A research student in Delhi is preparing a project on village life in north India during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. She notes that most people of the time lived in the countryside. In one village, families tilled the soil, sowed seeds and harvested the crop through the year, while landed elites also claimed a part of the harvest. Their dealings ranged from cooperation to open quarrels. She also finds that officials came from outside to measure fields and keep records, and that crops grown for sale tied the village to distant towns.
Which was the most important among the agencies from outside that entered the rural world in this period?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → The Mughal state
Option (1) The East India Company — Incorrect. The East India Company's records are a later source for eastern India. The Company had no hold over Mughal villages in this period.
Option (2) The Mughal state — Correct. The Mughal state drew the bulk of its income from farming. So its officials, like those the student found, reached into the villages.
Option (3) Town merchants and moneylenders — Incorrect. Trade, money and markets did enter the villages because crops were grown for sale. But they came second to the state.
Option (4) The Rajput chiefs — Incorrect. Rajput chiefs were landed powers who served within the empire. They were themselves part of the rural world.
NCERT (2026-27): “Peasants, Zamindars and the State arian Society and tthe Mughal Emire . sixteenth - seventeenth centuries) … |