☰
Peasants, Zamindars And The State
Peasants on the move
This was a feature of agrarian society which struck a keen observer like Babar, the first Mughal emperor, forcefully enough for him to write about it in the Babarnama, his memoirs: “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. On the other hand, if they fix their eyes on a place to settle, they need not dig water courses because their crops are all rain-grown, and as the population of Hindustan is unlimited it swarms in. They make a tank or a well; they need not build houses or set up walls ... khas-grass abounds, wood is unlimited, huts are made, and straightaway there is a village or a town !”
Questions:
(i) Give two aspects of agricultural life that Babar observed.
(ii) Why did the settlers need not have to build houses?
(iii) Explain the difference between the two types of peasants in the villages.
(iv) Explain any two factors that led to constant expansion of agriculture.
(i) (a) Indian farmer’s crops were all rain-grown.
(b) They make a tank or a well in their villages or towns.
(ii) The settlers did not need have to build homes because they made huts of khas, grass and wood. These both articles were available in abounds or unlimited. Huts are made and straightaway there is a village or a town. They did not need build homes or set up walls.
(iii) The two types of peasants in the villages were :
(a) The permanent farmers of a large town inhabited for years and cultivate the lands permanently. They might free from their parental villages.
(b) There were farmers or peasants, they might be called new settlers. They fixed their eyes on a place to settle. They did not need dig water course because their crops are rain-grown.
(iv) Following are two factors that led to constant expansion of agriculture :
(a) The population of Hindustan is unlimited and it swarms in, at different villages and towns. These places are set up in a moment.
(b) Due to shifting of the peasants or settling at new places the constant expansion of agriculture took place.
Sponsor Area
To what extent do you think caste was a factor in influencing social and economic relations in agrarian society?
How were the lives of forest dwellers transformed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?
Examine the role played by zamindars in Mughal India.
Discuss the ways in which panchayats and village headmen regulated rural society.
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.
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 sixteenth-
seventeenth centuries, noting similarities and differences. Explain both the changes and the continuities that you find.
How were the village artisans compensated by the villagers for their services? Write about any one.
How did the zamindars derive their power during the Mughal period? Mention any two ways.
What was Jati Panchayat? State any two of its functions.
Why had an artificial system of irrigation to be devised in India during sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ? Mention one such system.
Sponsor Area
Sponsor Area