François Bernier described Mughal cities as "camp towns", by which he meant towns that owed their existence, and depended for their survival on the imperial camp.

In this regard which of the following options is correct?

Statement A- He believed that these came into existence when the imperial court moved in and rapidly declined when it moved out.
Statement B- He believed that these got completely destroyed when the imperial court moved in and rapidly grew when it moved out.
Statement C- He suggested that the towns had viable social and economic foundations and were independent of imperial patronage.
Statement D- He suggested that the towns did not have viable social and economic foundations but were dependent on imperial patronage.

Choose the correct answer from the given options:

A and D

The correct answer is Option 3 - A and D

The correct statements are:

Statement A- He believed that these came into existence when the imperial court moved in and rapidly declined when it moved out.
Statement D- He suggested that the towns did not have viable social and economic foundations but were dependent on imperial patronage.

During the seventeenth century about 15 per cent of the population lived in towns. This was, on average, higher than the proportion of urban population in Western Europe in the same period. In spite of this Bernier described Mughal cities as “camp towns”, by which he meant towns that owed their existence, and depended for their survival, on the imperial camp. He believed that these came into existence when the imperial court moved in and rapidly declined when it moved out. He suggested that they did not have viable social and economic foundations but were dependent on imperial patronage. As in the case of the question of landownership, Bernier was drawing an oversimplified picture. There were all kinds of towns: manufacturing towns, trading towns, port-towns, sacred centres, pilgrimage towns, etc. Their existence is an index of the prosperity of merchant communities and professional classes.