HistoryMedieval India: Peasants, Zamindars and the State

Which castes rose in the caste hierarchy through the profits of such…

A historian studies a local manual from a mixed-caste village of seventeenth-century north India. She notes that one family group, once placed low in the local caste order, had turned to rearing cattle and growing fruit and vegetables for sale in nearby towns. Within two generations the family was being treated with more respect in the village. The same manual records that an assembly of village elders met each season to settle quarrels over field boundaries and water.

Which castes rose in the caste hierarchy through the profits of such work?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 4

The correct answer is Option (4) → Ahirs, Gujars and Malis

Option (1) Gauravas and Rajputs — Incorrect. The Gauravas of Vrindavan sought Rajput status, and Rajputs appear as peasants in a Marwar manual. Neither is linked to cattle or fruit growing.

Option (2) Halalkhoran and Mallahzadas — Incorrect. These were menial groups at the bottom of village society, one housed outside the village and one comparable to slaves.

Option (3) Jats and Kaivartas — Incorrect. The Jats were given a lower status than Rajputs in Marwar, and the Kaivartas were a fishing caste that acquired peasant status.

Option (4) Ahirs, Gujars and Malis — Correct. The <strong>Ahirs, Gujars and Malis</strong> rose in the hierarchy because of the <strong>profitability of cattle rearing and horticulture</strong>, as the family in the passage did.

NCERT (2026-27): “2.1 Caste and the rural milieu …
There was a direct correlation between caste, poverty and social status at the lower strata of society. Such correlations were not so marked at intermediate levels. In a manual from seventeenth-century Marwar, Rajputs are mentioned as peasants, sharing the same space with Jats, who were accorded a lower status in the caste hierarchy. The Gauravas, who cultivated land around Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh), sought Rajput status in the seventeenth century. Castes such as the Ahirs, Gujars and Malis rose in the hierarchy because of the profitability of cattle rearing and horticulture. In the eastern regions, intermediate pastoral and fishing castes like the Sadgops and Kaivartas acquired the status of peasants.”