PEASANTS, ZAMINDARS AND THE STATE
Chapter 4
Answer in100-150 words
1. What are the problems in using the Ain as a source for reconstructing agrarian history? How do historians deal with this situation?
Answer:-
(a) Ain-i Akbari, written by Abul Fazl in 1598, contains invaluable information for reconstructing the agricultural history of the Mughals. But it has its own limitations.
(b) In short, many errors have been detected. Of course, these are minor and don’t take away from the overall quantitative correctness of the manuals.
(c) Another limitation is the acute nature of the data. Data were not collected equally from all provinces. For example, Abul Fazl gives no description of the caste structure of the zamindars of Bengal and Orissa (Orissa).
(d) Financial data collected from various sources are in detail yet some important measures such as, wages and prices are not included properly.
(e) Detailed tables of prices and wages found in the Ain-i Akbari have been derived from the records of the capital Agra and its surrounding areas. therefore, it is of limited value to 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.
2. To what extent is it possible to characterise agricultural production in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries as subsistence agriculture? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer:-
3. Dining the seventeenth century, new crops such as maize (makka) reached India via Africa and Spain. It became one of major crops of western India.
4. Vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes and chilies were introduced from the New World. New fruits – pineapple and the papaya too reached India. All these were grown by the peasants.
Thus, it was not subsistence agriculture but subsistence and commercial were mixed together in an average peasants’ holding.
3. Describe the role played by women in agricultural production.
Answer:-
(a) Women played an important role in agricultural production. They worked shoulder to shoulder with men in the fields. The men plowed and cultivated and the women ploughed, unloaded and threshed the harvest. At that time, agricultural production was carried out with entire labor and resources.
(b) Women performed important tasks like spinning, pottery and embroidery. therefore, peasant women who were skilled artisans not only worked in the fields but also went to their employers' homes and even to the market if necessary.
(c) The landing gantry class of women had the right to inherit property. Women, including widows, participated in rural land markets. especially selling the property they inherited in the 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.
4. Discuss, with examples, the significance of monetary transactions during the period under consideration.
Answer:-
(I) Political stability provided by the Mughals facilitated commercial relations with the Ming (China), Safavid (Iran) and Ottoman (Turkey) empires. This increased outland trade from China to the Mediterranean.
(II) The discovery of new land and sea routes gave impetus to Asian trade with Europe. Consequently, large quantities of silver entered India as payment for goods purchased from India.
(III) Italian traveler Jovanni Carari, who passed through India in 1690, writes how the silver reached India from all parts of the world. From his description, we also learned how cash and goods were exchanged in India in the seventeenth century.
(IV) It benefited India as he did not have sufficient resources of silver. Therefore, between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, India had sufficient reserves of silver and silver was readily available.
(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.
5. Examine the evidence that suggests that land revenue was important for the Mughal fiscal system.
Answer:-
The following evidence suggests that land revenue was important for the Mughal fiscal system :
1. As the land revenue was the economic mainstay of the Mughal Empire, there was an administrative apparatus to ensure control over agricultural production, and to fix and collect revenue in the empire. There was diwan who was responsible for supervision of the fiscal system of the empire.
2. Information about the agricultural lands and their production was collected before fixing the amount of taxes on people.
3. The land revenue arrangements consisted of two stages – assessment and the collection.
4. Amil-guzar or revenue collector was directed to give choice to cultivators to pay in cash or kind. The payment in cash was preferred.
5. While making assessment of land revenue, the state officials tried to maximise its claims.
6. The Ain compiled the aggregates of cultivated and cultivable lands. The classification of lands was made under Akbar and a different land revenue to be paid by each was fixed
Write a short essay (about 250-300 words) on the following:
6. To what extent do you think caste was a factor in influencing social and economic relations in agrarian society?
Answer:-
(I) Cultivators were divided based on their caste and other caste-like differences or caste-based differences. Therefore, many of the farmers worked as agricultural laborers (labourers) or as standards. Therefore, they were not allowed to stay in the village. They lived outside the village and were allocated to do menial work and lacked resources. Therefore, they were poverty-stricken.
(II) Caste differences also began to spread to other communities. In the Muslim communities, menials were like Halkhorans (methors). There was a direct relationship between caste poverty and social status.
(III) In the seventeenth century the Rajputs of Marwar are described as cultivators and compared with the Jats. They were given low status in the ethnic hierarchy.
(IV) Nations like Ahir, Gujjar and Mali reached the eastern region and gained a better position.
(Vs.) Pastoral and fishing castes like the Chadgops and Kaivatas enjoyed the status of agriculturists.
