NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Themes in Indian History II Chapter 4: Peasants, Zamindars and the State: Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire

Chapter at a glance

Exercises – Answer in 100–150 words

Answer

Problems with the Ain-i-Akbari: 1. Errors in totalling – numerous errors in totalling have been detected; these are ascribed to simple slips of arithmetic or transcription by Abu’l Fazl’s assistants. They are generally minor. 2. Skewed quantitative data – data were not collected uniformly from all provinces. For instance, while for many subas detailed information was compiled about the caste composition of zamindars, such information is not available for Bengal and Orissa. 3. Prices and wages – while fiscal data from the subas is remarkably rich, vital parameters such as prices and wages are not as well documented. The detailed list of prices and wages it does provide is mainly derived from areas in or around the imperial capital Agra, and is therefore of limited relevance for the rest of the country. 4. Official perspective – it was written from the viewpoint of the state, to present Akbar’s empire as harmonious and well-ordered; it may not show conflicts and the perspective of peasants.

How historians deal with this: 1. They use the Ain along with other sources — 17th- and 18th-century records from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, especially the extensive revenue records of the East India Company, which give useful descriptions of agrarian relations in eastern India. 2. Documents in regional languages and the records of the time provide supplementary details. 3. They read the Ain critically, cross-checking its figures and recognising its official bias.

Despite its limitations, the Ain remains an extraordinary and unparalleled document.

The Ain has errors in totalling, data not collected uniformly from all provinces (no caste data on zamindars for Bengal and Orissa), poorly documented prices and wages drawn mainly from around Agra, and an official viewpoint. Historians supplement it with 17th–18th century records from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, East India Company revenue records and regional-language documents, and read it critically.

Answer

Subsistence agriculture means producing mainly for the cultivator’s own consumption. Agriculture in this period had elements of subsistence but also significant commercial production.

Subsistence features: 1. The basic staples — rice, wheat, millets (jowar, bajra) — were grown mainly for food; most peasants consumed a large part of what they produced. 2. Agriculture was organised around the twin seasons of kharif and rabi, largely dependent on monsoon rains.

Commercial features (why it was not merely subsistence): 1. Cash crops – the Mughal state encouraged peasants to cultivate crops that brought in more revenue. Sources refer to jins-i kamil (literally, perfect crops) — cotton and sugarcane — which were cultivated over large tracts; oilseeds (mustard) and lentils. 2. Regional specialisation – cotton was grown over a great swathe of territory in central India and the Deccan plateau; Bengal was famous for its sugar. 3. New crops – maize (via Africa and Spain, from the New World), tomatoes, potatoes, chillies, pineapple, papaya and tobacco were introduced. 4. Monetisation – revenue was largely paid in cash; peasants had to sell produce in the market to pay taxes. Silver flowed in through trade. 5. Village artisans and trade – villages were linked to towns through trade and markets.

Conclusion: Agriculture was not merely subsistence; though staples were grown for consumption, a significant portion of production was for the market, and subsistence and commercial production were closely intertwined in an average peasant’s holdings.

Only partly. Staple crops like rice, wheat and millets were grown largely for food, but there was significant commercial production: jins-i kamil such as cotton and sugarcane, oilseeds and pulses, regional specialisation (Bengal sugar, Deccan cotton), new crops like maize, chillies and tobacco, and cash payment of revenue that forced peasants to sell in markets. Subsistence and commerce were intertwined.

Answer

1. Working alongside men – women and men had to work shoulder to shoulder in the fields. Men tilled and ploughed, while women sowed, weeded, threshed and winnowed the harvest.
2. Artisanal work – with the growth of nucleated villages and expansion of individuated peasant farming, the basic unit of production was the household. Women also did artisanal tasks such as spinning yarn, sifting and kneading clay for pottery, and embroidery — among the many aspects of production dependent on female labour.
3. Value of labour – the more a product was commercialised, the greater the demand on women’s labour to produce it.
4. Peasant and artisan women worked not only in the fields but even went to the houses of their employers or to markets when necessary.
5. Reproduction – women were considered an important resource in agrarian society because they were child bearers in a society dependent on labour; high mortality rates among women (malnutrition, frequent pregnancies, death during childbirth) created a shortage of wives. This led to bride-price rather than dowry in many rural communities; remarriage was considered legitimate among both divorced and widowed women.
6. Restrictions – biases related to women’s biological functions continued — e.g. menstruating women were not allowed to touch the plough or the potter’s wheel in western India, or enter the groves where betel leaves (paan) were grown in Bengal.
7. Property – women had the right to inherit property; there are instances of women selling land; in Bengal, women zamindars (e.g. Rani Bhabani of Rajshahi) existed.
8. Patriarchal control – the family and community exercised strict control over women; women petitioned to the village panchayat against the infidelity of husbands or neglect of wives and children.

