Class 12 NCERT History Chapter 8

Peasants, Zamindars and the State Agrarian

Society and the Mughal Empire
• Raiyat: It is used to denote a peasant in Indo-Persian sources.

• Hasil: It was the actual amount of revenue collected.

• Khud-kashta Peasants: The peasants who were the residents of the

village in which they had their lands
• .
• Pahi-kashta: The peasants who generally belonged to another village.

• Shroff: A money changer who also acts as a banker

• Amin: The offi cials that were responsible for imperial regulations.

• Pargana: An administrative subdivision.

• Jama: The assessed amount and to be collected as revenue. Instagram

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Key concepts

• Peasants and agricultural production – Geographical diversity

• Looking for sources – Historical Epic and Records, Important chronicles –
Ain-i-Akbari, Records from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
• Peasants and their lands – cultivation was based on the principle of
individual ownership.
• Irrigation and Technology – Expansion of agriculture, monsoon remained
the backbone of Indian agriculture, artifi cial system of irrigation had to be
devised, agriculture often harnessed cattle energy.
• An abundance of crops – two major crops – the kharif and the rabi, new
crops came from different parts of the world.
• The village community. Caste and the rural milieu – Rajputs are mentioned
as peasants.
• Panchayats and headman – The panchayats was usually a heterogeneous
body; the headman was chosen through the consensus of the village elders,
functions of the panchayat. Village artisans.
• The existence of substantial members of artisans. A little republic – deep
inequities based on caste and gender distinctions.
• Women in agrarian society – women’s role in the production process, high
mortality rates among women, women petitioned to the panchayat, Hindu
and Muslim women inherited zamindaris. Instagram
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• Forest and tribes -Beyond settled villages, livelihood came from the
gathering of forest produce, hunting and shifting agriculture, jungles
provided a good defence. Inroads into forests – the state required elephants
for the army, hunting expeditions by the Mughals, the spread of commercial
agriculture.

• During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries about 85 percent of the

population of India lived in its villages. Both peasants and landed elites were
involved in agricultural production claimed rights to a share of the produce.
This created relationships of cooperation, competition and conflict among
them.

• The basic unit of agricultural society was the village, inhabited by peasants
who performed the manifold seasonal tasks that made up agricultural
production throughout the year tilling the soil, sowing seeds, harvesting the
crop when it was ripe.

• The panchayat was headman known as muqaddam or mandal.

• Documents from Western India – Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra –

Record petitions sent by women to the village panchayat, seeking redress
and justice. Instagram
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• The Zamindars held extensive personal lands termed milkiyat, meaning property.
Milkiyat lands were cultivated for the private use of zamindars, often with the help of
hired or servile labour.

• Zamindars also derived their power form the fact that they could often collect revenue
on behalf of the state, a service for which they were compensated financially.

• Both cultivated and cultivable lands were measured in each province. The Ain compiled
the aggregates of such lands during Akbar’s rule. Efforts to measures lands continued
under subsequent emperors. For instance in 1665, Aurangzeb expressly instructed his
revenue of officials to prepare annual records of the number of cultivators in each
village.

• The testimony of an Italian traveler, Giovanni Careri, who passed through India c, 1690,
provides a graphic account about the way silver traveled across the globe to reach
India.

• The Ain is made up of five books (daftars) of which the first three books describe the
administration.

