Deshmukh

Deshmukh (Marathi: देशमुख) or Dēśamukh is a historical title conferred to the rulers of a Dēśamukhi. It is also a surname native to the Indian state of Maharashtra and Karnataka.[1]

Etymology

In Marathi, Desh means land, country and mukh means head or chief; thus, deshmukh means "the head" of a district.[2]

Deshmukh as a title

Local office

Deshmukh was a historical title given to a person who was granted a territory of land, in Maharashtra, Northern Karnataka, Telangana, Chhattisgarh. The granted territory was usually referred to as the Dēśamukhi. The deshmukh was in effect the ruler of the territory, as he was entitled to a portion of the collected taxes. It was also his duty to maintain the basic services in the territory, such as police and judicial duties. It was typically a hereditary system. The title of Deshmukh provided the titled family with revenues from the area and the responsibility to keep the order.[3][4]

The Deshmukh system was abolished after the independence of India in 1947, when the government confiscated most of the land of the Deshmukhs. Some families, however, maintain their status as real estate barons, most notably in Mumbai, with hold over properties that were not taken away.

It was similar in many respects to the Zamindar and Jagir systems in India, and can be considered as a feudal system. Typically taxes collected were to be distributed fairly and occasionally deshmukhs participated in Vedic rituals in which they redistributed all material possessions to the people. However, the title Deshmukh should not be associated to a particular religion or caste. Deshmukhis were granted by the Deccan sultanates, Mughal emperors, Nizams of Hyderabad and other Muslim rulers and by Maratha emperors (Chhatrapatis) to Deshastha Brahmins[5][6], Chitpavan Brahmins, Marathas, Lingayats, Reddys CKPs, Jains and Muslims.[7][8] Although majority of them belongs to Maratha, Deshastha, and Chitpavan communities especially in Maharashtra.[9][10]


Inukonda Thirumali of Telangana describes the role of Deshmukhs:[13]

They were primarily revenue collectors; and when (magisterial and judicial) responsibilities were added to their function they became deshmukhs, chiefs of the parganas. Gradually, each of these assignments tended to become a watan i e, hereditary lease. Despite changes in the political authority at the top, this institution survived, since no ruler from above wished to risk disturbing local administration, headed by village officials. This institution was cleeply entrenched in the region with local support and structured in organized 'community' life. The deshmukhs presided over meetings of the pargana community known as 'got sahba' [sic]['got sabha'] which decided and confirmed claims over inheritance, purchase and transfer of watans. The deshmukhs by virtue of local sanction and consensus could not be easily displaced from above.

Barry Pavier describes Deshmukhs:[14]

These were, in the 1940s, the layer of the very large landowners in Telangana. They owned from 2,000-3,000 acres at the lower end to 160,000 acres (650 km2) at the upper scale.The reforms abandoned the previous practice, of auctioning off the revenue collection in the government-administered areas to farmers, in favour of direct revenue collection by the State. The 'revenue farmers' were given land in compensation. Most of them availed of the opportunity to seize as much of the best land as they could. They also received a pension. The Deshmukh's were thus given a dominant position in the rural economy which they proceeded resolutely to strengthen during the succeeding decades.

Writing in the nineteenth century, Major W. H. Skyes, the statistical reporter to the Government of Bombay, described the Deshmukh:[15]

The Desmukhs were, no doubt, originally appointed by Government, and they possessed all the above advantages, on the tenure of collecting and being responsible for the revenue, for superintending the cultivation and police of their districts, and carrying into effect all orders of Government. They were, in fact, to a district what a Patil is to a village; in short, were charged with its whole Government.

Notables

Most notables from modern period with this surname are social activists or politicians.


Notes

  1. ↑ "Deshmukh Family History". Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press. Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press. 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  2. ↑ J. G. Duff, A history of Mahratta Vol 1, p. 39
  3. ↑ S.C.Dube. Indian Village. Routledge Publications. p. contents. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  4. ↑ Pranay Gupte. Healer: Dr Prathap Chandra and the Transformation of India. Penguin UK. p. Contents. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  5. ↑ Gregory Naik (2000). Understanding Our Fellow Pilgrims. Gujarat Sahitya Prakash. p. 66. ISBN 9788187886105.
  6. ↑ Stewart Gordon (1993). The Marathas 1600-1818, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 27. ISBN 9780521268837.
  7. ↑ Gordon, Stewart. The Marathas 1600-1818, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 27. ISBN 0521033160.
  8. ↑ Kumar Suresh Singh (1998). India's Communities, Volume 5. Oxford University press. p. 2082.
  9. ↑ Francine R. Frankel, M. S. A. Rao (1989). Dominance and state power in modern India: decline of a social order. Oxford University Press. p. 135.
  10. ↑ Christophe Jaffrelot (2006). Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste. Orient Blackswan. p. 10. ISBN 9788178241562.
  11. ↑ Appasaheb Ganapatrao Pawar. Maratha History Seminar, May 28-31, 1970: papers. Shivaji University. p. 31. Retrieved 1 February 2008.
  12. ↑ Stewart Gordon (1993). The Marathas 1600-1818, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 50-53. ISBN 9780521268837.
  13. ↑ Thirumali, pp top47
  14. ↑ Pavier, pp1413
  15. ↑ Report of Land Tenures of the Dekkan, by Major W. H. Skyes, Statistical Reporter to the Government of Bombay, Chapter VII pg9, Parliamentary Papers, Great Britain Parliament, House of Commons, HMSO 1866
  16. ↑ Meera Kosambi. Gender, Culture, and Performance: Marathi Theatre and Cinema before Independence. p. 341.

References

  • Dora and Gadi: Manifestation of Landlord Domination in Telangana, I. Thirumali, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 27, No. 9 (Feb. 29, 1992), pp. 477–482
  • Telangana Movement Revisited, K. Balagopal, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 18, No. 18 (Apr. 30, 1983), pp. 709–712
  • The Imperial Crisis in the Deccan, J. F. Richards, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Feb., 1976), pp. 237–256
  • The Telangana Armed Struggle, Barry Pavier, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 9, No. 32/34, Special Number (Aug., 1974), pp. 1413+1417-1420
  • Anatomy of Rebellion, Claude Emerson Welch, SUNY Press, 1980 ISBN 0-87395-441-6, ISBN 978-0-87395-441-9
  • Report of Land Tenures of the Dekkan, by Major W. H. Skyes, Statistical Reporter to the Government of Bombay, Chapter VII pg9, Parliamentary Papers, Great Britain Parliament, House of Commons, HMSO 1866
  • Indian Village, S. C. Dube, Morris Edward Opler, Routledge, 2003, pp. 45
  • The Landed Gentry of the Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Hugh Gray in Elites in South Asia, eds Edmund Leach and S.N. Mukherjee, Cambridge University Press, 1970
  • Telangana People's Struggle and Its Lessons, P. Sundarayya, Foundation Books, 2006
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