Pergunnah

Pargana or parganah, also spelt pergunnah, equivalent to Mohallah as a subunit of Subah (Suba), was a type of former administrative division in the Indian subcontinent during the time of the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal and British Colonial empires. Mughal Empire was divided into Subah (Suba) or province headed by a ''Subahdar'', which were further subdivided into '' sarkars'' or tarafs, which in turn were further subdivided into groups of villages known as ''parganas'' or Mahallas (Mahal). Depending on the size, the ''parganas'' may or may not be further subdivided into ''pirs'' or ''mouzas'' which were the smallest revenue units, consisting of one or more villages and the surrounding countryside. In Bengal, the Sarkar system was replaced in the early 18th century by the Chakla system. In the Punjab region, the British established new Punjab Canal Colonies in which the smallest unit quivalent to village or Mauza or pirwere termed Chak. Above-mentioned revenue units were used primarily, but not exclusively, by Muslim kingdoms. After Independence of India in 1947, the parganas became equivalent to Block/ Tahsil, and pirs or mahals became Grampanchayat.

The Mughal government in the ''pargana'' consisted of a Muslim judge and local tax collector. 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 Mughal emperor Akbar organised the empire into '' 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''.

Pargana consisted of several ''tarafs'', which in their turn consisted of several villages plus some uninhabited mountain and forest land. During the reign of the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan, ''tarafs'' represented the provinces of the sultanate and its main territorial division. Tarafs were ruled by a ''tarafdar'', the provincial governor, who held a significant amount of autonomy.

British Indian Empire

As the British expanded into former Mughal provinces, starting with Bengal, they at first retained the ''pargana'' administration, but, under the Governorship of Charles Cornwallis, enacted the Permanent Settlement of 1793, which abolished the pargana system in favour of the ''zamindari'' system, in which ''zamindars'' were made the absolute owners of rural lands, and abolished the ''pargana dastur'' and ''pargana nirikh''. British administration consisted of districts, which were divided into tehsils or 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 princely states, including Tonk and Gwalior. Parganas disappeared almost completely after the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, although the term lives on in place names, like the districts of North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas in India's West Bengal state.

See also

* Administrative divisions of India
* Punjab Canal Colonies
* Chak (village)
* Chakla (administrative division)
* List of parganas of Uttarakhand

Notes

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.

{{Types of administrative country subdivision

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Economic history of India
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Former subdivisions of India
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