History: Class 12 (Book 2) — Chapter 4: Peasants, Zamindars and the State: Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire (c. sixteenth-seventeenth centuries)

• The View from the Top: The primary source is the Ain-i Akbari (the Ain ), authored by Akbar's court historian Abu'l Fazl . It meticulously recorded state arrangements for cultivation, revenue collection, and state-zamindar relations to project a vision of imperial social harmony.
• Regional Supplements: To counter the imperial bias of the Ain , historians utilize detailed seventeenth- and eighteenth-century revenue records from Gujarat , Maharashtra , and Rajasthan , alongside extensive records of the East India Company for eastern India.

• Terminology: Indo-Persian sources used terms like raiyat (plural riaya ), muzarian , kisan , or asami to denote peasants.
• Peasant Categories:
  • Khud-kashta : Resident cultivators who tilled lands within their own villages.
  • Pahi-kashta : Non-resident cultivators who tilled lands in other villages on a contractual basis, often driven by choice (favorable revenue terms) or compulsion (economic distress/famine).
• Land Ownership & Wealth: Cultivation was based on individual ownership. Average peasant holdings were small: in Gujarat, peasants with 6 acres were considered affluent; in Bengal, 5 acres was the average limit, while 10 acres made one a rich asami .

"In Hindustan hamlets and villages, towns indeed, are depopulated and set up in a moment! If the people of a large town, one inhabited for years even, flee from it, they do it in such a way that not a sign or trace of them remains in a day and a half..."

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Analytical Historical Context & Interpretation: This excerpt from the Babur Nama highlights the high mobility of the peasantry in medieval northern India. The abundance of land and the relatively simple, rain-dependent nature of housing and initial cultivation allowed entire populations to migrate rapidly to escape state oppression, natural disasters, or conflict.

• Factors of Expansion: Abundance of land, available labor, and peasant mobility drove agricultural expansion.
• Monsoons & Crops: Monsoons remained the backbone of agriculture. High rainfall zones (40 inches or more) grew rice, followed by wheat and millets in descending order of precipitation.
• Irrigation Systems: Artificial irrigation was crucial. The state supported projects by digging new canals ( nahr , nala ) and repairing old ones, such as the shahnahr in Punjab during Shah Jahan's reign.
• Agricultural Technology:
  • Light wooden ploughs with iron tips ( coulter ) to preserve soil moisture.
  • Drills pulled by oxen for planting, though broadcasting seeds remained dominant.
  • Narrow iron blades with wooden handles for simultaneous hoeing and weeding.

"In Lahore, Dipalpur... people water by means of a wheel... At one end of the wheel-axle a second wheel is fixed, and close to it another on an upright axle. The last wheel the bullock turns..."

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Analytical Historical Context & Interpretation: This passage from the Babur Nama describes the operation of the Persian wheel , a sophisticated animal-powered irrigation device. It demonstrates the adaptation of mechanical technology to lift groundwater, facilitating intensive agriculture in the semi-arid regions of northern and northwestern India.

• Seasonal Cycles: Agriculture was organized around kharif (autumn) and rabi (spring) cycles. Most regions produced at least two crops a year ( do-fasla ), and some with constant water supply produced three.
• Cash Crops ( Jins-i Kamil ): The Mughal state actively encouraged the cultivation of "perfect crops" like cotton and sugarcane because they brought in higher revenue. Cotton was grown extensively across central India and the Deccan, while Bengal was famous for sugar.
• New World Introductions: The seventeenth century saw the arrival of new crops: Maize ( makka ) via Africa and Spain, tomatoes, potatoes, chillies, pineapple, and papaya.
• The Spread of Tobacco: Arrived in the Deccan in the early seventeenth century and spread to northern India. Despite Emperor Jahangir banning it due to its addictive nature, tobacco became a major commercial crop and article of consumption by the end of the century.

