public sale of several estates that belonged to a powerful landholder of western Bengal. He had fallen behind in his payments to the Company. The officer who arranged the sale later wrote a puzzled note about the buyers. The same bundle holds a list showing that many other estates in the province passed to new owners in these years. A loose sheet carries a newspaper sketch of village produce being taken to a market.
In a similar sale held at Burdwan in 1797, what did the Collector soon discover about the buyers?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Many were servants and agents of the raja buying on his behalf
Option (1) Many were Company officials buying under false names — Incorrect. Company officials were outside this trick. It was played by the raja's own men to keep his lands.
Option (2) Many were servants and agents of the raja buying on his behalf — Correct. The buyers were servants and agents of the raja who bought for their master. Over 95 per cent of the sale was fictitious, so the raja stayed in control.
Option (3) Many were Calcutta merchants who then settled in the villages — Incorrect. Calcutta merchants did buy some zamindaris in this period, but here the buyers were the raja's own servants and agents.
Option (4) Many were ryots of the estate who pooled money to buy their fields — Incorrect. The ryots did not buy the estate. The raja used his own servants and agents to keep his lands.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.1 An auction in Burdwan … |