7. How were the lives of forest dwellers transformed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?
Answer:-
Changes in the lives of the forest dwellers (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries):
(I) In the sixteenth and seventeenth countries, vast areas in different parts of India were covered with forests. The forest dwellers were called jangli. The term “Jungli” was used to describe those whose livelihood included activities such as hunting, gathering forest products, and shifting cultivation. These activities were carried out in different areas according to a specific reason. Consider the example of the Vhils who fish in the summer and gather forest products in the spring. Such activities enabled the forest tribes to be mobile which was a feature of their lives.
(II) Since the kingdom needed elephants for the assembly of a strong army, peskesh was imposed on the forest dwellers for supplying them.
(III) The life of the forest dwellers led to the spread of commercial agriculture. Forest products like honey, beeswax, gum and lac were in great demand. In the 17th century gum and lac became major foreign exports and earned valuable foreign exchange.
(IV) Elephants were also captured and sold.
(V) Punjab Tribes like the Lohani were involved in the overland trade with Afghanistan and also in the internal trade of the Punjab.
(VI) Social factors were also responsible for changing the lives of the forest dwellers (for example).
(VII) Many tribal chiefs became zamindars, some even kings. They recruit people from their own tribes into their army. For example, in Assam, the Boro kings relied on people who provided military service in exchange for land.
8. Examine the role played by zamindars in Mughal India.
Answer:-
Zamindars were those people who did not participate directly in the process of agricultural production, but enjoyed a high status in society.
(I) Zamindars considered their land as their property (milkiat). They had control over the sale, giving and mortgaging of their property.
(II) They enjoyed many social and economic privileges due to their excellent status in society.
(Third) The zamindars were of the upper castes which increased their high status in the society.
(IV) Zamindars provided certain services (khidmat) for the state. As a result of their services, they achieved and attained high positions in the kingdom.
(V.) Zamindars had the right to collect revenue on behalf of the State and received financial compensation for this work.
(VI) The zamindars exercised strict control over the military resources of the state. They kept a fort and a well-equipped armed group of cavalry, artillery, and infantry.
(VII) Zamindars played an important role in the development of agricultural land. They helped the peasants in their settlement by lending them money and agricultural implements. This increased agricultural production and sale and purchase of land by zamindars. There is also evidence that zamindars held markets. Farmers came to these markets to sell their crops.
(VIII) If we look at the social relations of the village during the Mughal era as a pyramid, the zamindars were at the top. They occupied the highest positions in society.
(IX) There is no doubt that the zamindars exploited the people but their relationship with the peasants depended on their mutual togetherness and hereditary share of age. Therefore, they were able to get peasants in case of rebellion against the state
9. Discuss the ways in which panchayats and village headmen regulated rural society.
Answer:-
Control of rural communities by panchayats and headmen:
(I) Meaning of Panchayat: The village panchayat was an assembly of elders, they represent different castes and communities except the menial class. Usually important were the people of the village who had hereditary rights to the property.
(II) General Structure and Function: In mixed caste villages, the Panchayat was generally a heterogeneous body. The panchayat represented different castes and communities in the village.
The village panchayat was led by Muqaddamzak Mandal, also known as the Mandal. He was elected with the consent of the village elders and remained in office until he enjoyed the confidence of the village elders. His job was to prepare the village accounts with the help of the Patwari.
(i) The main function of the Panchayat was to ensure the maintenance of caste boundaries between the different communities living in the village.
(II) also had the authority to impose fines and taxes.
(III) It can also impose punishments such as expulsion from society.
(IV) Each caste in the village had its own caste panchayat. The Jati Panchayat exercised considerable power in society. In Rajasthan, caste panchayats mediated civil disputes between members of different castes. It arbitrated claims over land disputes, decided whether the marriage had been performed in accordance with the laws of that nation, and so on. In most cases, the state respected the decisions taken by the Jati Panchayats.
(V) Panchayats were also regarded as courts of appeal, which would ensure that the State fulfilled its moral obligations.
(VI) Appeals to the panchayat for justice were often made collectively by a caste group or community which they considered to be a morally illegitimate demand of the 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.
Map work
10. On an outline map of the world, mark the areas which had economic links with the Mughal Empire, and trace out possible routes of communication.
Answer:-
Iran, Afghanistan, China, Central and West Asia, Italy, Portugal, France, Britain, Holland.
Possible routes: Trade related to the Mughal Empire in India.
(I) Sea route through Atlantic Ocean to Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean.
(II) Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal to the Sea of China.
(III) Land route from Central Asia to Afghanistan through modem Pakistan to Kerala or Goa.
Project (choose one)
11. Visit a neighbouring village. Find out how many people live there, which crops are grown, which animals are raised, which artisanal groups reside there, whether women own land, how the local panchayat functions. Compare this information with what you have learnt about the sixteenthseventeenth centuries, noting similarities and differences. Explain both the changes and the continuities that you find.
Answer:-
12. Select a small section of the Ain (10-12 pages, available online at the website indicated below). Read it carefully and prepare a report on how it can be used by a historian.
Answer:-
