BharatNotes
Jagirdari Crisis
/dʒɑːɡɪrˈdɑːri ˈkraɪsɪs/The structural fiscal crisis of the later Mughal Empire (late 17th–18th century) in which the number of mansabdars and their rank inflation vastly exceeded the available revenue-yielding jagir land, resulting in the assignment of distant and unproductive territories, noble dissatisfaction, and the progressive collapse of the Mansabdari system.
Context & Background
As Aurangzeb expanded the empire into the Deccan, thousands of Maratha and Deccani nobles were absorbed into the Mansabdari system, but there was insufficient jagir land to sustain them — leading to what Satish Chandra termed the "crisis of the jagirdari system," a key structural cause of Mughal decline.
UPSC Exam Relevance
GS1 (Medieval India). Prelims: the concept of bejagiri (jagir shortage) and its link to Mughal decline. Mains: asked to analyse structural causes of Mughal decline — the Jagirdari crisis is central to any answer, alongside Aurangzeb's Deccan policy, religious intolerance, and provincial revolts.
