‘Jotedars’ in Bengal were:
(1) Revenue Officers
(2) Rich Peasants
(3) Sharecroppers
(4) Village Headmen

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Rich peasants in Bengal were referred to as Jotedars. They controlled local trade as well as moneylending, exercising immense power over the poorer cultivators of the region. Unlike zamindars who often lived in urban areas, jotedars were located in the villages and exercised direct control over a considerable section of poor villagers. They fiercely resisted efforts by zamindars to increase the jama of the village, prevented zamindari officials from executing their duties, mobilized ryots who were dependent on them, and deliberately delayed payments of revenue to the zamindar. In some places they were called haoladars, elsewhere they were known as gantidars or mandals.