form of land tenancy developed in India during the time of Muslim rule (beginning in the early 13th century) in which the collection of the revenues of an estate and the power of governing it were bestowed on an official of the state. The term was derived by combining two Persian words: jāgīr (“holding land”) and dār (“official”). The bestowal of a jāgīr on a jāgīrdār could be either conditional or unconditional. A conditional jāgīr required in reciprocity from the beneficiary some form of public service, such as the levying and maintaining of troops for the benefit of the realm. An iqta (assignment of land) was usually made for life, and the jāgīr would revert to the state on the death of the holder, though it was possible for the heir to renew it on payment of a fee.

The system was introduced by the early sultans of Delhi (Delhi sultanate). Being feudalistic in character, it tended to enfeeble the central government by setting up quasi-independent baronies. The practice was slowed by Sultan Ghiyā al-Dīn Balban (reigned 1266–87) and abolished by Sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Khaljī (1296–1316), only to be revived again by Sultan Fīrūz Shah Tughluq (1351–88), from which time it continued. The early Mughal emperors (16th century) wished to abolish it, preferring to reward their officials with cash salaries, but it was reintroduced by the later emperors and contributed greatly to the weakening of the Mughal state. The British East India Company was given a jāgīr by the nawab Muḥammad ʿAlī of Arcot in present-day Tamil Nadu (Tamil Nādu) state 120, miles (190 km) in length along the Bay of Bengal (Bengal, Bay of) and 47 miles (76 km) in width inland; it became the nucleus of the Madras Presidency. Under the British the old jāgīrdār holdings were largely considered the properties of individual families, particularly in the area of Maharashtra. With Indian independence, legislative measures were taken to abolish the system of absentee landownership.