Vatandar

Vatandar, or Watandar is a title of the Koli[1] caste meaning "landholder Kolis".[2] The title was given to landowners, particularly in Maharashtra.[1]

Vatandar
वतनदार
Title of Koli caste
Ethnicity
Location
Varna
  • Warrior
Parent tribe
  • Mahadev Koli
Demonym
  • Koli
Language
Religion

The vatandar generally owned a plot of land or vatan (or watan) worked by the local people, who were dependent on the vatandar for their subsistence. In some cases, vatan land and the title vatandar were awarded to an individual by a higher ruler as reward for meritorious service.

The grant of a watan plot differed from the grant of an inam and a person might hold either or both. While a watan was a hereditary rent-free grant to a village resident in lieu of services that the resident was expected to perform for the village on an ongoing basis, an inam was granted in recognition of past service to the state, usually but not always in relation to the military. A watan grant continued for as long as its holder had the confidence of the village community, whilst an inam grant, which might also take the form of a share of village land revenues, was held in perpetuity.[3]

See also

References
  1. Guha, Sumit (2007-12-24). Environment & Ethnicity In India:1200-1991. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-521-05592-5. In 1763-4 uprisings in the vicinity of Rajmachi in the Maval district were serious enough for troops to be despatched there. Meanwhile, trouble was also brewing at Purandhar. The garrison there had developed a close attachment to Gopikabai and her son Madhavrao - a claimant to the Peshwaship, who was temporarily displaced from power by his uncle Raghunathrao in 1762. The latter decided to tighten his hold on the government, and placed two of his adherents - Sakharam pant and Abha Purandare - in charge of Sinhagad and Purandhar respectively. But the Kolis were Watandars, and refused to accept their new commander
  2. Maharashtra State Gazetteers: Akola. New Delhi: Director of Government Printing, Stationery and Publications, Maharashtra State. 1977. p. 239. Watandars are found in Jalgaon tahsil in Khandesh, doing village service but superior to Mahars. When a festival in honour of Mahadeva is held at Mahabaleshwar, the feast begins by food being set before two Watandar Kolis
  3. Kulkarni, A. R. (2000). "The Mahar Watan: A Historical Perspective". In Kosambi, Meera (ed.). Intersections: Socio-Cultural Trends in Maharashtra. London: Sangam. pp. 121–140. ISBN 978-0863118241. Retrieved 13 December 2016.

Further reading
  • The State and the Village Community in Medieval Maharashtra (Seventeenth-Eighteenth Century AD). Mily Roy Anand. New Delhi, Rajat, 2005, pp. vii, 119, ISBN 81-7880-156-6.
  • Government of Maharashtra Gazetteer "Ahmadnagar Collector − general administration".
  • Medieval Indian History. Krishnaji Nageshrao Chitnis. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2003 ISBN 81-7156-062-8; ISBN 978-81-7156-062-2.
  • Administrative System of the Marathas. Surendra Nath Sen, Published by K. P. Bagchi, 1976, pp. 18, 21, 141
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