A museum guide in Kolkata stops a group of college students before a painting of a Bengal village, made in 1820 by a British artist. Among the small huts, the students notice a large, solid house standing on the right of the scene. The guide explains that the painting is useful to historians because it shows the everyday life of the common people of the countryside, not only that of rulers. She asks the students to think about who in a Bengal village could have lived in such a house.
The guide adds that the people who lived in such houses were most powerful in North Bengal. In some other parts of Bengal, people of the same class were known by other names. Which of the following were among those names?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Haoladars, gantidars or mandals
Option (1) Haoladars, gantidars or mandals — Correct. Such houses belonged to <strong>jotedars</strong>, strongest in North Bengal. Elsewhere rich peasants and headmen were called <strong>haoladars, gantidars or mandals</strong>.
Option (2) Adhiyars or bargadars — Incorrect. Adhiyars or bargadars were the <strong>sharecroppers</strong> who tilled the jotedars' land for half the produce.
Option (3) Zamindars or rajas — Incorrect. Zamindars were the landholders who paid revenue to the Company; the rise of the jotedars weakened their authority.
Option (4) Amlah or munsiffs — Incorrect. The amlah was the zamindar's rent officer, and a munsiff was a judicial officer at a lower court.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.4 The rise of the jotedars … |