Why was jotedar a powerful figure in many areas of rural Bengal ?
Jotedars were rich peasants in Bengal. They owned big plots of land sometimes running into thousand of acres of land. They controlled local trade and commerce including the money lending business. They had great influence on the local village population. They were regarded more powerful than the Zamindars even. Following are the main reasons for the high status of Jotedars.
1.The Jotedars controlled trade and commerce including money lending business at the local level.
2.In order to weaken the Zamindars, Jotedars would mobilise ryots not to pay or delay payment towards land revenue.
3.The Jotedars opposed the moves of Zamindars to increase the Jama of a village.
4.The Jotedars lived in villages only. Hence they were in a better position to interact with and influence the peasants.
5.Jotedars were rich and owned big areas of land under cultivation. Many a time they would buy estates of Zamindar. That would be auctioned due to failure to pay up land revenue.
What are the problems of using the official sources in writing about the history of peasants.
On an outline map of the subcontinent, mark out the areas described in this chapter. Find out whether there were other areas where the Permanent Settlement and the ryotwari system were prevalent and plot these on the map as well.