A historian in Lucknow is writing a chapter on the countryside of the Mughal empire in the early seventeenth century. Her main source is a bundle of revenue papers from a fertile plain. They list measured fields, the crops sown in each season, the names of cultivators and the share of the harvest owed to the state. The papers say little about anything beyond the plain itself. She plans to add other sources before she draws any general picture of rural society in the empire.
The historian checks four statements about rural India in this period before she writes. Which one is correct?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Settled peasant production did not cover every kind of land
Option (1) Peasants of the plains worked the land mainly as non-resident cultivators — Incorrect. The village was home to the peasants who tilled its land. Cultivators living in the village were the usual case, so this statement reverses the normal pattern.
Option (2) The Mughal state drew the bulk of its income from overseas trade — Incorrect. The Mughal state derived the bulk of its income from agricultural production. That is why its agents watched cultivation so closely.
Option (3) Trade and money had not yet entered the villages of the empire — Incorrect. Many crops were grown for sale, so trade, money and markets entered the villages and linked farming areas with the towns. This statement reverses that.
Option (4) Settled peasant production did not cover every kind of land — Correct. Rural India had more than settled peasant production. Dry tracts and hilly regions could not be farmed in the same way as fertile land, so revenue papers of one plain show only part of rural life.
NCERT (2026-27): “Peasants, Zamindars and the State arian Society and tthe Mughal Emire . sixteenth - seventeenth centuries) … “The basic unit of agricultural society was the village, inhabited by peasants who performed the manifold seasonal tasks that made up agricultural production throughout the year – tilling the soil, sowing seeds, harvesting the crop when it was ripe. Further, they contributed their labour to the production of agro-based goods such as sugar and oil.” “But rural India was not characterised by settled peasant production alone. …” |