Bengal, Past and Present UGC Care Group 1 Journal

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SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE MAHALWARI SYSTEM: INCREASE IN THE CASES OF
FEMALE INFANTICIDE IN THE NORTH- WESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDH

Md. Hamid Husain

Department of History, Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

Abstract:
The Mahalwari System was one of the t hree major land revenu e settlement, first
introduced in the region of the Western Provinces, under the regu lation VII of 1822,
by C ompany administration i n a series of experimentati on and claimed to be an
improvement over th e pre vious two exist ing s ystems , viz., the permanent Zamin dari
and the Ryotwari because of its hybrid nature. The Western Provinces name was
changed into the North- Western Provinces in 1836 when it merged with the Ceded and
Conquered Provinces. Oudh came unde r the administration of t he Nor th-Western
Provinces o n the recommendation of T C . Robertson in 18 43 and from that time it has
been named as North- Western Provinces and oudh. In 1901, North- Western Provinces and oudh
name was into United Provinces. Fu rther, it was extende d up to areas of the Central
Pro vinces and the undivided British Punj ab. Here, the settlement directly made wi th
the proprietary bodies or villages or estates or Mahals on the instructi on of t he
settlement officers, who fixed the rent with the consultation of ‘la mbard ar ’ and the
rent to be paid by the culti vat ing peasants. Some historian considered it as a modified
ve rsion of Zamindari settlement. It was noticed that the operation of Mahalwari System in the North
Western Provinces and Oudh increased the cases of ‘Female Infanticides’ on the same pattern as the
introduction of Permanent Zamindari Settlement increased the cases of ‘Sati-dah’ in the Bengal
Presidency. It was the worst social cum gender outcome of the operation of the Mahalwari settlement.
Even today, it remains a critical concern in a number of third world countries notably China and India.
Here in this paper I would like to point out that how the operation of the Mahalwari settlement increased
the cases of ‘Female Infanticides’ in the region of North- Western Provinces and oudh during the
colonial rule of English East India Company.
Keywords: Mahalwari system, North- Western Provinces and Oudh, Zamidari, Roytwari, Mahals,
lambardar, Female Infanticides, Sati-dah, East India Company.

‘Female Infanticide’ means an intentional killing of infant or new born girl baby at the time of
their birth or after sometime of their birth against the preference for baby boy reflects the low status
accorded to women in most parts of the world. Simply, it describes a gender or sex- selective killing.
Certain forms of infanticides or the practice of killing infant girl baby were prevailed and even
considered permissible in most past culture and societies. The practice of female infanticide had taken
many forms like child sacrifice during ancient time. It remains a critical concern and common worries
in a number of Third World Countries especially in China and India. But it was also prevailed in the
developed world of Europe and America in the past. It is arguably the most heinous, cruel, horrible,
brutal and destructive act of the anti-female bias that displayed the low value associated with the birth
of females pervades in a patriarchal set-up of society. The broader phenomenon of infanticides also
targeted the physically challenged and mentally retarded new born male infant baby.
In colonial India, British observers’ believed that the practice of killing infant girl baby prevailed
among twice-born upper caste Hindu in general and the Rajput tribes or clans in particular associated
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with family pride, honour and status. The phenomenon of female infanticide is as old as many cultures
and has likely accounted for millions of gender- selective deaths throughout history. It is closely linked
to the phenomenon of sex- selective abortion exclusively targets female foetuses and neglects the born
of girl child. And the wonder is that, the brutal practices of intentional killing is till persistent at various
places and more cases reported especially from the region of the present state of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi
NCR, Himachal Pradesh, Western belt of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (considered prosperous
on the ground of Economic progress and prosperity) of the country in the form of female foeticide.
These present states coming under the operation of Mahalwari system of land revenue settlement during
the colonial administration of Company Bahadur.
Although the killing of female child declared illegal by Bengal Regulation XXI of 1795 and
Regulation III of 1804, but the inhuman brutal practice continued in the 20s and 30s of 19 th century.
William Bentinck took vigorous steps to suppress this immoral and inhuman practice as he did for Sati-
dah. Those days there were no means that how to control the birth rate. Therefore, the practice of female
infanticide was might be a way to limit her family.