Women worked alongside men — men ploughed while women sowed, weeded, threshed and winnowed — and did spinning, kneading clay for pottery and embroidery, especially as production became commercialised. They were valued as child bearers (bride-price, remarriage of widows), had rights to inherit property (women zamindars in Bengal), but faced taboos (menstruating women could not touch the plough or potter’s wheel) and patriarchal control.

Answer

1. Expansion of trade and silver inflow – the 16th and 17th centuries saw the expansion of the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires and the voyages of discovery; long-distance trade expanded. A huge amount of silver bullion flowed from the New World (Spanish America) into India via Europe to pay for goods (textiles, spices, indigo) exported from India. India did not have natural resources of silver; this was good for India.
2. Stability of currency – the period saw an unprecedented expansion of minting of coins and the circulation of currency in the economy, as well as the ability of the Mughal state to extract taxes and revenue in cash.
3. Payment of revenue in cash – land revenue was assessed and largely collected in cash; peasants had to sell crops in markets to pay. Salaries of mansabdars were fixed in cash (and assigned as jagirs).
4. Wages in cash – an Italian traveller, Giovanni Careri (c. 1690), described how silver came from all over the world to India; there was a significant monetisation of the economy, and even in villages, artisans and labourers were paid in cash; payments in kind were also common.
5. Village–town links – villages were connected to urban markets; trade in cash crops; moneylenders (sahukars) and bankers (sarrafs) were active; hundis (bills of exchange) were used.
6. Commercial crops – the monetisation encouraged cultivation of cash crops like cotton, sugarcane, indigo for sale.

Significance: monetary transactions linked rural areas to wider markets, enabled the state to collect revenue and pay officials and armies, encouraged trade and commercial agriculture, and created greater economic integration.

Monetary transactions were significant: silver from the New World flowed into India through trade, allowing large-scale minting and circulation of coins; land revenue and mansabdars’ salaries were assessed and paid in cash; even village artisans and labourers were often paid in cash (Careri); moneylenders, bankers and hundis linked villages to markets; and cash crops were encouraged — integrating the economy and strengthening the state.

Answer

1. Economic mainstay – revenue from land was the economic mainstay of the Mughal Empire. It was vital for the state to create an administrative apparatus to ensure control over agricultural production and to fix and collect revenue across the rapidly expanding empire.
2. Elaborate administration – this apparatus included the office (daftar) of the diwan, responsible for supervising the fiscal system of the empire. Revenue officials and record keepers penetrated deep into the agricultural domain.
3. Two stages – first assessment (jama — the amount assessed) and then actual collection (hasil — the amount collected).
4. Amil-guzar – Akbar ordered that the amil-guzar (revenue collector) should strive to make cultivators pay in cash, while the option of payment in kind was also kept open.
5. Measurement and classification – while fixing revenue, the state tried to maximise its claims. The zabt system: Akbar’s revenue minister Todar Mal carried out a careful survey of crop yields, prices and areas cultivated for a ten-year period (1570–1580); on the basis of this, a tax was fixed on each crop in cash. Lands were measured (Akbar standardised the measurement — the gaz-i Ilahi, with bamboos joined by iron rings instead of ropes), and classified into polaj (annually cultivated), parauti (left fallow for a time), chachar (fallow for 3–4 years), and banjar (uncultivated for 5 years or more), each assessed differently.
6. Ain’s detailed statistics – the Ain-i-Akbari contains detailed figures of revenue (jama) for each suba, sarkar and pargana.
7. Jagirs and mansabdars – revenue assignments (jagirs) were the basis of the salaries of the mansabdars, linking the nobility and army to land revenue.
8. Emperor’s orders on extending cultivation (e.g. Aurangzeb’s farman to his revenue officials) show the state’s concern to increase revenue.

Land revenue was the economic mainstay of the Mughal Empire: an elaborate apparatus under the diwan assessed (jama) and collected (hasil) it; amil-guzars were told to collect in cash; Todar Mal’s zabt system measured land and fixed cash rates per crop after a ten-year survey, with land classified as polaj, parauti, chachar and banjar; the Ain records revenue figures in detail; and mansabdars were paid through jagirs based on it.

Exercises – Short essay (about 250–300 words)

Answer

Caste was a major factor in shaping agrarian society, but it was not the only one; economic factors also influenced relations.

