Chapter 4 — Peasants, Zamindars and the State: Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire (c. Sixteenth–Seventeenth Centuries)

🌾 1. Introduction: Agrarian Life in Mughal India

• The Mughal Empire (16th–17th centuries) was largely agrarian—nearly 85 percent of India’s population lived in villages and depended on agriculture.
• Land was the main source of revenue and power; it linked peasants, zamindars, and the imperial state.
• Akbar’s reign (1556–1605) provided the most detailed documentation of rural society through Abu’l Fazl’s Ain-i Akbari.
• The agrarian economy formed the foundation of Mughal political authority.

🌾 2. Peasants and Agricultural Production

a. Types of Peasants

• Khud-kashta: Resident peasants cultivating their own fields.
• Pahi-kashta: Migrant or temporary cultivators working on others’ lands.
• Sharecroppers/Tenants: Paid rent in kind or cash to landlords or zamindars.

b. Agricultural Technology

• Use of iron ploughs, animal-driven Persian wheels, and irrigation canals.
• Crops: Rice, wheat, barley, millets, pulses, sugarcane, cotton, indigo.
• Double cropping was practiced in fertile areas.
• New crops like tobacco, maize, chillies came after contact with Europeans.

c. Irrigation and Water Management

• Depended on rainfall, wells, tanks, and canals (especially in northern India).
• State and local community cooperation built and maintained irrigation systems.

d. Ownership and Taxation

• Land legally belonged to the emperor; peasants held hereditary rights of cultivation.
• Peasants paid land revenue (mal) through revenue officials (amils, qanungos).
• The amount was based on the measurement of land (zabt system) and crop productivity.

e. Peasant Resistance

• Heavy revenue demands often caused distress.
• Records mention desertion of villages, strikes, and revolts (notably in the Deccan).
• Example: Satnami and Jat rebellions reflected agrarian discontent.

🌾 3. The Village Community

a. Structure of the Village

• Self-contained units with cultivators, artisans, and service groups.
• Villages had panchayats (local councils) and community temples or mosques.
• Division of land: cultivated (maurusi), waste, pasture, forest.

b. Village Officials

• Headman (muqaddam): Supervised cultivation and revenue collection.
• Patwari: Kept land records.
• Qanungo: Verified revenue accounts.
• Chaudhuri or zamindar: Local intermediaries between state and peasants.

c. Functions of the Panchayat

• Maintained social order, settled disputes, organized community works (wells, roads).
• Collected contributions for festivals and defense.
• Represented village before the state administration.

d. Caste and Hierarchy

• Villages had clear caste divisions—Brahmins, Rajputs, Jats, artisans, Dalits.
• Upper castes owned most land; lower castes worked as agricultural labourers.
• Untouchability was practiced; yet in some regions (Punjab, Bengal), caste lines were less rigid.

e. Rural Markets (Haats and Melas)

• Weekly markets (haats) exchanged grains, salt, cloth, livestock.
• Annual fairs (melas) combined trade with religious festivals.

🌾 4. Women in Agrarian Society

a. Role in Production

• Women worked in sowing, weeding, winnowing, and household industries (spinning, weaving).
• In subsistence farming families, their labour was crucial but undervalued.

b. Property Rights

• Customary laws allowed limited inheritance in some regions (e.g., Bengal matrilineal groups).
• Islamic law (Shari‘a) provided daughters and wives certain shares, though rarely implemented.

c. Marriage and Dowry

• Marriages were arranged within caste; dowry common among upper castes.
• In poorer families, bride-price was also practiced.

d. Women and Social Control

• Panchayats controlled female behaviour, punished adultery, and maintained patriarchal norms.
• Widows faced social restrictions; some practiced sati (rare but prestigious in elite groups).

🌾 5. Forests and Tribes

a. Geographical Distribution

• Vast forests in central India, Assam, Bengal, Deccan, and the Himalayas housed tribal communities.

b. Tribal Economy

• Hunting, shifting cultivation (jhum), gathering forest produce (honey, wax, timber).
• Tribes exchanged goods with settled peasants—barter of forest produce for grain or metal tools.

c. Tribal Chiefs and Autonomy

• Chiefs (rajas, sardars) exercised local control and collected tribute.
• Many tribes were gradually absorbed into agrarian society as peasants or soldiers.

d. State Control over Forests

• Mughal rulers considered forests as potential agricultural land.
• Campaigns to clear forests increased cultivation and revenue.
• Tribes resisted displacement—Bhils, Gonds, and Santhals revolted frequently.

e. Cultural Exchange

• Tribal deities were merged into Hindu pantheon; Islamic saints attracted tribal followers.
• Over time, tribal regions became integrated into the Mughal administrative network.

