In the given question, a statement of Assertion is followed by a statement of Reason. Mark the correct answer.

Assertion: From the texts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it can be said that Zamindar's relationship with the peasantry had an element of reciprocity, paternalism, and patronage.

Reason: The bhakti saints portrayed the zamindars and the moneylenders as exploiters or oppressors of the peasantry and were the object of their ire.

The Assertion is correct but the Reason is incorrect.

The correct answer is Option 4 - The Assertion is correct but the Reason is incorrect.

Reason: The bhakti saints portrayed the zamindars and the moneylenders as exploiters or oppressors of the peasantry and were the object of their ire. (INOCRRECT)

The bhakti saints, who eloquently condemned caste-based and other forms of oppression, did not portray the zamindars (or, interestingly, the moneylender) as exploiters or oppressors of the peasantry. Usually it was the revenue official of the state who was the object of their ire (CORRECT VERSION OF REASON).

In the 16th-17th century in India, the zamindars spearheaded the colonisation of agricultural land, and helped in settling cultivators by providing them with the means of cultivation, including cash loans. The buying and selling of zamindaris accelerated the process of monetisation in the countryside. In addition, zamindars sold the produce from their milkiyat lands. There is evidence to show that zamindars often established markets (haats) to which peasants also came to sell their produce. Although there can be little doubt that zamindars were an exploitative class, their relationship with the peasantry had an element of reciprocity, paternalism and patronage (ASSERTION). Two aspects reinforce this view. First, the bhakti saints, who eloquently condemned caste-based and other forms of oppression, did not portray the zamindars (or, interestingly, the moneylender) as exploiters or oppressors of the peasantry. Usually it was the revenue official of the state who was the object of their ire (CORRECT VERSION OF REASON). Second, in a large number of agrarian uprisings which erupted in north India in the seventeenth century, zamindars often received the support of the peasantry in their struggle against the state.