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Unit 7: Jajmani System

Being a jajman meant being an orthodox Hindu whose value system made necessary the engagement Notes
of certain specialists (of serving castes). Being a landlord meant being a member of the ruling class
(Harold Gould, 1987: 185). And a jajman was not an ‘exploiter’ of a kamin, though a landlord could be
an exploiter. The desire to become a jajman is not a desire to get ‘feudal status’ or a ‘common inclination
to exploit the weak’ but the wish to practice certain rituals and a way of life necessitating the avoidance
of impurity.

7.8 Changes in Jajmani System

Jajmani system is related to other systems like caste system, religious system, system of landownership,
kinship system, and the political structure of the village. As such, the change in these systems has
affected the functioning of the jajmani system too in the present days. The important changes in
society that have affected the jajmani system in the last five or six decades are: reduction in the powers
of the village elders’ councils, effect of the factory system and industrialization on the quality of
services rendered by the kamins, changes in the rigidity of the caste system, spread of education,
migration of people of intermediate and lower castes to cities in search of jobs and material amenities,
abolition of the jagirdari system,’ introduction of land reforms, better employment in urban areas,
feasibility of market transactions due to the availability of modern transport, and so forth. Because of
all these factors, the jajmani system has been largely supplanted in many villages while in some it has
completely disappeared. Artisans prefer to get money for their goods. Cultivators who have money
prefer to buy things of quality from the market place by paying in cash.

The dominant caste prefers to summon political help rather than depend on their
kamins for support.

No wonder that the jajmani system has been very much weakened today. Iravati Karve and Y.B.
Damle (1963: 151-52) might have found two-thirds of their respondents (222 out of 326) in a survey
conducted in 1962 in five villages in Maharashtra) and Bose and Jodha (1965: 118-123) might have
found 86.0 per cent (111 out of 129) of their respondents in their survey (conducted in 1963 in Barmer
district in western Rajasthan) in favour of the jajmani system because of the economic benefits, the
availability of the ritual services, getting of dependable support by the landowners from some of the
families and castes in their factional struggles, and getting patron’s protection in exigencies, yet the
fact is that the traditional jajmani relations have very much weakened in recent years. Not much of
the village economy is now carried on through jajmani arrangements. Biedleman too is of the opinion
that it is doubtful if the jajmani system will survive in the coming years.
Self-Assessment
1. Tick the right answer to the following question:
(i) Which of the following caused de-industrialisation of the rural economy during the colonial
period?
(a) Preference of craftsmen for urban life (b) Import of goods from England
(c) Preference of craftsmen for agriculture

(ii) Match the following sets
(a) Ryotwari System (a) Land revenue settlement with landlords
(b) Zaminidari System (b) Land revenue settlement with family
heads and landlords collectively
(c) Mahalwari System (c) Land revenue settlement with landlords
who are the cultivators

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