Jajmani system

Jajmani System: It was a reciprocal system of prescribed rights and obligations between specific rural families. Under this system jajmani families, generally the landowners, received goods and services from the kamin families of village artisans and servants, and made customary payments to them. It was characteristic of medieval India’s rural economy though with several regional variations. It was a system primarily oriented towards subsistence production and customary distribution of the produce rather than to production for the market. An important economic rationale for its prevalence and persistence seems to be the security it provided against the frequent famines.