Feudalism in Pakistan: Myth or Reality/Challenges to Feudalism

Abstract

Feudalism is a system of landownership by superior classes in special relation to the royal or state power. Its a system of receiving land from a king and in return working and fighting for him. The feudal system revolves not around the matriarchal system but around the patriarchal system of family in which the male head takes care of the family, which is commonly a large joint family, and looks after the land he owns in inheritance. Feudalism in Pakistan, which is a descendent of Indian feudalism, has its roots and characteristics entrenched in local history (such as the influence and intent of invaders) and society (such as the social structure), though there might be certain similarities between Medieval Europe and Medieval India in the realm of feudalism. Land reforms are a method to reallocate rights to distribute land more equitably. In Pakistan, land reforms introduced in 1959 made the ceiling of ownership at 500 acres of irrigated land and 1000 acres of non-irrigated land or 36.000 produce index units. The paper examines the decline of feudalism in Pakistan and also discusses the major challenges to feudalism in India and Pakistan.