Consider the following statements about women and land in Mughal India:
(A) Amongst the landed gentry, women had the right to inherit property.
(B) In the Punjab, women, including widows, took part in the rural land market as sellers of inherited property.
(C) Hindu and Muslim women inherited zamindaris, but they were not free to sell or mortgage them.
(D) One of the biggest eighteenth-century zamindaris, that of Burdwan, had a woman at the helm.
(E) Women zamindars were known in eighteenth-century Bengal.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → A, B and E only
(A) Amongst the landed gentry, women had the right to inherit property. — Correct. Women of the landed gentry had the right to inherit property.
(B) In the Punjab, women, including widows, took part in the rural land market as sellers of inherited property. — Correct. Records from the Punjab show women, widows too, selling land they had inherited.
(C) Hindu and Muslim women inherited zamindaris, but they were not free to sell or mortgage them. — Incorrect. Women who inherited zamindaris were free to sell or mortgage them.
(D) One of the biggest eighteenth-century zamindaris, that of Burdwan, had a woman at the helm. — Incorrect. The great eighteenth-century zamindari with a woman at its head was Rajshahi; Burdwan has been put in its place.
(E) Women zamindars were known in eighteenth-century Bengal. — Correct. Women zamindars were known in eighteenth-century Bengal.
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