There were various dubious methods used to destroy female child; some neglected to suckle the
girl baby, others administered poisonous drugs (most often opium) through the nipple of the mother’s
breast and some threw the baby into the Kramnasa river. The practice of killing new born girl baby
appeared as the victims to the pride and honour concern of their parents in Rajput families. Rajput
claimed themselves as the warrior and protector class of Hindu society. They believed that the born of
girl baby degraded their status, power and prestige in the society. In Rajput families of the North Western
Provinces, the practice of female infant killing appeared easy because there ‘a Rajput lives in private,
with high walls enclosing a considerable area; and in his domestic privacy the crime of infanticide can
be practiced with little risk of detection. It was sacred wickedness prevent all over the Doab region of
the North Western Provinces. Most of the times, new born girl baby had been thrown into Kramnasa
river.
Charles Raikes in the ‘Notes on the North Western Provinces of India’ define that Female
infanticide was a very peculiar and unnatural crime amongst certain classes (particularly in twice- born
castes of Rajput and Brahman) consigns the female infants to immediate death. The killing of infant
girls was a world- wide phenomenon of then society at variation. But in Mahalwari region it was in
cursive situation. About the prevalence of Female infanticide, Raikes observes, ‘no man is more
impatient of female disgrace than your Rajput or Brahman, but no man is more incredulous of female
fidelity. Further, he mentioned about the sufferings and miseries of the women in North Western
Provinces and then he quotes, ‘to the fair other hands the fate of the Rajpotnee must appear one of
appalling hardship. In each stage of life death is ready to claim her…by the poppy at its dawn, by the
flames in riper years; while the safety of the internal depending on the uncertainty of war, at no period
is her existence worth a twelve months’ purchase. The loss of a battle or the capture of a city was a
signal to avoid captivity and its horrors, which to the Rajpotnee are worse than death’.
In all Rajput family whether Chauhan, Rathore and Seasodea, the born of a daughter considered
as the sign of disgrace, weakness, anxiety, mourns, or at least a cause of heavy expenses upon his house
in the future but in contrast, the born of a son was a sign of strength, wealth, prosperity, status and
dignity which brought rejoices in the society. However, the crime of female infanticide was not
welcomed by any family. He pointed out three basic reasons of the prevalence of female infanticide in
India more particularly in the North Western Provinces which were the following:
1. In the Hindu society daughters did not given proper rights and shares in the ancestral property.
There were no proper patterns of wealth distribution for the daughters even today.
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2. Second important reason of female infanticide comes to the fore through the marriages of Hindu
society. Marriages in Indian Hindu society especially in twice- born caste always be an expensive
deal and tied with the taboos of Gotras. The peasantry of first half of the 19th century was not
capable to bore the heavy expenses of marriage ceremony at own. Inter-marry in one’s own
subdivision is impossible and marriages with the men of inferior rank brought disgrace to her
family. The position of a father-in- law in Hindu society was always supposed to inferior against
son-in law according to customs and tradition. Therefore, they committed that inhuman practice
for their own pride and honour concerns.
3. The third reason of the crime was related to the honour, pride and prestige of the family in the
society. There is a perception in the Rajput society that the births of female child weaken their
status and brought mourns to the family.
But there were some other reasons too for the happening of those ill practices. Some of them were
the followings:
1. Most important reason for the appearances of female infanticide cases seems to be the
realization of maximum land revenue from the peasants. The administration of East India Company
always increased the effective amount of land revenue at every new revision in all temporarily settled
areas. It increased the amount of land revenue arrears and agricultural indebtedness naturally burdened
the peasantry.
2. The other reason appeared to be famines which were the worst result of the operation of new
land revenue system. The situation of famines in Mahalwari region was appeared due to agrarian
depression caused the scarcity of food grains and starvation in the region. The crisis of food grains
happened mainly because of commercialization in agriculture.
3. Strictness in the distribution of Taqqavi and Ujuhat (or wajuhat) loans also contributed greatly in
the cause of female infanticide cases. Taqqavi and Ujuhat given to peasants as help in the cultivation
for the repairing of wells, tanks and canal’s embankments. In Mughal India, peasants used these loans
often in marriage and birth ceremonies without any fear. But the flexibility of these loans distribution
had been tightening even ended by the Company administration of British Empire. Now, peasants face
a number of problems to get sanction of those loans. Obviously, peasants worried about their family’s
livelihood ultimately preferred to have small family and ultimately starting sacrifices of girl baby against
boy because of the fear of expensive marriages.
