A research student in Delhi is preparing a project on rural north India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. She reads that most people of the time lived outside the towns. Her sources show peasant families working the fields through the seasons: tilling the soil, sowing seeds and harvesting the crop when it was ripe. Landed elites also claimed a share of the harvest, and officials came from outside to measure fields and keep records. Before writing, she must decide which social unit to place at the centre of her account of agricultural society.
Which unit should she place at the centre of her account as the basic unit of agricultural society in this period?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → The village
Option (1) The pargana — Incorrect. A pargana was an administrative division of Mughal territory used for revenue work. It grouped many villages, so it was not the basic unit where peasants lived and worked.
Option (2) The jati panchayat — Incorrect. The jati panchayat was a caste council that settled disputes among members of a caste. It worked as a body inside village society and settled matters among its members.
Option (3) The zamindari estate — Incorrect. Zamindars were landed elites who held rights over land and a share of the produce. Their holdings often spread over many villages, so a zamindari was not the basic unit.
Option (4) The village — Correct. The village was the basic unit of agricultural society. Peasants lived there and did the seasonal tasks of tilling, sowing and harvesting through the year.
NCERT (2026-27): “1. Peasants and Agricultural Production |