A pargana is a former administrative unit of the Indian Subcontinent, used primarily, but not exclusively, by the Muslim kingdoms. Composite satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia. ...

Parganas were introduced by the Delhi Sultanate, and the word is of Persian origin. 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 (a civil arbitrator and revenue official who assessed and collected revenue) and a karkun (record keeper). The Delhi Sultanate (دلی سلطنت), or Sulthanath-e-Hind(سلطنتِ ہند)/Sulthanath-e-Dilli(سلطنتِ دلی) refers to the various Afghan dynasties that ruled in India from 1210 to 1526. ... Persian (known variously as: فارسی Fārsi or پارسی Pārsi, local name in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Tajik, a Central Asian dialect, or Dari, another local name in Tajikistan and Afghanistan) is a language spoken in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... For the recipient of the Victoria Cross see Sher Shah (VC). ...

The Mughal emperor Akbar organized the empire into sarkars, roughly the equivalent of districts, and sarkars were organized into subahs, or provinces. In the Mughal system, parganas served as the local administrative units of a sarkar. The chief administrator of a pargana was a parganait or parganadar; other pargana officials were the shiqdar (magistrate), amil (assessor and collector of revenue), bitikchi (chief accountant and registrar), qanungo (keeper of revenue records), and the fotahdar or khazinadhar (treasurer). 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. The Mughal Empire (alternative spelling Mogul, which is the origin of the word Mogul) of India was founded by Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat. ... Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar (Persian: جلال الدین محمد اکبر), (alternative spellings include Jellaladin, Celalettin) also known as Akbar the Great (Akbār-e-Azam) (October 15, 1542 – October 27, 1605) was the ruler of the Mughal Empire from the time of his accession in 1556 until 1605. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A Subah is a province of the former Mughal 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 favor 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, court decrees, etc. Bengal, known as Bôngo (Bengali: বঙ্গ), Bangla (বাংলা), Bôngodesh (বঙ্গদেশ), or Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ) in Bangla, is a region in the northeast of South Asia. ... Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (December 31, 1738-October 5, British general and colonial governor. ... The Permanent Settlement - also known as the Permanent Settlement of Bengal (Bangla: চিরস্থায়ী বন্দোবস্ত, Chirosthayi Bandobasto) - was an agreement between the East India Company and Bengali landlords with far-reaching consequences for both agricultural methods and productivity in the Empire and the political realities of the Indian countryside. ... Zamindar, also known as Zamindari, or the Zamindari System (Persian: زمیندار) were employed by the Mughals to collect taxes from peasants. ... The divisions of a district. ... A tehsil or taluk is an administrative subdivision or tier found in several South Asian countries. ... A Tehsil is an administrative subdivision or tier of local government in some South Asian countries. ...

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. A princely state or native state was a feudal monarchy in British India ruled by a hereditary ruler, who was nominally sovereign. ... Tonk is a town in Rajasthan state, India. ... North 24 Parganas is a district of West Bengal, India. ... South 24 Parganas is an important district of West-Bengal. ... West Bengal (পশ্চিম বঙ্গ, Poshchim Bôngo) is a state in the eastern region of India. ...

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.

External link

"Pargana" article on Banglapedia