Raikes observe that every magistrate of the British administration had tried hard to stop the
incidents of female infanticide at regular intervals. The magnitude of the incidents had been traced only
after the availability of statistical inquiry which provides the disproportion rate of male and female
infants. The session courts started trial against the committal parents. However, he presented the one
side development of the incidents and prevalence. He did not highlight the harsh realities of land revenue
collection and realization process which impacted peasants very badly and drove them into a precarious
condition and made livelihood beyond their reach. In a Letter to Lord Curzon, May 1900, R. C Dutt,
reported about the land revenue settlement of Northern India, also highlighted the precarious condition
of the peasants of the region. Dutt raised the issue of high rent and its harsh method of realization. It
was Jonathan Duncan, a British resident at Benares, noticed about these incidents but he did not take
any preventive measures against the crime. But the real effort had been made by the R. Montgomery,
then the magistrate of Allahabad, when he, in an article published in Calcutta Review, 1841, no. 2,
earnestly suggested to officers to work hard to put down the cases of female infant killing. He appointed
chaukidars, midwives and Chuprasis in the villages and Parganas to give information about the birth of
every new female baby. He also assigned duty to every thanas (police posts) to report about each and
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every new birth of girl baby. Tehsildars were instructed to provide all assistance to the thanadars in
getting that information. He also declared reward for the officers who stopped these horrible practices.
He got great success but the situation demands more work to stop these crimes completely. Mr. Unwin,
collector of Mainpuri, also made great attempt to stop these incidents. The cases of female infanticide
decreases and came to an end affectively only after 1930s. However, this crime resumed the character
of female foeticide in independent India.
As the Mahalwari system possessed the combined features of Zamindari and Ryotwari both,
the agrarian impacts of it should be the mix outcome of both. The British started this system as the
middle path between the Zamindari and Ryotwari and declared the system as an ideal and improvised
one for the peasants. They tried to make happy to the larger section of agricultural community by the
introduction of that new system. The British implemented the Mahalwari system at those places which
came to the British paramount only after the expeditions in 1830s and 1840s. The agrarian consequences
of new land settlement were almost the same on India’s socio- economic structure what the Zamindari
and Ryotwari possesses in combined.
Peasantry became the targeted community of both the British colonialism of Company Bahadur
as well as of intermediary groups of collecting agent’s and agencies especially by urban merchant class
or moneylenders’ communities. They were targeted by the corrupt settlement officers’ and the greedy
native officials like lambardars, Tahsildars, Patwaris, Qanungoes and Patels etc. They became corrupt
when they tried to meet the set-target of government demand by all possible means of hooks and crooks.
They targeted peasantry for the concern of more incentives to raise their salaries. In that process,
exploitation of peasants became obvious and inevitable. Peasants were the worst sufferers due to the
operation of Mahalwari system because they were the real losers of the wealth and property.
The tax collecting agent of native officials like Tehsildars, Lambardars, Muqaddams, and Patels
etc. were appointed on the salaries of incentives basis. The salaries of these tax collecting agents were
never being constant but varied with the increase or decrease in incentives according to their fixed
percentage. This incentive based salary became a source of all corruption and malpractices. All the
officers tried to collect maximum possible land revenue for the concern of their handsome salary. Small
land- holders were the main suffers from these malpractices. The malpractices of the settlement officers
hand in glove with the corrupt native officials of collecting machinery sharply increased the amount of
land revenue doubled the burden of peasantry naturally caused hatred, disaffection, and discontentment.
These malpractices and corruption together disastrously affected all the agricultural community but
peasantry at extreme extent. In that process, these collecting agents have gone through the exploitation
and oppression of peasantry gentry. The burden of peasantry had gone up to unbearable condition.
Naturally, peasants and other cultivating community got resented against the colonial administration of
East India Company because they felt that all the misery came due to their exploitative and oppressive
policies.
All the above factors in combined given birth to the malpractices, corruption, oppressiveness,
harshness in the procedure of land revenue collection. Even they adopted the torturous and coercive path
of land revenue collection. The mechanism of land revenue collection became the source of all evils in
all Mahalwari regions due to their corrupt settlement officers. It became a common practice among all
the tax collecting agents. Sometimes, the collection procedure was so torturous that it assumed the path
of violence and punishment. W.H Sleeman, in his travelogue Journey through the Oudh, mentioned
about the cases of tortures and violence prevailed in the land revenue collecting machinery in the North
Western Provinces & Oudh. Karl Marx, noted communist, given a vivid pictures of the cases of tortures
and coerciveness in one of his series of articles ‘On Colonialism’ entitled ‘Investigation of tortures in
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India’. How commonly the cases of coerciveness were prevailed could be understood by the following
statement of B. Chandra that ‘only in the Rohilkhand region of the North Western provinces, there were
as many as 237,388 cases of coercive collection appeared only during the eight years span of time i.e.,
1848- 56. There were various administrative and settlement reports of districts level which was full of
information mentioned about the cases of tortures and coerciveness throughout the region of the North
Western provinces. Most of the time, these cases of tortures and coerce became the means of
harassments and punishments given with floggings and rapes of peasant’s female members done by the
English settlement officers but often by the big zamindars and taluqdars. When the settlement officers
collected the heavy amount of revenue from the peasants then he got congratulated and appreciated for
their zeal, ability, and indefatigable labour.
