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.
Historians use one term for the sum of the relationships of cooperation, competition and conflict that the student found between peasants and landed elites. Which term is it?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Rural society
Option (1) Rural society — Correct. Peasants and landed elites both claimed a share of the produce. The sum of these agrarian relationships is called rural society.
Option (2) The jajmani system — Incorrect. The jajmani system was an exchange of services for a share of grain between castes. It covers only one part of village life.
Option (3) The jati panchayat — Incorrect. A jati panchayat was a caste council that settled disputes within a caste. It is a single body inside the village.
Option (4) The zamindari system — Incorrect. The zamindari system names the rights of the landed elite over land and revenue. It covers only one side of the relationships.
NCERT (2026-27): “Peasants, Zamindars and the State arian Society and tthe Mughal Emire . sixteenth - seventeenth centuries) |