Target Exam

CUET

Subject

History

Chapter

Medieval India: Peasants, Zamindars and the State

Question:

Read the passage and answer the questions:

Agrarian Relation: Crops

Agriculture was organised around two major seasonal cycles, the kharif and the rabi. This would mean that most regions, except those terrains that were the most arid or inhospitable, produced a minimum of two crops a year, whereas some, even gave three crops. For instance, we are told that the Mughal provinces of Agra produced 39 varieties of crops and Delhi produced 43 over the two seasons. Bengal produced 50 varieties of rice alone. However, the focus on the cultivation of basic staples did not mean that agriculture in medieval India was only for subsistence. We often come across the term jins-i kamil in our sources. The Mughal state also encouraged peasants to cultivate such crops as they brought in more revenue. Crops such as cotton and sugarcane were jins-i kamil par excellence. Cotton was grown over central India and the Deccan plateau, whereas Bengal was famous for its sugar. Such cash crops would also include various sorts of oilseeds (for example, mustard) and lentils. This shows how subsistence and commercial production were closely intertwined in an average peasant's holding. During the seventeenth century several new crops from different parts of the world reached the Indian subcontinent. Maize (makka), for example, was introduced into India via Africa and Spain and by the seventeenth century it was being listed as one of the major crops of western India. Vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes and chillies were introduced from the New World at this time, as were fruits like the pineapple and the papaya.

What is understood by the term 'do-fasla'?

Options:

One crop a year

Two crops a year

Four crops a year

Three crops a year

Correct Answer:

Two crops a year

Explanation:

The correct answer is Option (2) → Two crops a year

The passage states that agriculture was organised around two major seasonal cycles — kharif and rabi — which meant most regions produced a minimum of two crops a year. The term do-fasla literally means two harvests or two crops in a year.