• The Ain completely department from this tradition as it recorded information about the
empire and the people of India, and the people of India, and thus constitutes a
benchmark for studying India at the turn of the seventeenth century.
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The Village Community
1. Apart from individual ownership, lands belonged to a collective village community as
far as many aspects of their social existence were concerned. There were three
constituents of this community – the cultivators, the panchayat, and the village
headman (muqaddam or mandal).
2. Distinctions: Deep inequities on the basis of caste and other castelike distinctions
meant that the cultivators were a highly heterogeneous group. Like- despite the
abundance of cultivable land, certain caste groups were assigned menial tasks.
One who tilled the land was known as menials or agricultural labourers (majur). In
Muslim communities menials like the halalkhoran (scavengers) were housed outside
the boundaries of the village.
3. There was a direct correlation between caste, poverty and social status at the lower
strata of society.
4. In a manual from seventeenth century Marwar, Rajputs are mentioned as peasants,
sharing the same space with Jats, who were accorded a lower status in the caste
hierarchy.
5. Castes such as the Ahirs, Gujars and Malis rose in the hierarchy because of the
profitability of cattle rearing and horticulture.
6. Headman: The village panchayat was an assembly of elders headed by a headman
known as muqaddam or mandal.
7. The headmen held office as long as they enjoyed the confidence of the village elders,
failing which they could be dismissed by them.
8. The panchayat derived its funds from contributions made by individuals to a common
financial pool. Instagram
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Women in Agrarian Society
1. Women and men had to work shoulder to shoulder in the fields, so a
gendered segregation between the home (for women) and the world
(for men) was not possible in this context. But biases related to
women’s biological functions did continue.
2. Artisanal tasks such as spinning yarn, sifting and kneading clay for
pottery, and embroidery were among the many aspects of production
dependent on female labour.
3. Women were considered an important resource in agrarian society also
because they were child bearers in a society dependent on labour.
4. Marriages in many rural communities required the payment of bride-
price rather than dowry to the bride’s family.
5. According to established social norms, the household was headed by a
male. Thus women were kept under strict control by the male members
of the family and the community.
6. Amongst the landed gentry, women had the right to inherit
property. Women zamindars were known in eighteenth-century Bengal.
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Forests and Tribes
1. Apart from the intensively cultivated lands, India had huge swathes of
forests – dense forest (jangal) or scrubland (kharbandi) – existed all
over eastern India, central India, northern India (including the Terai on
the Indo-Nepal border), Jharkhand, and in peninsular India down the
Western Ghats and the Deccan plateau.
2. Forest dwellers were termed jangli as their livelihood came from the
gathering of forest produce, hunting and shifting agriculture. These
activities were largely season specific.
3. Regular hunting expeditions enabled the emperors to travel across the
extensive territories of his empire and personally attend to the
grievances of its inhabitants.
4. The spread of commercial agriculture was an important external factor
that impinged on the lives of the forest-dwellers.
5. Elephants were also captured and sold.
6. Social factors too wrought changes in the lives of forest dwellers. Like
the “big men” of the village community, tribes also had their chieftains.
7. New cultural influences also began to penetrate into forested zones.
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The Zamindars
1. The zamindars were a class of people in the countryside that lived
off agriculture but did not participate directly in the processes of
agricultural production.
2. They were landed proprietors who also enjoyed certain social and
economic privileges by virtue of their superior status in rural society.
3. The zamindars held extensive personal lands termed milkiyat,
meaning property.
4. Zamindars also derived their power from the fact that they could
often collect revenue on behalf of the state.
5. Most zamindars had fortresses (qilachas) as well as an armed
contingent comprising units of cavalry, artillery and infantry.
6. Zamindars spearheaded the colonisation of agricultural land, and
helped in settling cultivators by providing them with the means of
cultivation, including cash loans.
7. Although there can be little doubt that zamindars were an
exploitative class, their relationship with the peasantry had an
element of reciprocity, paternalism and patronage. Instagram
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Land Revenue System
1. Revenue from the land was the economic mainstay of the
Mughal Empire.
2. This apparatus included the office (daftar) of the diwan who
was responsible for supervising the fiscal system of the
empire.
3. The land revenue arrangements consisted of two stages –
first, assessment and then actual collection.
4. The jama was the amount assessed, as opposed to hasil,
the amount collected.
5. In the list of duties of the amil-guzar or revenue collector,
Akbar decreed that while he should strive to make
cultivators pay in cash, the option of payment in kind was
also to be kept open.
6. Both cultivated and cultivable lands were measured in each
province. The Ain compiled the aggregates of such lands
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Classification of Lands Under Akbar
The following a listing of criteria of classification excerpted from the
Ain:

The Emperor Akbar in his profound sagacity classified the lands and
fixed a different revenue to be paid by each. Polaj is land which is
annually cultivated for each crop in succession and is never allowed
to lie fallow.

Parauti is land left out of cultivation for a time that it may recover its
strength. Chachar is land that has lain fallow for three or four years.

Banjar is land uncultivated for five years and more. Of the first two
kinds of land, there are three classes, good, midding, and bad.

