The Ryotwari and Mahalwari systems were land-revenue settlements of British India: under Ryotwari, revenue was fixed directly with individual cultivators (ryots), mainly in Madras and Bombay; under Mahalwari, it was fixed with village communities or estates (mahals), mainly in the North-Western Provinces, Punjab and parts of central India.
After the Permanent Settlement of 1793 in Bengal, Company officials debated whether fixing revenue for ever with zamindars was wise. In the south, where the Company acquired territory after the wars with Mysore, there were few large zamindars of the Bengal type. Alexander Read and later Thomas Munro, who became Governor of Madras in 1820, argued for settling directly with the cultivator, which they believed matched local tradition, removed intermediaries and gave the state a share in rising agricultural values.
In the north, after the conquest of territories in the Ganga–Yamuna Doab and beyond, officials found that village communities often held land jointly and shared responsibility for revenue. Holt Mackenzie proposed in 1819–22 that settlements be made with the village or estate as a whole, through its headman or lambardar. Early assessments were very heavy and complicated; the system was simplified in 1833, when surveys and assessment of the average produce of fields were adopted, and was later extended to Punjab.
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