Jagir

(Persian, literally “holding a place”), the predominant form of feudal landownership in Mogul India from the 16th to the 18th century. The owner (jagirdar) received a share of the state land tax from the jagir. In return he was obligated to maintain a hired cavalry detachment. The average jagir was immense—approximately 100,000 hectares. The Great Moguls, fearing the separatist tendencies of the jagirdars, often transferred them from one jagir to another. In the 17th century the jagir system began evolving into a system of hereditary ownership, which ultimately came into existence in the 18th century.