What was the term used for ‘the owner, master or head of household, who exercised control over the women, children etc.’ in ancient texts?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Gahapati
Option (1) Adimai — Incorrect. Early Tamil literature (the Sangam texts) uses adimai for slaves, not for the master of a household.
Option (2) Vellalar — Incorrect. In the same Sangam texts the vellalar are the large landowners of the villages, a category of rural people, not the head of a household.
Option (3) Gahapati — Correct. A gahapati was the owner, master or head of a household, who exercised control over the women, children, slaves and workers who shared a common residence, and owned its land, animals and other resources.
Option (4) Uzhavar — Incorrect. The Sangam texts call the ploughmen uzhavar; they worked the land and did not head the household.
Note: A same/similar question was asked in CUET (UG) in the papers below.
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| – | 21-05 S1 | – | 23-05 S1* | – |
* A similar question.
NCERT (2025-26): “5.3 Differences in rural society … A gahapati was the owner, master or head of a household, who exercised control over the women, children, slaves and workers who shared a common residence. He was also the owner of the resources – land, animals and other things – that belonged to the household. Sometimes the term was used as a marker of status for men belonging to the urban elite, including wealthy merchants.… 5.3 Differences in rural society … Early Tamil literature (the Sangam texts) also mentions different categories of people living in the villages – large landowners or vellalar, ploughmen or uzhavar and slaves or adimai.…” |