The above account makes it clear that agricultural production involved the intensive participation and initiative of the peasantry. How did this affect the structure of agrarian relations in Mughal society? To find out, let us look at the social groups involved in agricultural expansion, and at their relationships and conflicts. There were three constituents of this community - the cultivators, the panchayat, and the village headman (muqaddam or mandal).
Two lines have been left out between the third and the fourth sentences of the passage. The first of them tells how peasants held their lands. What does that line say?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Peasants held their lands in individual ownership.
Option (1) Peasants held their lands as tenants of the local zamindar. — Incorrect. Zamindars were a separate rural group with rights over land and revenue. The book does not describe the ordinary peasant as a tenant holding land from the zamindar.
Option (2) Peasants held their lands in common as members of the village community. — Incorrect. The peasants did belong to a collective village community, made up of cultivators, the panchayat and the headman. This community shaped many parts of their social life.
Option (3) Peasants held their lands in individual ownership. — Correct. Mughal peasants held their lands in individual ownership. The village community mattered for their social life, but the land itself belonged to each peasant.
Option (4) Peasants held their lands as grants from the Mughal state. — Incorrect. The Mughal state assigned the right to collect revenue to its officials. The peasant's land was his own holding.
NCERT (2026-27): “2. The Village Community “We have seen that peasants held their lands in individual ownership. At the same time they belonged to a collective village community as far as many aspects of their social existence were concerned. There were three constituents of this community – the cultivators, the panchayat, and the village headman (muqaddam or mandal).” |