Which of the following statements is incorrect about the peasants in India in the 16th and 17th centuries?

Mostly, the average peasant of north India possessed more than a pair of bullocks and two ploughs.

The correct answer is Option 1 - Mostly, the average peasant of north India possessed more than a pair of bullocks and two ploughs.

Peasants and their lands:

The term which Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period most frequently used to denote a peasant was raiyat (plural, riaya) or muzarian. In addition, we also encounter the terms kisan or asami. Sources of the seventeenth century refer to two kinds of peasants – khud-kashta and pahi-kashta. The former were residents of the village in which they held their lands. The latter were non-resident cultivators who belonged to some other village, but cultivated lands elsewhere on a contractual basis. People became pahi-kashta either out of choice – for example, when terms of revenue in a distant village were more favourable – or out of compulsion – for example, forced by economic distress after a famine. SELDOM did the average peasant of north India possess more than a pair of bullocks and two ploughs (OPTION1); most possessed even less. In Gujarat peasants possessing about six acres of land were considered to be affluent (OPTION 2); in Bengal, on the other hand, five acres was the upper limit of an average peasant farm; 10 acres would make one a rich asami (OPTION 3). Cultivation was based on the principle of individual ownership. Peasant lands were bought and sold in the same way as the lands of other property owners.