• Heterogeneity & Inequity: Cultivators were deeply divided by caste. Large sections of the village population were relegated to menial tasks and poverty as agricultural laborers ( majur ), comparable to modern Dalits.
• Muslim Menial Castes: In Muslim communities, groups like the halalkhoran (scavengers) were forced to live outside village boundaries, and the mallahzadas (boatmen's sons) in Bihar held a status akin to slaves.
• Caste Mobility: There was a direct correlation between caste, poverty, and social status at the lower levels, but intermediate groups showed mobility. Castes like the Ahirs, Gujars, and Malis rose due to cattle rearing and horticulture, while eastern pastoral/fishing castes like the Sadgops and Kaivartas acquired peasant status.

• The Panchayat: An oligarchy representing various castes and communities (excluding menial workers). Its decisions were binding on all village members.
• The Headman ( Muqaddam or Mandal ): Chosen by consensus of village elders and ratified by the zamindar. He supervised village accounts with the help of the accountant ( patwari ).
• Financial Pool: Panchayat funds were raised through individual contributions and used for community welfare, building bunds, digging canals, and entertaining visiting revenue officials.
• Social Regulation: The panchayat's primary duty was to ensure caste boundaries were respected. It had the authority to levy fines and hand down severe punishments, including temporary expulsion from the community.
• Jati Panchayats: Each caste had its own assembly to arbitrate civil disputes, land claims, marriages, and ritual precedence.

• High Proportion: Artisans (potters, blacksmiths, carpenters, barbers, goldsmiths) constituted up to 25% of total village households.
• Fluid Roles: The distinction between peasants and artisans was fluid; cultivators often engaged in artisanal work (dyeing, pottery, textile printing) during agricultural lulls.
• Remuneration Systems:
  • Share of the harvest or allotment of village land, known in Maharashtra as miras or watan (hereditary holdings).
  • The Jajmani system : A mutually negotiated system of goods-for-services, common in Bengal, where zamindars paid artisans a small daily allowance and diet money.

• Nineteenth-Century British View: British officials viewed the Indian village as a self-sufficient "little republic" of fraternal partners.
• Historical Reality: This view was romanticized. The village was characterized by deep caste and gender inequities, internal exploitation by powerful oligarchs, and a strong cash nexus driven by trade and cash-based revenue collection.

• Fieldwork: Men generally tilled and ploughed, while women sowed, weeded, threshed, and winnowed the harvest.
• Artisanal Production: Women provided essential labor for commercialized crafts, including spinning yarn, sifting and kneading clay for pottery, and embroidery.
• Biological Taboos: Biases persisted; menstruating women were prohibited from touching the plough or potter's wheel in western India, and from entering betel-leaf ( paan ) groves in Bengal.

• Value as Resources: Women were highly valued as child-bearers in a labor-dependent society. High mortality rates from frequent pregnancies led to a shortage of wives, fostering customs like bride-price (rather than dowry) and the legitimacy of remarriage for widows and divorcees.
• Patriarchal Control: Households were headed by males. Infidelity was met with draconian punishments. Women petitioned panchayats for redress against domestic neglect or abuse, though their names were often omitted from records, referring to them only by their relationship to the male head.
• Property Inheritance: Among the landed gentry, women held property rights. In Punjab, widows participated in the land market. In Bengal, women inherited and managed major zamindaris , such as the famous Rajshahi zamindari.

• Forest Livelihoods: Being jangli denoted a livelihood based on gathering forest produce, hunting, and shifting agriculture. Activities were highly seasonal (e.g., the Bhils gathered spring produce, fished in summer, cultivated in monsoons, and hunted in winter).
• State Perception: The state viewed forests as lawless zones and places of refuge ( mawas ) for tax evaders and rebels.

• State Intrusion: The Mughal state required elephants for its army, demanding them as tribute ( peshkash ) from forest chieftains.
• Commercialization: Global demand for forest products like honey, beeswax, and gum lac (a major seventeenth-century export) integrated forest economies into commercial trade networks.
• Political Transition: Many tribal chiefs became zamindars or kings (e.g., the Ahom kings of Assam who used the paik system of forced military service). This transition led to the rise of tribal armies, such as those in Sind which possessed thousands of cavalry and infantry.

