Stephen Michael Lyon, UKC
Written in Bhalot, Punjab, Pakistan, March 1999.
In the absence of a strong state presence in villages in Pakistan zamindars fulfil the role of social security, city hall, police, judges and general representatives of villagers. Not all zamindars assume this role enthusiasticly-- some resent the constant demands for help imposed on them, others embrace the opportunity to extend their influence and earn the reputation of someone who 'does good izzat' (loosely translated- honour). In addition to following zamindars around and watching what they do or do not do for others, I ask villagers if and why they go to zamindars for help.
I have asked the following questions (or variants) to a semi-random1 selection of people in the village. I asked some people whose answers I felt I already knew (those whose affiliation with a particular zamindar are very obvious) as well as people whose connection to any zamindar was unknown to me.
1) When was the last time you went to a zamindar for help?
2) Which zamindar? Do you always go to this zamindar? If not why did you go to him this time?
3) If it's not too private, what was the problem?
4) How did the zamindar deal with the problem?
5) Did he give you tea? (See March Note #6)
The last question may seem a bit odd (Did the zamindar give you tea?) but it is not so odd in the Punjabi context (I would venture to say in the South Asian context). Giving of tea is not simply a friendly gesture-- it is a duty for the host to provide tea to his guests and most times it is the duty of the guest to accept. The absence of the offer says something about the nature of the relationship. One zamindar explained to me that he does not give tea to his labourers when they come for help because he does not consider them 'guests'. This same zamindar does give tea however to every person whom he considers a guest, no matter how rich or poor. By asking this question I am indirectly trying to determine how the zamindar considers the person asking for help-- as a 'guest' (me'hman/mezman) or as hired help.
Most people do make use of zamindar 'services' (for lack of a better word). They
may not do so directly but through a relative they may end up having their problems
solved by a zamindar (or ignored by a zamindar depending on the case). The most frequent
reason for going to a zamindar was for food during the winter months when flour is
scarce. Many of the service people in the village (barbers, cobblers, field labourers)
depend very much on zamindar food distribution from late January to May. In exchange
they do not recieve money from zamindars for their labour. The amount of food given
varies but 40-60 kilos each of wheat flour and corn flour for a family seems to be
typical (family here meaning all those persons eating from one hearth). After food
the problems seem to be punctual depending on need: broken tractors, letters need
to be written, phone calls need to be made, a family member is ill, someone is in
trouble with the police, someone's son or nephew is starting to smoke hash and they
want the zamindars to give him work so he will not be allowed to spend all his day
getting stoned. In addition to these general problems there are specific problems
associated with the sharecroppers of individual zamindars: they need fertilizer or
seed or use of the tractor or extra manpower.
The choice of zamindar does not necessarily indicate a long term relationship or strong bonds of loyalty between the zamindar and the person requesting aid. Many people from outside Bhalot come to Bhaloti zamindars for help-- though their long term loyalties lie with other zamindars they know that for their particular request one of the Bhaloti Maliks is better placed to deal with the problem. In one case a driver who was having a problem with a zamindar from a neighbouring village (actually with one of the hired men of the zamindar). There had been a fight and one of the men had been injured. The zamindar of this village filed a First Incidence Report (FIR) with the police. In Pakistan an FIR is a serious matter-- not all cases merit an FIR. Although this man had no connection to Bhalot he guessed that the top zamindar in Bhalot was the man best placed to try and convince this neighbouring zamindar to drop the charges. He did not simply come on his own and request help however, he first called on a member of his biraderi (patrilineage) who does have a connection to Bhalot and made his request through his biraderi member. In this case the request was not made directly to the zamindar who could effect a result but rather his nephew. The nephew made the decision of whether or not to refer it to his uncle (his mamou-- maternal uncle) and the uncle made the final decision of whether or not to act. Cases like this are more problematic for the zamindars since they do not know the people involved well. They must rely on the vouchsafe of the person who introduces them. In this case the biraderi member is well respected so his case was treated seriously (I do not know what action was taken ultimately but I know that the nephew listened very carefully to the entire case and later discussed it with his uncle). Although there is no formal payment for this kind of service it is the beginning of a relationship between that man and Bhaloti Maliks. They may never get anything in return for helping this man other than proving their reputation as 'honourable' men. They may however someday require some service from this man. He is not obliged to do anything for them but his biraderi member will place a lot of pressure on him to do so-- his own position would be weakened since the favour was indirectly for him as much as for the man in trouble. Most likely the favour will be repayed by the biraderi member associated with the village through his labour.
In other cases the choice of zamindar outside one's own village is logical for other reasons. The dhoks (hamlets) scattered throughout the Punjabi are administratively attached to particular villages but this attachment seems mostly fictive-- involving only the name. There are some dhoks very close to Bhalot which are technically part of a neighbouring village but residents come to Bhalot for financial help and work. Their contacts with the neighbouring village zamindars are minimal. The neighbouring village also has a very different political structure-- there is not one dominant family and the disputes there are often far more violent, so poor people often choose (wisely in my opinion) to come to Bhalot for help rather than ally themselves with someone who may potentially ask them to participate in a feud. One man from a neighbouring village comes to Bhaloti Maliks because his own family land neighbours the land of a Bhalot zamindar. This is the zamindar he knows the best since they often come into casual contact while working their lands. He also goes to zamindars from his own village but since most of his problems revolve around his own land the Bhaloti Malik knows the situation better.