Caste as a factor: 1. Caste and occupation – the village was stratified by caste. Cultivators were divided into castes; a large number of people were agricultural labourers (mazdoor), and the lowest castes (often regarded as untouchable) were landless and did menial work. In Muslim communities, menials like the halalkhoran (scavengers) were housed outside the village boundaries; in Bihar, mallahzadas (sons of boatmen) were comparable to slaves. 2. Caste and land – there was a direct correlation between caste, poverty and social status at the lower strata of society. 3. Caste and panchayat – village panchayats were usually composed of elders from important families and represented different castes and communities of the village, although menial and agricultural workers were unlikely to be represented. Panchayats enforced caste norms (e.g. punishing violation of caste boundaries — marriage, food). 4. Jati panchayats – in addition to the village panchayat, each caste or jati had its own panchayat, which wielded considerable power — e.g. in Rajasthan, jati panchayats arbitrated civil disputes, mediated in land claims, decided marriages according to jati norms, and enforced ritual hierarchy. 5. Zamindars and caste – zamindars mostly belonged to upper castes; the Ain gives the caste composition of zamindars in many subas. 6. Jajmani system – artisans and service castes (potters, blacksmiths, carpenters, barbers, goldsmiths) provided services to cultivators in return for a share of the harvest or land.

Limits of caste (economic factors): 1. Upward mobility – caste was not rigid in the middle levels. In the 16th–17th centuries, some castes improved their status through economic means. E.g. the Ahirs, Gujars and Malis rose in the hierarchy because of the profitability of cattle rearing and horticulture. In eastern India, intermediate pastoral and fishing castes like the Sadgops and Kaivartas acquired the status of peasants. 2. Rajputs and Jats – the Jats were peasants who sought Rajput status; zamindari became a basis for higher status. 3. Among Muslim communities too, distinctions existed.

Conclusion: Caste was an important factor in social and economic relations, especially at the bottom (where caste and poverty coincided), but economic changes allowed some groups to move up — so caste interacted with class and economic opportunity.

Caste strongly influenced agrarian society: the lowest castes were landless labourers and menials (e.g. halalkhoran, mallahzadas), upper castes dominated zamindari, village and jati panchayats enforced caste norms, and the jajmani system linked artisan castes to cultivators. But it was not rigid in the middle levels — Ahirs, Gujars and Malis rose through cattle-rearing and horticulture, and Sadgops and Kaivartas became peasants — so economic factors also shaped status.

Answer

Forest dwellers (“jangli”) — in contemporary texts, those who lived in the forests were termed jangli, which did not mean an absence of “civilisation”; it described people whose livelihood came from gathering forest produce, hunting and shifting agriculture, according to the seasons (e.g. among the Bhils, spring was for collecting forest produce, summer for fishing, the monsoon for cultivation, and autumn and winter for hunting). This required continuous mobility.

Transformations: 1. State’s view – for the state, the forest was a subversive place — a place of refuge (mawas) for troublemakers. Babur said jungles provided a good defence “behind which the people of the pargana become stubbornly rebellious and pay no taxes”. 2. External forces entered the forests: - Elephants – the state required elephants for the army; the peshkash (tribute) from forest people often included a supply of elephants. - Hunting expeditions (shikar) – in the Mughal political ideology, the hunt symbolised the state’s concern to ensure justice to all its subjects; the emperor travelled across the empire on hunting expeditions, hearing grievances. - Commercial agriculture – the spread of commercial agriculture as an external factor impinged on forest dwellers. Forest products like honey, beeswax and gum lac were in great demand; some (gum lac) became major items of overseas export in the 17th century. Elephants were also captured and sold. - Trade – forest people traded these products; e.g. the Lohanis in Punjab engaged in overland trade between India and Afghanistan, and in the town-country trade in Punjab itself. 3. Social changes – like the “chiefs” of rural communities, many tribal chiefs became zamindars, some even kings. This required building up an army; they recruited from their lineage groups or demanded military service from their brethren. Tribes in the Sind region had armies of 6,000 cavalry and 7,000 infantry. In Assam, the Ahom kings had their paiks (people obliged to render military service in exchange for land). 4. Brahmanical and Islamic influences – the transition from a tribal to a monarchical system had started much earlier; the Ain shows this was nearly complete in the north-east; new cultural influences (e.g. Islam spread through sufis) also penetrated forest zones. 5. Mughal expansion – wars and clearing of forests for agriculture pushed forest people back.

Forest dwellers (jangli), who lived by gathering, hunting and shifting cultivation, were transformed as the state, which saw forests as rebels’ refuges, extracted elephants as tribute and conducted hunts; commercial demand for honey, beeswax and gum lac drew them into trade (e.g. the Lohanis); many tribal chiefs became zamindars or kings with armies (Ahom paiks); and cultural influences and forest clearance changed their lives.

