Pargana
Pargana or parganah, also spelt pergunnah during the time of the
Sultanate period, Mughal times and British Raj,[1] is a former administrative unit of the Indian subcontinent and each parganas may or may not be subdivided into pirs.[2] Those revenue units are used primarily, but not exclusively, by the Muslim kingdoms. After independence the Parganas became equivalent to Block/ Tahsil and Pirs became Grampanchayat
.
Parganas were introduced by the Delhi Sultanate. As a revenue unit, a pargana consists of several mouzas, which are the smallest revenue units, consisting of one or more villages and the surrounding countryside.
Under the reign of Sher Shah Suri, administration of parganas was strengthened by the addition of other officers, including a shiqdar (police chief), an amin or munsif (an arbitrator who assessed and collected revenue) and a karkun (record keeper).
Mughal era
In the 16th century the
subahs (roughly equivalent of state or province), which were further subdivided into sarkars (roughly the equivalent of districts), which were themselves organised into parganas (roughly the equivalent of district subdivisions such as tehsil). In the Mughal system, parganas served as the local administrative units of a sarkar. Individual parganas observed common customs regarding land rights and responsibilities, which were known as the pargana dastur, and each pargana had its own customs regarding rent, fees, wages, and weights and measures, known as the pargana nirikh.[3]
Pargana consisted of several tarafs, which in their turn consisted of several villages plus some uninhabited mountain and forest land.[4]
British Raj
As the
taluks
. Parganas remained important as a geographical term, persisting in land surveys, village identification and court decrees.
Post independence
The pargana system persisted in several
North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas in India's West Bengal
state.
See also
Notes
- ^ "A Catalogue of Manuscript and Printed Reports, Field Books, Memoirs, Maps ..." Vol. iv, "Containing the treaties, etc., relating to the states within the Bombay presidency"
- ^ Orissa District Gazetteers: Mayurbhanj. Orissa (India): Superintendent, Orissa Government Press. 1967. p. 347.
- OL 30677644M. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ Ramsay Muir, The making of British India, 1756-1858, University Press, 1915, p. 289
References
- Hunter, William Wilson, Sir, et al. (1908). Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume 12. 1908–1931; Clarendon Press, Oxford.
- Markovits, Claude (ed.) (2004). A History of Modern India: 1480-1950. Anthem Press, London.