Consider the following statements about zamindars and the peasantry in Mughal India:
(A) The bhakti saints did not portray the zamindars as oppressors of the peasantry.
(B) The bhakti saints usually made the revenue official of the state the object of their ire.
(C) In many agrarian uprisings of seventeenth-century north India, zamindars received the support of the peasantry.
(D) The bhakti saints portrayed the moneylender as an oppressor of the peasantry.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → A, B and C only
(A) The bhakti saints did not portray the zamindars as oppressors of the peasantry. — Correct. The bhakti saints condemned caste-based oppression, yet they <strong>did not paint the zamindars as exploiters</strong>. This shows an element of reciprocity and patronage.
(B) The bhakti saints usually made the revenue official of the state the object of their ire. — Correct. The anger of the saints was usually aimed at the <strong>revenue official of the state</strong>, not at the zamindar.
(C) In many agrarian uprisings of seventeenth-century north India, zamindars received the support of the peasantry. — Correct. In many seventeenth-century uprisings in north India, <strong>peasants stood with the zamindars</strong> in their struggle against the state.
(D) The bhakti saints portrayed the moneylender as an oppressor of the peasantry. — Incorrect. The saints spared the <strong>moneylender</strong> too. Like the zamindar, he was not shown as an oppressor of the peasantry.
NCERT (2026-27): “5. The Zamindars … “revenue official of the state who was the object of their ire. 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.” |