Jajmani system was a very important feature of Indian Villages. The term Jajmani refers to the owner or recipient of specialized services and the Jajmani refers to the relationship. In short, the Jajmani system is a system of economic, social and ritual ties among different caste groups in a village. Under this system, a few castes are considered patrons and others are service providers.
The service castes provide services to the land owning communities and in return the latter pay in cash and kind. The patron castes are the land owning upper castes such as Rajput, Bhumihars, Jats, Ramma, Hingayat, Patel in Gujarat, and Reddy in Andhra Pradesh and so on. The service castes are Brahmins, barber, carpenter, blacksmith, goldsmith, leather worker, etc.
The Jajmani arrangement essentially operates at family level. A Rajput family has its Jajmani relations with one family each from Brahmin, Barber and Carpenter, etc.
These castes depend upon their patrons for their livelihood. The relation between the patron castes and clients usually, continues from generation to generation. This kind of social contract between communities helped in the smooth running of the social affairs of a particular community.