The process of Commercialization of Indian agriculture also made the condition of peasants
worse and affected adversely. Commercialization of agriculture defined as the technique of cultivation
where peasants start producing primarily for sale in the market rather than to meet their own needs and
necessities of food. In broader sense, Commercialization was the transition process of pre-capitalist
agriculture and cultivation into capitalist modes of production. In general, it essentially a tools by which
specialization was promoted in agriculture and raised its productivity, could be unavoidable in an
industrializing nation but in British India it commenced as surprising element to support the British
industries and protect the Britain’s commercial and trading interest at the cost of India’s resource
exploitation at optimum possibilities. It took place with two concerns viz., first, to grow more and more
goods of commercial value, and second, to realize land revenue demand in cash. It facilitated by both
the demand and supply factors. The purpose of cultivation became market oriented now. The produce
of the agricultural field was now determined by new objective, that is sale, which drastically changed
the character of cultivation. The rental demand of government strictly in cash forced peasantry to grow
commercial crops. The other important reason for the enforcement of the commercialization was the
commencement of the industrial revolution in England. The British Colonial Empire forced peasants to
grow commercial crops like cotton, indigo, and jute etc. to meet the necessities of English industries
running in Birmingham and Manchester city.
The process of commercialization of Indian agriculture commenced by the ending year of 18 th
century but got pace only after the second half of the 19th century. However, it happened only according
to the will of imperial country not for the welfare of the colonies and their people, ultimately brought
poverty, Starvation and Famine like situation in India more especially in the region of Mahalwari. The
rising value of land and the expanding opportunities of trade for agricultural produce with the
implementation of free-trade concept definitely proved a big cause for the commencement of
commercialization of agriculture in India which attracted the investors outside the agrarian society.
There were various reasons for the transition of Indian agriculture towards commercialization like need
for cash, activities of the new emerging class of commercial middlemen or moneylending class,
Connectivity of village market with the world market, agrarian policies of the government, development
of roads and railways, two international events viz., American Civil War and the Opening of Suez Canal
etc.
However, the commercialization of Indian agriculture was not by the choice in India for
peasant progress and motivation but enforced for the maintenance and smooth running of English
industries in Birmingham and Manchester city. The commercialization of Indian agriculture was not a
natural process but an artificial one and that artificiality had much to do with the ‘dependence’ and
‘subordination’. The notion of ‘forced commercialization’ have been traced out first by the R.C Dutt in
his masterpiece work ‘The Economic History of India’, Volume-II; when he sorts out that how
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commercialization of agriculture adversely affected the ‘Balance of India’s trade. There were two
important reasons which prompted the farmer to produce crops for market…., first, to realize maximum
cash for the payment of the land revenue, second, to meet the debt claim of moneylender in whose hands
they subsequently fell.
The process of agricultural Commercialization decreases the production of food grains and that
made an obvious shortage of food grains. This situation naturally increases the prices of food grain
items. The less availability of food grain items made it dearer for the peasantry and other low status
agricultural population that directly affected the consumption capacity of them. The high prices of food
grain items forced the peasantry to live with the starvation and poverty. It increased the mortgage and
sale value of land which promoted land transfer in the region of Mahalwari at greater extent. It resulted
in the creation of middlemen and moneylender class who were ruthlessly exploited the Indian peasantry.
The negative effects of commercialization of Indian agriculture obviously were greater on Indian
peasantry than the positive one. Therefore, the commercialization of Indian agriculture in colonial rule
was typically an involuntary process not welcomed happily by the peasants. In the long term, it broken
the unity of village agriculture with handicrafts industries carried out by the village artisans.
