21 January 2016

zamindar or zemindar

[zuh-meen-dahr]

noun

1. (in British India) a landlord required to pay a land tax to the government.
2. (in Mogul India) a collector of farm revenue, who paid a fixed sum on the district assigned to him.

Origin of zamindar

Hindi, Persian

1675-1685; Hindi < Persian zamīndār landholder, equivalent to zamīn earth, land + -dār holding, holder

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for zamindar

Historical Examples

Clearly he had not told him what Ahmed had said of the capture of the English girl by a zamindar.
Barclay of the Guides
Herbert Strang

The zamindar was conspicuous and useful; the village community and the cultivating ryot did not force themselves into notice.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 4
Various

Anagram

ram in adz

Today’s quote

I intend to do what little one can do to awaken the public conscience, and in the meantime I am not frightened by your menaces.

– Upton Sinclair

On this day

21 January – Squirrel Appreciation Day.

21 January – National Hug Day.

21 January 1863 – State funeral held in Melbourne for Australian explorers, Burke and Wills, who had died in June or July of 1861. 40,000 spectators lined the streets for the funeral procession as it travelled to the Melbourne General Cemetery.

21 January 1924 – death of Vladimir Lenin, Russian communist revolutionary and political leader. He served as Russian leader from 1917 to 1924 and concurrently as Premier of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Born 22 April 1870.

21 January 1950 – death of George Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair), Democratic Socialist and English author of works such as ‘Nineteen-Eighty Four‘, ‘Animal Farm‘, and ‘Homage to Catalonia‘. Born 25 June 1903.

21 January 1992 – death of Eddie Mabo. Campaigner for indigenous land rights in the Torres Strait. Successfully challenged the concept of ‘terra nullius‘, resulting in indigenous ownership of land in Australia to be recognised. Born 29 June 2014.