They add together the produce of each sort, and the third of this
represents the medium produce, one-third part of which is exacted
as the royal dues. Instagram
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The Flow of Silver
1. The Mughal Empire consolidated powers and resources from
the empires of Ming (China), Safavid (Iran) and Ottoman
(Turkey) during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
2. Voyages of discovery and the opening up of the New World
resulted in a massive expansion of Asia’s (particularly India’s)
trade with Europe.
3. An expanding trade brought in huge amounts of silver bullion
into Asia to pay for goods procured from India, and a large part
of that bullion gravitated towards India.
4. SO, the period between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries
was also marked by a remarkable stability in the availability of
metal currency, particularly the silver rupya in India.
5. The testimony of an Italian traveller, Giovanni Careri, who
passed through India c. 1690, provides a graphic account about
the way silver travelled across the globe to reach India.
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The Ain-i Akbari of Abu’l Fazl Allami
1. Ain-i Akbari is a compilation of imperial regulations and a gazetteer of the empire.
2. It is a part of the Akbar Nama and was completed in 1598, after having gone
through five revisions.
3. The Ain gives detailed accounts of the organisation of the court, administration
and army, the sources of revenue and the physical layout of the provinces of
Akbar’s empire and the literary, cultural and religious traditions of the people.
4. The Ain is made up of five books (daftars), of which the first three books describe
the administration.
5. The first book, called manzil-abadi, concerns the imperial household and its
maintenance. The second book, sipah-abadi, covers the military and civil
administration and the establishment of servants. This book includes notices and
short biographical sketches of imperial officials (mansabdars), learned men,
poets and artists.
6. The third book, mulk-abadi, is the one which deals with the fiscal side of the
empire and provides information on revenue rates, followed by the “Account of
the Twelve Provinces”.
7. The Ain remains an extraordinary document of its times. By providing fascinating
glimpses into the structure and organisation of the Mughal Empire and by giving
us quantitative information about its products and people.
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Q)What are the problems in using the Ain as a source for reconstructing
agrarian history? How do historians deal with this situation?

Ans.(a) The Ain-i Akbari written by Abu’l Fazl in 1598 contains invaluable information
for reconstructing the agrarian history of the Mughals. But it has its own limitations.

(b)Numerous errors in totalling have been detected. These are, however, minors and
do not detract from the overall quantitative accuracy of the manuals.

(c)Another limitation is the skewed nature of the data. Data was not collected
uniformly from all provinces. For example, Abu’l Fazl has not given any description
regarding the caste composition of the zamindars of Bengal and Orissa (Odisha).

(d)The fiscal data collected from various sources is in detail yet some important
parameters such as, wages and prices have not been incorporated properly.
(e)The detailed list of prices and wages found in the Ain-i Akbari have been acquired
from data pertaining to the capital Agra and its surrounding regions. It is, therefore, of
limited value for the rest of the empire.

(f)Historians have dealt with the situation by supplementing the account of the Ain by
information got from the provinces. These include detailed seventeenth- eighteenth
centuries revenue records from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. These have
been also supplemented by records of the East India Company. Instagram
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2.To what extent is it possible to characterise agricultural production in
the sixteenth- seventeeth centuries as subsistence agriculture? Give
reasons for your answer.

Ans.(a)During Mughal, India was basically an agricultural country. In the

Mughal state of India a different varieties of crops were produced. In Bengal
two varieties of rices were produced. But the focus on the cultivation of basic
crops does not mean that only subsistence agriculture existed in medieval
India.

(b)The Mughal state encouraged peasants to cultivate varieties of crops

which brought in revenue especially cotton and sugarcane.
(c)Cotton was mainly grown in vast area which was spread over central India
and the deccan plateau, whereas in Bengal sugarcane was mainly produced.

{d)Many varieties of cash crops such as oilseeds including mustard and

lentils.

(e)An average peasant of that time grew both commercial and subsistence
crops. Instagram
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3.Describe the role played by women in agricultural production.

Ans.(a)Women played an important role in agricultural production. They

worked shoulder to shoulder with men in the fi elds. The men tilled and
ploughed the lands whilethe women sowed, weeded and threshed the
harvest. Agricultural production at the time was carried out with the labour and
resources of the entire.

(b) The women performed important tasks such as spinning yarn, kneading
clay for pottery and embroidery. Thus, the peasant women who were skilled
artisans worked not only in the fields but even went to their employer’s houses
and even to the markets, if necessary.

(c)Among the landed gentry class women had the right to inherit property.
Women, including widows participated in the rural land market. Selling
property which they had inherited especially in Punjab.

