Read the passage and answer the questions:
Agrarian Relations: Mughal Period
One of the most important chronicles was the Ain-i Akbari authored by Akbar’s court historian Abu’l Fazl. This text meticulously recorded the arrangements made by the state to ensure cultivation, to enable the collection of revenue by the agencies of the state and to regulate the relationship between the state and rural magnates, the zamindars. The zamindars held extensive personal lands termed milkiyat, meaning property. Milkiyat lands were cultivated for the private use of zamindars, often with the help of hired or servile labour. The zamindars could sell, bequeath or mortgage these lands at will. The term which Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period most frequently used to denote a peasant was raiyat or muzarian. 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 land elsewhere on a contractual basis. The Ain is made up of five books, of which the first three books describe the administration. The first book, called manzil-abadi, concerns the imperial household and its maintenance. The second book, sipah-abadi, covers the military and civil administration and the establishment of servants. The third book, mulk-abadi, is the one which deals with the fiscal side of the empire and provides rich quantitative information on revenue rates, followed by the “Account of the Twelve Provinces”.
Which of the following is not true about milkiyat lands?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → The king held extensive personal lands termed milkiyat lands.
Option (1) The zamindars held extensive personal lands termed milkiyat. Correct statement. Milkiyat, meaning property, was the name for the personal lands of the zamindars.
Option (2) The king held extensive personal lands termed milkiyat lands. Incorrect statement. Milkiyat lands belonged to the zamindars, not to the king, so this is the statement that is not true.
Option (3) Milkiyat lands were cultivated for the private use of the owner, often with the help of hired or servile labour. Correct statement. These lands were cultivated for the private use of the zamindars, often with hired or servile labour.
Option (4) Milkiyat lands could be sold, bequeathed or mortgaged by the owner at will. Correct statement. The zamindars could sell, bequeath or mortgage these lands at will.
Note: This passage is put together from the NCERT chapter ‘Peasants, Zamindars and the State’, sentence for sentence, from its sections on the zamindars, on peasants and their lands, and on the Ain-i Akbari. NTA picked lines from three different sections of one chapter, so a careful reading of the whole chapter pays off.
NCERT (2026-27): “5. The Zamindars … Caste was one factor that accounted for the elevated status of zamindars; another factor was that they performed certain services (khidmat) for the state. The zamindars held extensive personal lands termed milkiyat, meaning property. Milkiyat lands were cultivated for the private use of zamindars, often with the help of hired or servile labour. The zamindars could sell, bequeath or mortgage these lands at will.…” |