Answer

Zamindars were people who lived off agriculture but did not participate directly in the process of agricultural production. They were landed proprietors who enjoyed certain social and economic privileges by virtue of their superior status in rural society. Caste was one factor in this status; another was that they performed certain services for the state.

Roles: 1. Land ownership – zamindars held extensive personal lands termed milkiyat (property). Milkiyat lands were cultivated for the private use of zamindars, often with the help of hired or servile labour. They could sell, bequeath or mortgage these lands at will. 2. Revenue collection – their power came from the fact that they could often collect revenue on behalf of the state. For this, they were compensated financially. 3. Military power – zamindars controlled military resources. Most had fortresses (qilachas) and an armed contingent of cavalry, artillery and infantry. According to the Ain, the combined strength of zamindars’ troops was 3,84,558 cavalry, 42,79,057 infantry, 1,863 elephants, 4,260 cannons and 4,500 boats. 4. Social hierarchy – if we visualise social relations in the Mughal countryside as a pyramid, zamindars clearly constituted its narrow apex. 5. Agricultural expansion – zamindars spearheaded the colonisation of agricultural land and helped in settling cultivators, providing them with means of cultivation, including cash loans. They were often the ones who built up new villages. 6. Markets – the buying and selling of zamindaris accelerated the process of monetisation; zamindars established markets (haats) where peasants came to sell their produce. 7. Origins – many zamindaris arose from conquest — dispossession of weaker people by powerful military chiefs; expansion through conquest, by kin and lineage-based solidarities. 8. Patron–client relationship with peasants – although zamindars were an exploitative class, their relationship with the peasantry had an element of reciprocity, paternalism and patronage. Bhakti saints who condemned caste-based and other forms of oppression did not portray zamindars as exploiters; zamindars often led peasant revolts against the state in the 17th century.

Zamindars held milkiyat lands which they could sell or mortgage, collected revenue for the state, maintained forts and large armed contingents (the Ain counts 3,84,558 cavalry and 42,79,057 infantry), stood at the apex of rural society, led agricultural colonisation and set up markets, and had a relationship of exploitation mixed with patronage with peasants, often leading peasant revolts against the state.

Answer

Village panchayat: 1. The village panchayat was an assembly of elders, usually important people of the village with hereditary rights over their property. In mixed-caste villages, the panchayat was usually a heterogeneous body — an oligarchy representing various castes and communities, though menial and agricultural workers were unlikely to be represented. Its decisions were binding on members. 2. Headman (muqaddam or mandal) – the panchayat was headed by a headman, chosen through the consensus of village elders, and this choice had to be ratified by the zamindar. Headmen held office as long as they enjoyed the confidence of the village elders; failing which they could be dismissed. 3. Functions of the headman: to supervise the preparation of village accounts, assisted by the accountant (patwari) of the panchayat. 4. Common funds – the panchayat derived its funds from contributions made by individuals to a common financial pool. These funds were used for entertaining revenue officials visiting the village, for community welfare activities such as tiding over natural calamities (floods, famines), and for constructing a bund or digging a canal which peasants usually could not afford to do on their own. 5. Regulating caste and community norms – an important function was to ensure that caste boundaries among the various communities inhabiting the village were upheld. In eastern India, all marriages were held in the presence of the mandal. The panchayat had the authority to levy fines and inflict more serious forms of punishment like expulsion from the community (outcasting) — a temporary measure. 6. Jati panchayats – each caste or jati had its own panchayat, which mediated civil disputes between members of different castes, mediated contested claims on land, decided whether marriages were performed according to jati norms, determined ritual precedence, etc. In most cases, except in matters of criminal justice, the state respected their decisions. 7. Petitions – archival records from western India (Rajasthan and Maharashtra) contain petitions presented to the panchayat complaining about extortionate taxation or the demand for unpaid labour (begar) by the “superior” castes or officials. These petitions were made by people from the lowest rungs of society, and the panchayat often suggested compromises. In cases of extreme oppression, peasants deserted the village.

The village panchayat — an assembly of elders representing various castes — and its headman (muqaddam/mandal), chosen by consensus and ratified by the zamindar, supervised village accounts with the patwari, managed common funds for entertaining officials, relief and building bunds and canals, upheld caste boundaries (marriages before the mandal) with fines and outcasting, while jati panchayats settled disputes and marriage and ritual issues, and both heard petitions against oppression.

