Zamindar

A zamindar on the Indian subcontinent was an aristocrat, typically hereditary, who held enormous tracts of land and held control over the peasants, from whom the zamindars reserved the right to collect tax (often for military purposes). Over time, they took princely and royal titles such as Maharaja (Great King), Rana (King), Malik (King),Rai (King), Raja (King), Deshmukh (Chief), Sardar, Mankari, Nawab (Lord), Mirza (Prince), Taluqdar (District Holder), Chaudhary (Lord), Reddy (Headman), Naidu, Gounder, and many others.

Although zamindars were considered to be equivalent to lords and barons in some cases they were seen as independent, sovereign princes. Often zamindars were Indian princes who lost their sovereignty due to British Rule (see: Madras Zamindari). For example, the Sivaganga Zamindari and Ramnad Zamindari were the lesser and greater Kingdom of Marava ruled by the royal family till 1803; ever since then they were the Zamindars of Marava.

There is no clear distinction between royal zamindars, such as Raja Venkata Ranga Rao, or merely aristocratic zamindars. Many kings were former zamindars, such as the Royal House of Benares; conversely many new zamindars were old kings. As a result, there is some confusion about the Indian kingdoms about who is a king and who is a zamindar, as there were as many as 568 kingdoms and, according to some other sources, 572 princely states in India before independence. During the Mughal Empire, zamindars belonged to the nobility and formed the ruling class. Emperor Akbar granted them mansabs and their ancestral domains were treated as jagirs.