Peasants, Zamindars and the State: Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire (c. 16th–17th centuries)

Introduction

The Mughal Empire (16th–17th centuries) was one of the most powerful empires in world history. At the heart of this empire was its agrarian economy, where the relationship between peasants, zamindars, and the state determined production, taxation, and social organization.

• Peasants: The backbone of the economy, cultivating food crops, cash crops, and providing revenue.
• Zamindars: Landholders and intermediaries who enjoyed hereditary rights over land, collected taxes, and maintained military support.
• State: Represented by Mughal emperors, who depended on land revenue (jama) as their primary source of income.

This triangular relationship shaped the economy, politics, and culture of the Mughal Empire.

1. Sources to Study Agrarian Society

🌟 Ain-i Akbari by Abul Fazl

• Part of Akbar’s Akbarnama.
• Provides detailed account of land revenue, crops, measurement, prices, caste groups, and administration.

🌟 Baburnama, Jahangirnama, Shahjahan’s Farmans – contain references to agrarian policies.

🌟 European Travellers’ Accounts

• François Bernier, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Peter Mundy, and Niccolao Manucci.
• Descriptions of villages, landholding, and revenue extraction.

🌟 Inscriptions & Revenue Records

• Sanads, grants, jagir records.
• Provide micro-details about agrarian society.

2. The Village Community

• Basic unit of agrarian society.
• Consisted of peasants, artisans, laborers, herders, and priests.
• Villages were self-sufficient but linked to larger markets.

🌟 Social Groups

• Khudkashta: Resident peasants with hereditary rights to land.
• Pahi-Kashta: Outsider cultivators, less secure.
• Artisans: Blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers, potters—essential to agrarian production.
• Servants and Laborers: Worked for wages or in bonded conditions.

🌟 Villages were tied together by customary rights, caste panchayats, and revenue obligations.

3. Agricultural Production

🌟 Crops

• Food crops: Wheat, rice, barley, millets, pulses.
• Cash crops: Cotton, indigo, sugarcane, oilseeds.
• Commercial crops: Opium, tobacco (introduced by Portuguese).

🌟 Technology and Irrigation

• Persian wheel, wells, tanks, canals.
• Monsoon remained crucial.

🌟 Double Cropping

• Common in fertile areas (Punjab, Bengal).

🌟 Regional Specialization

• Bengal – rice, jute, silk.
• Gujarat – cotton, indigo.
• Coromandel – rice, textiles.
• Deccan – tobacco, sugarcane.

4. The Peasants’ World

• Most peasants lived at subsistence level.
• Paid a large part of produce as revenue.
• Maintained customary rights like grazing, access to forests, fishing, and collecting firewood.

🌟 Strains and Resistance

• Revenue pressure often forced peasants into debt.
• Peasant revolts occurred when exploitation became unbearable – e.g., Jat, Satnami, Sikh uprisings.
• Everyday resistance: deserting fields, non-payment, migration.

5. Zamindars: Intermediaries of Power

🌟 Who were Zamindars?

• Hereditary landholders, chiefs, chieftains, and local elites.
• Collected revenue on behalf of the state.
• Enjoyed military power, controlled armed retainers.
• Acted as patrons of temples, mosques, tanks, and cultural activities.

🌟 Types of Zamindars

• Autonomous chiefs with large estates.
• Village zamindars holding hereditary rights over land.
• Revenue intermediaries appointed by Mughals.

🌟 Role in Mughal System

• Maintained balance between peasantry and imperial authority.
• Also acted as potential rebels (Rajputs, Jats, Marathas).

6. Land Revenue System under the Mughals

🌟 Importance of Revenue

• Land revenue was the chief source of state income.
• Funded army, administration, courtly culture.

🌟 Ain-i Akbari Revenue Reforms (Todar Mal’s Bandobast)

• Measurement of land (zabt system) using standardized units (bigha).
• Classification of land: Polaj (cultivated annually), Parauti (fallow), Chachar (resting land), Banjar (wasteland).
• Average produce and prices calculated over 10 years to fix revenue demand.
• Revenue usually set at one-third of average produce.
• Paid in cash (rarely in kind).