"From the northern mountains quantities of goods are carried on the backs of men, of stout ponies and of goats... gold, copper, lead, musk, tails of the kutas cow, honey... In exchange they carry back white and coloured cloths, amber, salt, asafoetida..."

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Analytical Historical Context & Interpretation: This excerpt from the Ain-i Akbari describes the active barter trade between hill tribes and the plains of Awadh around 1595. It illustrates how geographical barriers were overcome by specialized transport animals to exchange high-value forest and mineral goods for essential plain commodities like salt and textiles.

• Milkiyat: Personal lands held by zamindars, cultivated using hired or servile labor. Zamindars could sell, mortgage, or bequeath these lands at will.
• State Services ( Khidmat ): They collected revenue on behalf of the state, for which they were financially compensated.
• Military Power: Most zamindars maintained fortresses ( qilachas ) and armed contingents of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, forming a formidable parallel military force.
• Caste Basis: Zamindari rights were closely tied to upper-caste status (Brahmana-Rajput), though intermediate castes and Muslims also established control over time.

• Consolidation Processes: Zamindaris were expanded through colonization of new lands, purchase, transfer of rights, and imperial confirmation ( sanad ).
• Paternalism & Conflict: While exploitative, zamindars maintained a paternalistic relationship with peasants, often providing cash loans and agricultural tools. In many seventeenth-century agrarian uprisings, peasants supported their local zamindars against the fiscal demands of the Mughal state.

• Two Stages: The system consisted of jama (the amount assessed) and hasil (the amount actually collected).
• The Revenue Collector ( Amil-guzar ): Instructed to encourage cash payments but keep the option of payment in kind open.
• Measurement: Cultivated and cultivable lands were measured in each province to maximize state claims, though forest areas remained unmeasured.

Under Akbar, land was classified based on cultivation frequency to determine tax rates:

The state utilized several methods for assessing and collecting revenue:

• Silver Influx: Voyages of discovery and the opening of the New World led to a massive expansion of India's trade with Europe. Since India lacked natural silver resources, European merchants paid for Indian textiles and spices in silver bullion.
• Monetary Stability: This continuous influx of silver facilitated the widespread minting of the silver rupya , ensuring currency stability and enabling the Mughal state to collect taxes in cash.

"...all the Gold and Silver, which circulates throughout the World at last Centres here... the goods carry’d hence into Europe... are all purchas’d for ready Mony, which remains there."

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Analytical Historical Context & Interpretation: This account by Italian traveler Giovanni Careri (c. 1690) highlights India's position as a global sink for precious metals. The high demand for Indian manufactured goods, particularly textiles, created a favorable balance of trade that drew silver from the Americas through European and Middle Eastern trade routes directly into the Mughal economy.

The Ain is divided into five books ( daftars ):

1. Manzil-abadi: Concerned the imperial household and its maintenance.
2. Sipah-abadi: Covered military and civil administration, including biographical sketches of officials ( mansabdars ), poets, and scholars.
3. Mulk-abadi: Dealt with the fiscal side of the empire, providing detailed statistical tables on revenue rates, measured area, and the "Account of the Twelve Provinces."
4. Fourth & Fifth Books: Detailed the religious, literary, and cultural traditions of India, and compiled Akbar's "auspicious sayings."

• Limitations:
  • Arithmetical and transcription errors in totals.
  • Skewed data collection (e.g., detailed caste data is missing for Bengal and Orissa).
  • Agra-centric prices and wages, making the data less representative of distant provinces.
• Historical Value: Despite limitations, the Ain represents a major breakthrough in medieval historiography. It shifted the focus from mere dynastic wars and political intrigue to a detailed quantitative study of the empire's people, professions, trade, and agrarian resources.