What term is used in the Sangam texts for referring to ‘ploughmen’?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Uzhavar
As agriculture grew, rural society came to be divided into groups with very different access to land. Early Tamil literature, the Sangam texts, names three such groups in the villages: large landowners or vellalar, ploughmen or uzhavar, and slaves or adimai. In the Pali texts of north India, the term gahapati was used for small peasants and large landholders.
NCERT (2025-26): “5.3 Differences in rural society … What is evident is that there was a growing differentiation amongst people engaged in agriculture – stories, especially within the Buddhist tradition, refer to landless agricultural labourers, small peasants, as well as large landholders. The term gahapati was often used in Pali texts to designate the second and third categories. The large landholders, as well as the village headman (whose position was often hereditary), emerged as powerful figures, and often exercised control over other cultivators. 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. It is likely that these differences were based on differential access to land, labour and some of the new technologies.…” |