There is an additional reason an individual may choose to come to a Bhaloti Malik rather than a neighbouring zamindar. By all accounts Bhalot has some of the most unified and strongest zamindars in the tehsil (subdivision of the District). Conversations with zamindars and non-zamindars from neighbouring villages all lead me to believe that Bhaloti Maliks are the most paternalistic zamindars in the region. In exchange for more control over the residents of Bhalot they reportedly offer more care. They encourage dependency in a way that neighbouring zamindars reportedly do not (see March Note #14). Consequently it may be that someone coming to Bhalot for help may believe that his own village zamindars would refuse to help him or her (see below for example of a woman seeking help2).
Zamindar business hours seem never to end. I have seen a parade of people coming to see various zamindars until midnight and starting at 7:00 in the morning. They come by unannounced at all hours of the day and night. Sometimes they must wait a long time (two or three days) before they get to speak to the zamindar. Depending on who is bringing them they may get an immediate audience. For example if a close family member brings someone requiring help then that person will be seen right away. In the case of the occasional malangs (poor people who are thought to be close to God-- they renounce mny of the rules of this world), they can wait for days. I have never seen one turned away without receiving some cash and clothing and during their wait they are given a charpai to sleep on and food and tea. Many people in the village have now seen me enough to know that I am a good friend of the zamindars in this village so they will often come to my room and wait with me for a zamindar to show up (though I think I have mostly persuaded them NOT to do this before 10:00 in the morning). They are always very courteous when they do this and it is useful because I get a preview of the request to be made. I do not intervene on anyone's behalf however (though I am often asked to do so), for the simple reason that I do not know these people well enough.
The key to zamindar intervention/aid seems to be that zamindars are very intimate with villagers. Those zamindars who embrace this role know almost everyone in the village (from small children to old people-- both men and women). While they do not know everyone's name they generally are able to give some relationship of the person (particularly the children-- they do not know children's names but they know their father's, grandfather's or paternal uncle's name). For adults if they do not know the name then they certainly know a nickname or an occupation. They are also adept at not revealing that they do not know the name-- through the use of a flattering honorific such as 'ustad-ji' (respected teacher-- can be used for anyone who teaches his occupation to others, barbers, tailors and in particular drivers). As a result of this intimacy, when a local person finally comes to a zamindar for help the zamindars generally have already heard rumours about the problem. They know which people tend to tell the truth and which people often bend the truth. They are not infallible of course. One case where a zamindar discovered he had been tricked involved a young man arrested for possesion of hashish. The young man's mother went to the zamindar and swore her son had only been with smokers of hashish but never touched it himself. The zamindar did not know the young man well since he normally resides outside the village but he knew the mother to be an honourable woman. He intervened and requested the police drop the charges against the man (police generally tend to trust a zamindar's suggestions since they do know their villagers very well). The man was freed and then the zamindar began hearing the rumours about the young man. This zamindar told me that he had been reposnsible for freeing one of the biggest hashish dealers in the area. He told me he reported his mistake to the police so that the next time they catch the man they will not allow themselves to be fooled by an otherwise honourable mother (this zamindar told me he held no ill will towards the mother-- she loves her son and if one is going to lie then one should do it for one's children).
Villagers seem to look on zamindars with some ambiguity. Zamindars are a resource available to them in a way that town halls and police are a resource to Europeans and North Americans. Like us, when the town hall officials or the police do exactly what we want we praise them and are happy to have them around. When they hassle us and make us fill in endless paperwork or stop our vehicles to check our tax and vehicle registration we complain. Non-zamindars have a very similar way of relating to strong zamindars (or as one zamindar told me 'sharif' zamindars)-- when they get people out of trouble, or provide the financial assistance desired people praise the zamindars. When zamindars decide that someone has had enough help and will receive no more (which sometimes happens) then non-zamindars (and even some other zamindars) complain. Although they fill the role of town halls and community administration they remain private individuals and there is no formal mechanism for forcing them to help or intervene in any individual case. In Bhalot the key motiviating factor, for the moment, seems to to lie in the long term ambitions of individual zamindars. Those that are ambitious seek to create as many alliances as possible from all classes of people and are therefore more receptive to requests for help. Those that have few or minimal 'political'3 ambitions are decidedly less co-operative.
For the moment this topic is less problematic than I would have imagined back in the University of Kent. The problems that are brought to zamindars tend to be well known by many people in the area. Keeping them secret is therefore not an issue so discussing them with me or having me watch the process has thus far not seemed to disturb anyone. I say this with some caution as when I am an observor of real cases I am there in the guise 'guest' of a zamindar. I will not go into the respect in which people here hold guests but suffice it to say they find it very difficult to directly refuse even the most inconvenient request from a guest (though there are ways of promising to fulfil a request and somehow never getting around to it). In discussion with non-zamindars I have asked repeatedly if my questions offend or invade people and have consistently been told no4. As always I welcome any advice or comments on any aspect of this topic. I will continue to follow zamindars from Bhalot and other villages around and as well as ask non-zamindars for more details on their interactions with the landlords.
1. I did not attempt to get a truly random sample. These questions are part of my general conversation topic with all poor villagers when there are no zamindars around. I do not push zamindars away when speaking to people so the most common place for these conversations is the tea shop and the barber shop where zamindars do not habitually go. As a result this cannot be said to be a truly random sample-- there is a deifinite pattern of who frequents the tea shop and the barber shop. I have also asked these questions in different Maliks' dhéra, or hujra, but if someone frequently hangs out in a particular Malik's dhéra there is a good chance that he will turn to that Malik for help.
2. I have never seen a woman go directly to a zamindar but have heard of enough cases to know that women do on occasion seek zamindar help.
3. 'Political' in the sense of influential-- whether in trying for elected or appointed posts or simply seeking to be a man of great respect and izzat who is able to persuade others to act according to his will.
4. I have been told on occasion that my questions were offensive or inappropriate (see weekly update Nine) so it is reasonable to assume that inquiring into zamindar intervention cases has not caused a problem.
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