🌟 Jagirdari System

• Land assignments (jagirs) given to mansabdars.
• Mansabdars collected revenue from jagirs instead of salary.
• Jagir was transferable to prevent local entrenchment.

7. Markets and Trade in Agrarian Society

🌟 Village and Regional Markets

• Villages exchanged local produce through weekly bazaars (haats).
• Regional centers: grain markets, mandis, and qasbas.

🌟 Long-Distance Trade

• Agricultural surplus reached urban centers like Agra, Delhi, Lahore.
• Export of indigo, cotton, silk, sugar to Central Asia, Persia, Europe.

🌟 Monetization of Economy

• Expansion of silver currency (rupiya).
• Cash payments facilitated large-scale trade.

🌟 Role of Zamindars and Merchants

• Zamindars often acted as suppliers of grain to towns.
• Merchant classes (banias, seths) financed agrarian trade.

8. The State and Agrarian Society

🌟 Relationship of State with Peasants

• State demanded high revenue but also ensured irrigation, security, and law.
• Peasants were expected to be loyal subjects of the emperor.

🌟 Relationship of State with Zamindars

• Mughals co-opted zamindars into administration, granting titles and privileges.
• But zamindars also posed rebellion threats.

🌟 Military and Agrarian Nexus

• Land revenue supported the Mughal army (cavalry, artillery).
• Zamindars provided contingents in times of war.

9. Social and Cultural Dimensions

🌟 Caste and Hierarchy

• Peasant communities organized by caste (jati).
• Hierarchical division of work: cultivators, artisans, herders, untouchables.

🌟 Religion

• Both Hindu and Muslim peasants formed agrarian base.
• Zamindars often patronized temples, mosques, and Sufi shrines.

🌟 Patronage

• Agrarian surplus funded grand Mughal architecture, literature, and art.
• Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Fatehpur Sikri were indirectly linked to peasant taxes.

10. Conflicts and Revolts

🌟 Peasant Revolts

• Jats (Mathura, Agra region).
• Satnamis (Haryana).
• Sikhs (Punjab under Guru Hargobind, Guru Gobind Singh).

🌟 Zamindari Rebellions

• Rajputs occasionally revolted against Mughal control.
• Maratha sardars emerged as challengers in the Deccan.

🌟 Causes of Revolts

• Excessive revenue demand.
• Harsh collection practices.
• Declining zamindari privileges.
• Religious and political motivations.

11. Regional Variations

🌟 Punjab – wheat, sugarcane, pastoralism, Sikh agrarian base.
🌟 Bengal – rice, jute, silk; highly fertile delta.
🌟 Deccan – cotton, tobacco; Marathas challenged Mughal authority.
🌟 Rajasthan – dry agriculture, reliance on wells and tanks.
🌟 South India – rice and cash crops, linked to Coromandel trade.

12. Decline of Mughal Agrarian System

• Over time, revenue demand increased beyond capacity of peasants.
• Jagirdari crisis: shortage of jagirs for mansabdars.
• Zamindars grew more autonomous, reducing imperial control.
• Agrarian revolts weakened empire in 18th century.

Conclusion

The agrarian system of the Mughal Empire was a complex network of peasants, zamindars, and state authority.

• Peasants provided the surplus that sustained the empire.
• Zamindars acted as intermediaries, balancing loyalty and rebellion.
• The State, through revenue systems, maintained its army and cultural splendor.

While the system generated prosperity and supported one of the greatest empires of its time, its rigid revenue demands and conflicts also sowed seeds of decline.

Thus, Mughal agrarian society represents both the strength and weakness of one of India’s most iconic empires.

FAQs

Q1. What was the main source of Mughal revenue?
Land revenue from peasants.

Q2. Who were zamindars in Mughal India?
Hereditary landholders and intermediaries who collected revenue and provided military service.

Q3. What was Todar Mal’s revenue reform?
Standardized measurement of land, classification of soils, and fixing one-third of produce as revenue.

Q4. Why did peasants revolt during Mughal rule?
Excessive revenue, exploitation, and zamindari oppression.

Q5. How did agrarian surplus shape Mughal culture?
It funded monumental architecture, art, literature, and the imperial lifestyle.