The process of agricultural commercialization hastens the cases of land transfers from cultivating
class of peasants to non-cultivating class of moneylenders and urban merchants. This process bowed the
seed of inequality among the agricultural class and community. Commercialization of Indian agriculture
brought a situation from where the survival of peasants become very tough and they were continuously
exploited by Company Bahadur’s officials as well as by moneylending middle class. The exploitation
of peasants on double scale forced peasants to practice such an inhuman crime. The land revenue tax
demanded in cash in the Mahalwari region ultimately pressurised the peasants to produce the cash crops
scarce the food grain items. Scarcity of food grains made it costlier and dearer certainly brought a
starvation and famine like situation which drove peasants into a condition where subsistence became
tough definitely forced them to go for a sex- selective killing of their baby. With no wonder, they
selected new born girl baby to kill because daughter considered as the sign of disgrace, weakness,
mourns, and also a cause of heavy expenses upon his house in the future in contrast to the new born son
considered as a sign of strength, wealth, prosperity, status and dignity which brought rejoices in the
society.
The situation of agrarian depression from 1828 to early 1840s which Asia Siddiqui mentioned
in her work entitled “Agrarian changes in Northern Indian State, 1819-1833” was one of the important
factors behind the increases in the cases of female infanticide. She correlates this situation of Depression
with the shortage of food grains. She given a vivid and detailed account that how commercialization of
agriculture with agrarian depression brought man-made larger scale famines in the North- Western
Provinces region during the decades of 1820s and 1830s. This agrarian depression almost affected the
whole region of the North Western Provinces. This situation increased the prices of food grains and
multiplied the misery of peasants and other cultivating communities of the society and brought
starvation like situation in the region of North- Western Provinces definitely responsible for the
increases in the cases of female infanticide of sex- selective killing of girl baby.

Notes and References:

o Bengal Regulation XXI, 1795
o Bengal Regulation III, 1804
o Charles Raikes, Notes on the North Western Provinces of India, London, First Published 1858,
Reprinted 1957, pp. 8-9; Raikes was the collector of Mainpuri during the course of the Revolt of
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1857.
o Letters of Lord William Bentinck to the Board of Revenue, 7th April, 1831.
o Letter to Lord Curzon from R. C. Dutt, Dated the 12th May 1900, submitted a remarks on the land
settlements in Northern-India, Proceedings No. 23, Serial No. 5.
o Article, Calcutta Review, 1841, no. 2 by R. Montgomery, magistrate of Allahabad
o Siddiqui, Asia, Agrarian Change in Northern Indian State: Uttar Pradesh, 1819 -1833, Oxford at
Clarendon Press, London, 1973.
o Connell, C. J., Land Revenue Policy: Northern India, Neeraj Publishing
o House, New Delhi, 1976.
o Gupta, S. C., Agrarian Relation and Early British Rule in India: A Case Study of Ceded and
Conquered Provinces, (Uttar Pradesh), 1801-1833, Asia Publishing House, Calcutta & New
Delhi, 1963.
o K. Marx, Investigation of Tortures in India, New York Daily Tribune, September 21, 1857,
London, in Marx on Colonialism, Second Impression, Foreign Language Publishing House,
Moscow, 1959- 60, pp. 151-160
o Chandra, B., India’s struggle for Independence 1857-1947, Penguin Books,New Delhi, 1988
o W. H. Sleeman, Journey through the Kingdom of Oudh, 1849-50, Vol. I, Helicon Publication,
Lucknow, First Published 1858, Reprinted 1989, pp. 56-59
o S. S. M. Desai, Economic History of India, Himalaya Publishing House, Bombay, 1982,
o K. Chakraborty, Decolonizing the Revolt of 1857, Readers Service, Kolkata, 2007
o B. B Chaudhari, ‘The Process of Agricultural Commercialization in Eastern India during British
Rule’, in Peter Robb (ed.), Meaning of Agriculture: Essays in South Asian History, Oxford
University Press, New Delhi, 1996.
o Report on the Moral and Material Progress of India, 1931- 32, Government of India Press,
Calcutta,1932.
o Irfan Habib, ‘The Coming of 1857’, in Shireen Moosvi (ed.), Facets of the Great Revolt 1857,
Tulika Books, New Delhi, 2008
o ………, Indian Economy, 1858 -1914, History of India, Peoples Series, No. 28, Tulika Books,
New Delhi, 2006.
o ………, Essays in Indian History: Towards a Marxist Perception, Tulika Books, New Delhi, First
Published 1995, Reprinted 1997

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