Unit 17
Unit 17
Unit 17
MUGHAL INDIA
Structure
17.0 Objectives
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Revenue Assignees and Grantees
17.3 The Zamidam
17.3.1 Zamiodsrl Rights
17.3.2 Military Strength of Z a m l n d . ~
17.3.3 Chsudburis
17.3.4 Other Intermediaries
17.4 Peasantry
17.4.1 Land Rights of Peasantry
17.4.2 Stratification of Peasantry '
17.4.3 Village Community
17.5 Relations between Agrarian Classes
17.6 Let Us Sum Up
17.7 dnsweres to Check Your Progress Exercises
17.0 OBJECTIVES *
In this Unit, we will discuss the agrarian relations in Mughal India. After reading
this Unit you will know about:
the various classes who appropriated a share in the produce of the land;
the urnindam and their rights;
various categories of peasants and the village community;
other intermediaries who enjoyed a share in the surplus produce; and
the relations between various agrarian classes.
17.1 INTRODUCTION
A large pan of the agricultural surplus was alienated in the form of land revenue.
Theoretically, the Emperor was the sole claimant as discussed in Unit 16. However,
in actual practice, apart from the state and its agents, a number of intermediaries
also took away huge amounts through various channels. In this Unit we will discuss
the rights of various classes to land and its produce. We will also discuss the
interrelationship between these classes.
The mada&l maaah grants were intended to create pockets of influence and to
develop wasfe lands. Generally, these were given to Shaikhs and Sayyids and other
men of learning. In emergency they joined the government forces to curb local
disturbances. The total revenue alienated-in such grants was not large. There was a
tendency on the part of the grantees to acquire zamindarl rights in their area and
elsewhere. Thus, some of them transformed themselves into small zamlndrvs. By the
first half of the 18th century, these grants were treated as zamindari land in all
transactions.
17.3.3 Chaudhuris
As mentioned earlier, the zamindar played a prominent role in the collection of land
revenue. Some of these zamindars were designated as chaudhuri for the purpose of
collection of revenue. One of the.prominent zamindars of a pargana was appointed
chaudhuri, generally one in each pargana.
The chaudhuri was suppose t o collect the revenue from other zamindars of the
pargana. Apart from thier customary nankar, these chaudhuris were entitled t o
another share in the land revenue collected by them. This was termed chaudh~rai
which amounted to two and a half per cent of the revenue collected. Unlike the
zamindar, the chaudhuri was appointed by the state and could be removed for
improper functioning.
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2) Write three lines on each of the following:
i) Chaudhuris ...........................................................
PEASANTRY
In the earlier sections, we studied about the cl.asses who enjoyed superior rights over
the produce of the land. In this section we will discuss the main producing classes.
he main agrarian class, directly involved with the agricultural production, was the
peasantry. Though the class had a number of strata within it, for the convenience of
study we are including all of them under one nomenclature.
The peasants constituted the primary class in rural society and the revenpe collected
from them sustained the whole state apparatus. We have noticed in Unit 16 that the
peasant had to pay a large part of their produce as 'rand revenue. It appears that the
bulk of the peasantry lived on the subsistence level of existence.
9 Economic inequalities were not the only basis of divisions within the peasantry. They
were also divided between the permanent residents of the village (Khudbsht
Northern India, mirasdnr in Maharashtra and thalvaik or t h a b inlDeccan) and
the temporary residents (pai 'Irrrabt in Northern India; upari in Maharashtra). Caste
associations and kinship ties (bhaichara), even as they served as linkages that
afforded supra-local affmitik were also at the same time sources of divisiveness.
k i o w the class of peasants existed in rural India a large population of menial
workers. Their number or their proportion to caste peasantry is almost impossible to
estimate, yet, in all probability, they did constitute a significant portion of the rural
population of India. They are described in the contemporary literature as chamam,
balahars, thoris and dbanuks, etc. They were a cheap source of labour for the
peasants and zomindars to work on their fields during the sowing and harvest
seasons. It was, therefore, in the interest of both of them (i.e., the peasants and
zamhdars) to suppress and exploit them. The creation of a huge reserve of labour
force for agricultural production reduced the cost of production, which enhanced the
"surplus" produce of the peasant, and thus allowed a greater exploitation of land
revenue by the ruling power. In the suppression of the menial workers, the state, the
zamindars and the peasants were equal collaborators.
EXERCISES
Cbeck Your Progress 1
1) See Sec. 17.2 Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU
State and Economy 2) See Sec. 17.2