A historian checks Bernier's claim of crown ownership of land against…

A historian checks Bernier's claim of crown ownership of land against Mughal official records. Which of the following would she find?

(A) No Mughal official document suggests that the state was the sole owner of land.
(B) Abu'l Fazl describes land revenue as remunerations of sovereignty.
(C) Land revenue was a claim made by the ruler for the protection he provided.
(D) Land revenue was a rent on land that the emperor owned.
(E) Land revenue was a land tax fixed on the land a peasant held.

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) No Mughal official document suggests that the state was the sole owner of land. — Correct. Mughal records do not support Bernier; none of them suggests the state alone owned the land.

(B) Abu'l Fazl describes land revenue as remunerations of sovereignty. — Correct. Abu'l Fazl, Akbar's official chronicler, called land revenue remunerations of sovereignty.

(C) Land revenue was a claim made by the ruler for the protection he provided. — Correct. The ruler claimed revenue in return for protecting his subjects, not as an owner of land.

(D) Land revenue was a rent on land that the emperor owned. — Incorrect. Rent on land was how European travellers read high revenue demands; the records describe revenue as a claim for protection.

(E) Land revenue was a land tax fixed on the land a peasant held. — Incorrect. Land revenue was a tax on the crop, which is different from a tax on the land itself.

NCERT (2026-27): “6.1 The question of landownership …
Curiously, none of the Mughal official documents suggest that the state was the sole owner of land. For instance, Abu’l Fazl, the sixteenth-century official chronicler of Akbar’s reign, describes the land revenue as “remunerations of sovereignty”, a claim made by the ruler on his subjects for the protection he provided rather than as rent on land that he owned. It is possible that European travellers regarded such claims as rent because land revenue demands were often very high. However, this was actually not a rent or even a land tax, but a tax on the crop (for more details, see Chapter 8).”