Singranatore Family - Origins

Origins

Before the Mughals, the Indian Aristocracy was used to collecting and retaining revenue from land and production. They were initially officials employed by the Mughals to collect taxes from Ryots (peasants). The mughals introduced new officials and courtiers named Zaamindaars (Persian زمین Zamīn, "earth/land", and the common suffix دار -dār, "-holder") to divert the revenue back to the Imperial Capital at Delhi. Although zamindaris were allowed to be held hereditarily, the holders were not considered to be the proprietors of their estates. Unlike the autonomous or frontier chiefs, the hereditary status of the zamindar class was circumscribed by the Mughal Emperors, and the heir depended to a certain extent on the pleasure of the sovereign.

Heirs were set by descent or a times even adoption by religious laws. Under the British Empire, the zamindars were to be subordinate to The Crown and not act as hereditary lords, but at times family politics was at the heart of naming an heir. At times, a cousin could be named an heir with closer family relatives present; even a lawfully wedded wife could inherit the zamindari if the ruling zamindar named her as an heir. Although the Nawab Murshid Quli Khan made the zamindars the new aristocrats out of the old Jagirdars (nobleman), it was Lord Cornwalis who made the distinction hereditary in 1793.