(d)Both Hindu and Muslim women inherited zamindaris. They were free to sell
or mortgage their zamidari rights. In eighteenth century, Bengal had many
women- zamindars. In fact, the Rajshah zamindari which was one of the most
famous of the time was headed by a woman. Instagram
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4.Discuss, with examples, the significance of monetary transactions during the period under
consideration.

Ans.(i)The political stability provided by the Mughal helped in establishing hoarsening trade relation
with Ming (china), Safavid (Iran) and Ottoman (Turkey) empires. It led to increase in outland trade
from China to the Mediterranean Sea.

(ii)The Discovery of new lands and sea routes also gave an impetus to Asia’s trade with Europe. As
a result enormous amount of silver entered India as payment for goods bought from India.

(iii)Jovanni Karari, an Italian traveller, who passed through India in 1690 has written how the silver
reached India from all parts of the world. From his description, we also came to know how there was
an exchange of cash and goods in India in the 17th century.

(iv)This benefitted India as she did not have enough resources of silver. Therefore, from the
sixteenth to the eighteeth centuries there was sufficient reserves of silver in India and the silver
rupya was available readily.

(v)The mutual exchange in villages took place. As villagers established their links in the urban
markets, there was a considerable increase in monetary transactions. In this way, villages became
an important part of the monetary market.

(vi)It was due to the monetary transactions, became easier to pay daily wages to the labourers in
cash and not in kind. This resulted in an unprecedented expansion in the minting of coins and
circulation of money allowing the Mughal state to extract taxes and revenues in cash. Instagram
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5.Examine the evidence that suggests that land revenue was important for
the Mughal fiscal system.

Ans.(i)Agriculture was the mainstay of the economy. Land Revenue collected

was used to pay salaries and to meet different kinds of administrative expenses.
So it was considered important to establish an administrative apparatus to
ensure control over agricultural production.

(ii)Thus, before fixing land revenue, Mughal state first acquired specific
information about the extent of agricultural lands and their produce.

(iii)Land revenue collection arrangements was consisted of two stages of

assessment. These were Jama and hasil. Cultivators were given the choice to
pay land revenue either in cash or kind. The state preferred to collect land
revenue as cash. Attempts were made to maximize profits from the land revenue
collection.

(iv)Both cultivated and cultivable lands were measured in each province to fix
land revenue. According to a decree of Akbar, it was the responsibility of
malguzar to make cultivator pay land revenue in kind and it was also kept open.
Thus, it is clear from the evidence that the monetary transactions were very
important. To continue this policy efforts by subsequent emperors like Aurangzeb
continued to measure land for collection of land revenue. Instagram
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6.To what extent to do you think caste was a factor in influencing social
and economic relations in agrarian society?

Ans.(i)Cultivators were divided on the basis of their caste and other caste-like
distinctions or caste-based distinctions. Thus, among the peasants were many
who worked as agricultural labourers (majurs) or worked as manacles. Thus,
they were not allowed to live in villages. They resided outside the village and
were assigned to do menial tasks and lacked resources. Thus, they were
poverty-stricken.

(ii)Caste distinctions had also begun to permeate other communities as well. In

Muslim communities menials were like halkhoron (scavengers). A direct relation
existed between caste poverty and social status.

(iii)In the seventeenth century Marwar Rajputs are described as peasants and
equated with jats. They were given an inferior status in the caste hierarchy.

(iv)Castes like Ahirs, Gujjars and Malis reached and elevated status in the
eastern regions.
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7.How were the lives of forest dwellers transformed in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries?(or)

Describe the lives of forest-dwellers in the 16-17th centuries.

Ans. Transformation in the lives of forest-dwellers (sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries):

(i) Huge areas were covered with forests in the various parts of India in the
16th and 17th country. Forest-dwellers were called Jangli. The term ‘Jungli’
was used to describe those whose occupations included activities such as
hunting, gathering of forest produce, and shifting cultivation. These
activities were performed according to a specific reason in the various
regions. Consider the example of the Bhils who fished in summer and
collected forest produce in spring. Such activities enabled the forest tribes
to be mobile which was a characteristic feature of their life.

(ii)As the state required elephants for the consolidation of mighty army,
the peskesh levied on the forest people to supply of elephants. Instagram
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iii)The lives of the forest-dwellers led to the spread of commercial agriculture.
Forest products like honey, beeswax, gum and lac were in huge demand. Gum and
lac became major items of overseas exports in the seventeenth century, and
earned valuable foreign exchange.

(iv)Elephants were also captured and sold.

