At the end of the 18^th century, zamindars were in crisis and jotedars were consolidating their position in the villages. These jotedars were a group of rich peasants who controlled vast areas of land. Apart from that that controlled both local trade and moneylending.

They lived in the villages, and therefore had huge influence on villagers. They were able to mobilise ryots to delay payments of revenue to the zamindars. Due to these reasons some jotedars became so rich that they even purchased land when the estates of zamindars were being auctioned.