Sources of the seventeenth century refer to a group of peasants who were residents of the village in which they held their lands. What were these peasants called?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Khud-Kashta
Option (1) Muzarian — Incorrect. Muzarian, like raiyat, was a general term for any peasant in the Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period; it does not single out the peasants who lived in their own village.
Option (2) Raiyat — Incorrect. Raiyat (plural, riaya) was the term these sources most frequently used to denote a peasant in general, not the name of this particular group.
Option (3) Khud-Kashta — Correct. Sources of the seventeenth century refer to two kinds of peasants; the khud-kashta were residents of the village in which they held their lands.
Option (4) Pahi-Kashta — Incorrect. The pahi-kashta were non-resident cultivators who belonged to some other village but cultivated lands elsewhere on a contractual basis.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.2 Peasants and their lands … The term which Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period most frequently used to denote a peasant was raiyat (plural, riaya) or muzarian. In addition, we also encounter the terms kisan or asami. Sources of the seventeenth century refer to two kinds of peasants – khud-kashta and pahi-kashta. The former …were residents of the village in which they held their lands. The latter were non-resident cultivators who belonged to some other village, but cultivated lands elsewhere on a contractual basis. People became pahi-kashta either out of choice – for example, when terms of revenue in a distant village were more favourable – or out of compulsion – for example, forced by economic distress after a famine.…” |