Exercises – Map work and Projects

Answer

Areas with economic links (to be marked): 1. Central Asia (Samarkand, Bukhara) and Afghanistan (Kabul, Kandahar) – horses, dry fruits; Indian textiles and indigo. 2. Iran (Safavid Persia) – horses, carpets, silk; Indian textiles, spices. 3. Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Arabia, Egypt) and the Red Sea ports (Mocha, Jeddah). 4. Europe – Portugal, the Netherlands (Dutch), England, France — via the European trading companies. 5. East Africa (Mozambique, Malindi, Zanzibar). 6. South-East Asia (Malacca, Java, Sumatra, Siam) and China. 7. The Americas (New World) – source of silver flowing into India, and new crops (maize, tobacco, chillies, potatoes).

Routes: 1. Overland routes – from Lahore/Multan via the Khyber Pass to Kabul, and on to Central Asia; from Multan/Kandahar to Isfahan (Iran); caravan routes to the Ottoman lands. 2. Sea routes – from Surat and Cambay (Gujarat) across the Arabian Sea to the Persian Gulf (Hormuz, Bandar Abbas) and the Red Sea (Mocha, Jeddah); from Hooghly and Masulipatnam across the Bay of Bengal to South-East Asia and China; European ships from Surat/Goa around the Cape of Good Hope to Lisbon, Amsterdam and London; trans-Atlantic route from Spanish America to Europe (silver).

Mark Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, the Ottoman lands and Red Sea ports, Europe (Portugal, the Netherlands, England, France), East Africa, South-East Asia, China and the Americas. Trace overland routes via the Khyber Pass to Kabul and Central Asia and via Kandahar to Iran; and sea routes from Surat and Cambay to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, from Hooghly and Masulipatnam to South-East Asia and China, and around the Cape of Good Hope to Europe, with silver coming from the Americas.

Answer

(Sample report — students should visit and record their own data.)

Village visited: a village in Haryana, population about 3,500 (from the panchayat office/Census 2011).

Continuities: two cropping seasons, dependence on agriculture, caste influence in social relations, role of panchayats, women’s labour in agriculture.

Changes: technology (tractors, tube-wells), market orientation, elected democratic panchayats with reservations, legal equality for women, decline of village artisans and jajmani system, education and non-farm jobs.

Visit a village and record population, crops, animals, artisans, women’s landownership and the panchayat; compare with the Mughal period. Continuities: two crop seasons, dependence on agriculture, caste influence, panchayats, women’s farm labour. Changes: tractors and tube-wells, market crops, elected panchayats with reservations, legal land rights for women, and the decline of village artisans and the jajmani system.

Answer

Guidance and sample report

About the Ain-i-Akbari: written by Abu’l Fazl (completed in 1598, the 42nd regnal year of Akbar), as the third volume of the Akbar Nama; it is a detailed record of Akbar’s administration. Translated into English by Henry Blochmann (Vol. 1, 1873) and H.S. Jarrett (Vols. 2–3, 1891, 1894).

Structure: five books (daftars): (1) manzil-abadi – the imperial household; (2) sipah-abadi – military and civil administration, servants, mansabdars; (3) mulk-abadi – fiscal aspects of the empire, revenue rates, the “Account of the Twelve Provinces” with detailed statistics; (4) and (5) religious, literary and cultural traditions of the people of India, and a collection of Akbar’s “auspicious sayings”.

Sample section chosen: e.g. the mulk-abadi section on the suba of Agra or the classification of lands and revenue rates.

How a historian can use it: 1. Quantitative data – revenue (jama) figures, areas, crops, revenue rates per bigha for different crops, prices and wages (mainly around Agra) — to study agrarian history. 2. Administrative structure – organisation of subas, sarkars and parganas; the mansab system; the court. 3. Social information – caste composition of zamindars, military strength of zamindars, people, professions and trades. 4. Cultural information – religious traditions, literature, festivals. 5. Ideology – it reflects Akbar’s vision of a harmonious empire with a strong ruling class, and his ideal of sulh-i kul.

Precautions: errors in totalling, uneven data across provinces, prices and wages mainly from Agra, official bias; cross-check with other sources.

Read a section of the Ain (e.g. a suba’s statistics or land classification) and report that a historian can use it for quantitative data on revenue, crops, prices and wages, for the administrative structure, for information on zamindars, castes, professions and culture, and for Akbar’s ideology — while noting its errors in totalling, uneven provincial data, Agra-centred prices and official bias.

Topic checklist

• ☒ The Ain-i-Akbari as a source (Q 1, 12)
• ☒ Agriculture, cash crops and money (Q 2, 4)
• ☒ Women, caste, forest dwellers (Q 3, 6, 7)
• ☒ Zamindars, panchayats and land revenue (Q 5, 8, 9)
• ☒ Map work and village study (Q 10, 11)

Total questions answered: 12 of 12