(v)Tribes like the Punjab Lohanis engaged in overland trade with Afghanistan and
internal trade in Punjab as well.

(vi)Social factors were also responsible for transforming the lives of the forest-
dwellers.

(vii)Many tribal chiefs became zamindars, some even became kings. They recruit
people from their own tribes in their army For example in Assam, the Ahom Kings
depended on people who rendered military services in exchange of land.

(viii)By the sixteenth century, the transition from a tribal to a monarchial system had
taken place. In Ain-i Akbari description has been mentioned about the existence of
tribal kingdoms in north-eastern India. Description is also made regarding the kings
who fought and conquered a number of tribes. New cultural influences also entered
in the forested areas. Probably sufi saints played a remarkable role in spreading
Islam in these areas. Instagram
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8.Examine the role played by zamindars in Mughal India.
Ans. The zamindars were the people who did not directly participate in the processes of
agricultural production, but they enjoyed high status in the society.
(i)The zamindars considered their land as their property (milkiyat). They had control to sell, give
and mortage their property.
(ii)They enjoyed many social and economic privileges because of their superior status in
society.
(iii)The zamindars belonged to the upper caste which added to their exalted status in society.
(iv)The zamindars rendered certain services (khidmat) for the state. As a result of their service
they received and attained higher position in the state.
(v)The zamindars had the right to collect revenue on behalf of the state and also received
financial compensation for this work.
(vi)The zamindars had kept strict control over the military resources of the state. They kept a
fortress and a well knit armed unit comprising cavalry, artillery and infantry.
(vii)The zamindars also played significant role in developing the agricultural land. They helped in
the settlements of farmers by lending them money and agricultural instruments. It resulted in an
increase in agricultural produce and the sale and purchase of land by the zamindars. There are
also evidences that the zamindars held bazaars. The farmers came to these bazaars to sell
their crops.
(viii)If we observe social relation of village of Mughal age as a pyramid then zamindars were at
the top. They occupied the highest position in the society.
(ix)No doubt the zamindars exploited the people but their relations with the farmers depended
on their mutual togetherness and hereditary part on age. So, they were able to get peasants in
case of the revolt against the state.
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9.Discuss the ways in which panchayat and village headmen regulated
rural society.(or)
Explain the role of Panchayats in the Mughal rural Indian society during
16th-17th centuries.

Ans. Regulation of rural society by panchayats and headmen:

(i)Meaning of panchayat: The village panchayat consisted of an assembly of

elders, they represent different castes and communities except the menial
class. Usually important were people of the village with hereditary right over
their property.

(ii)General composition and function: In the mixed caste village, the panchayat
was usually a heterogeneous body. The panchayet represented different
castes and communities in the village.
The village panchayat was headed by Muqaddam also known as mandal. He
was elected with consensus of the village elders and remained in the office till
he enjoyed the confidence of village elders. His function was to prepare village
account with the help of patwari.
(i)The main function of panchayat was to ensure that caste boundaries among
the various communities inhabiting the village were upheld. Instagram
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(ii)It had also the authority to levy fines and taxes.

(iii)It can also give punishment like expulsion from the community.

(iv)Each Jati in the village had its own Jati panchayat. Jati Panchayat wielded
considerable power in the society. In Rajasthan, the Jati panchayats arbitrated
civil disputes between members of the different castes. It also mediated in
disputes claims on land, decided whether marriages had been performed
according to that castes norm, etc. In most cases, the state respected the
decisions taken by the Jati Panchayat.

(v)The panchayats were also regarded as the court of appeal, that would
ensure that the state carried out its moral responsibilities.

(vi)For justice petitions were often made to the panchayat collectively by a

group of caste or a community protesting against what they considered to be
morally illegitimate demands on the part of elites.

(vii)In cases of excessive revenue demands, the panchayat often suggested a

compromise. If this failed, the peasants took recourse to more drastic forms of
punishment such as deserting the village. Instagram
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10.On an outline map of world, mark the areas which
had economic links with the Mughal Empire, and
trace out possible routes of communication.

Ans.Iran, Afghanistan, China, the countries of Central

and Western Asia, Italy, Portugal, France, Britain,
Holland, etc.
Possible Routes : Trade that linked to Mughal Empire in
India.
(i)Sea route via Atlantic ocean to Cape of Good Hope
(South Africa), Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean.
(ii)Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal
to China Sea.
(iii)Land Route from Central Asia to Afghanistan through
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