Jajmani system is a system of traditional occupational obligation. Castes in early Inida were economically interdependent on one another. The traditional specialized occupation of a villager followed the specialization assigned to his caste. The specialization of occupation led to the exchange of services in the village society. This relationship between the ‘servicing’ and the ‘served’ castes was not contractual, individual, impersonal, temporary or limited but it was caste-oriented, long-termed and broadly supportive. This system in which the durable relation between a landowning family and the landless families that supply them with goods and services is called the Jajmani system. The patrons are the families of clean castes while the suppliers of services are the families of lower and unclean castes. The term jajman originally referred to the client for whom a Brahmin priest performed rituals, but later on it came to be referred to the patron or recipient of specialized services.
