Raiyat, muzarian, or asami; the terms used in Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period, refers to which community?

Peasants

The correct answer is Option 2 - Peasants

Raiyat, muzarian, or asami; the terms used in Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period, refers to PEASANTS.

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.