🌾 6. Zamindars: Intermediaries between State and Peasants

a. Who Were Zamindars?

• Local landed elites who collected revenue from peasants on behalf of the state.
• Some were hereditary chieftains, others appointed by the Mughals.

b. Types of Zamindars

• Autonomous zamindars: Controlled large territories, had their own armed retainers.
• Intermediary zamindars: Managed smaller revenue units under imperial officers.

c. Functions

• Collection of land revenue (mal) and payment to the imperial treasury.
• Maintenance of law and order.
• Construction of temples, mosques, tanks; patronage of local culture.

d. Privileges

• Received nankar (tax-free lands) and a share of revenue (usually 10 percent).
• Enjoyed social prestige, military authority, and economic power.

e. Conflict with Peasants and State

• Some exploited peasants through extra taxes.
• Others clashed with Mughal officers over assessment rates.
• Rebellions by zamindars (e.g., Jat revolt of 1669–1672) weakened imperial control.

🌾 7. The Flow of Silver and the Monetary Economy

a. Silver Influx

• Global trade in the 16th–17th centuries brought massive silver inflows from Europe, Japan, and the New World.
• Portuguese and Dutch merchants imported silver to purchase Indian textiles and spices.

b. Impact on Indian Economy

• Increased money supply encouraged monetization of transactions.
• Peasants and zamindars paid revenue in cash rather than kind.
• Growth of urban centers like Agra, Lahore, Ahmedabad, Masulipatnam as trade hubs.

c. Integration with World Economy

• India became part of a global economic network, exporting textiles, indigo, and saltpetre.
• Silver from the Americas indirectly supported Mughal revenue system.

d. Challenges

• Regional differences in currency purity created confusion.
• Price inflation hurt small peasants, benefiting large traders and moneylenders.

🌾 8. The Ain-i Akbari of Abu’l Fazl

a. Nature of the Work

• A detailed administrative manual written in Persian (1590s).
• Part of the Akbarnama, authored by Abu’l Fazl, court historian of Emperor Akbar.

b. Structure

• Volume I: Imperial administration and court organization.
• Volume II: Army, salaries, officials, and imperial households.
• Volume III (Ain-i Akbari): Statistical survey of the empire—districts, crops, revenues, prices, customs, and caste details.

c. Agrarian Information

• Listed crops grown in each region, assessment rates, and irrigation methods.
• Classified land according to fertility—polaj, parauti, chachar, banjar.
• Provided details of crop seasons (rabi, kharif, zaid) and average yields.

d. Importance

• First comprehensive economic census of India.
• Showed how the Mughal state sought to rationalize revenue and strengthen central control.
• Served as the foundation for later historians to reconstruct Mughal agrarian life.

e. Limitations

• Reflected the viewpoint of the ruling elite, focusing on revenue, not the peasants’ hardships.
• Regional variations and tribal societies remained under-represented.

🌾 9. The Mughal State and Agrarian Relations

a. Revenue System under Akbar

• Todar Mal’s Bandobast (1580): Standardized land measurement and crop-based assessment.
• Introduced zabt system – annual revenue fixed at one-third of average produce.
• Collected in cash or kind; rates revised every ten years.

b. Officials

• Amil-guzar: Revenue collector at district level.
• Qanungo: Record keeper.
• Karori: Account officer verifying revenue receipts.

c. Jagir and Mansabdari System

• Mansabdars (rank-holders) received jagirs (revenue assignments) instead of salaries.
• They collected revenue from assigned lands to maintain troops and pay household expenses.
• Periodic transfer of jagirs prevented local autonomy but caused tensions.

d. Balance between State and Local Interests

• The Mughal state depended on cooperation of zamindars and village elites.
• Too heavy a revenue demand could ruin peasants and reduce productivity.
• Hence, emperors emphasized just governance (adalat) and protection of cultivators.

🌾 10. Questions in Search of Answers (Historiographical Issues)

• How reliable are revenue records?
  → They reflect the official ideal, not always the local reality.
• Were peasants passive?
  → No; evidence shows resistance, migration, and bargaining with local elites.
• Was the Mughal agrarian system static?
  → It was dynamic—responded to ecological, political, and market changes.
• Did the economy decline after the 17th century?
  → Gradual regional fragmentation, over-taxation, and declining silver inflow weakened the system.

🌾 11. Conclusion

• The Mughal agrarian order was a complex web of relationships among peasants, zamindars, and the state.
• Peasants formed the economic backbone; zamindars mediated between them and the imperial administration.
• Akbar’s reign represented the high point of efficient agrarian management through record-keeping and revenue reform.
• Yet beneath prosperity lay inequality and tension—over-extraction, social hierarchy, and ecological limits.
• Despite these contradictions, Mughal India remained one of the world’s largest agrarian-commercial economies of its time.