The jotedars were known by several names. Which among the following is not one of them?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Bargadars
Option (1) Haoladars — Correct statement. It is another name for jotedars. The rich peasants and village headmen who rose like the jotedars were called haoladars in some places.
Option (2) Mandals — Correct statement. It is another name for jotedars. Elsewhere they were known as mandals.
Option (3) Gantidars — Correct statement. It is another name for jotedars. In other places they were known as gantidars.
Option (4) Bargadars — Incorrect statement. It is not a name for jotedars. Bargadars, also called adhiyars, were the sharecroppers who cultivated a large part of the jotedars’ land. They brought their own ploughs, laboured in the field and handed over half the produce to the jotedars after the harvest, so they worked for the jotedars and were not jotedars themselves.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.4 The rise of the jotedars … By the early nineteenth century, jotedars had acquired vast areas of land – sometimes as much as several thousand acres. They controlled local trade as well as moneylending, exercising immense power over the poorer cultivators of the region. A large part of their land was cultivated through sharecroppers (adhiyars or bargadars) who brought their own ploughs, laboured in the field, and handed over half the produce to the jotedars after the harvest. Within the villages, the power of jotedars was more effective than that of zamindars. 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, mobilised ryots who were dependent on them, and deliberately delayed payments of revenue to the zamindar. In fact, when the estates of the zamindars were auctioned for failure to make revenue payment, jotedars were often amongst the purchasers. The jotedars were most powerful in North Bengal, although rich peasants and village headmen were emerging as commanding figures in the countryside in other parts of Bengal as well. In some places they were called haoladars, elsewhere they were known as gantidars or mandals. Their rise inevitably weakened zamindari authority.…” |