(a) Explain the development of agriculture during Mughal period. OR (b) Explain the role of women in the Agrarian society during 16th and 17th centuries.
(a) Explain the development of agriculture during Mughal period. OR (b) Explain the role of women in the Agrarian society during 16th and 17th centuries.
Agriculture was the foundation of the Mughal economy, and both its expansion and the labour that sustained it — including women's labour — shaped rural society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
(a) Development of agriculture during the Mughal period
- Basic activity: cultivation was the core occupation; peasants (called raiyat or muzarian) grew crops season by season.
- Two crop seasons: agriculture followed two main harvests — kharif (autumn) and rabi (spring) — allowing two or even three crops a year in well-watered regions.
- Cash crops (jins-i kamil): the state encouraged 'perfect crops' such as cotton and sugarcane, which brought in the most revenue.
- New crops: many crops reached India through expanding contacts — maize, tobacco, chillies, potato, tomato and pineapple from the New World.
- Technology: the wooden plough, the drill and above all the Persian wheel (charas) and wells were used for irrigation; the state also dug canals and repaired tanks.
- Abundant land and labour: availability of cultivable land, mobile peasants and irrigation together drove agricultural expansion.
Conclusion
- The individual peasant household was the basic unit of production, and the combination of new crops, irrigation and state support made agriculture both diverse and productive.
OR (b) Role of women in agrarian society (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries)
In Mughal-era agrarian society, women were indispensable to production, and the Ain-i-Akbari and other records show that men and women worked shoulder to shoulder in the fields and workshops.
Shared labour in the fields
- Men tilled and ploughed the land, while women sowed the seed, weeded, and threshed and winnowed the harvest.
- Production depended on the joint labour of the whole peasant household.
Artisanal and household work
- Women spun yarn, sifted and kneaded clay for pottery, and did embroidery.
- Among artisan families they worked alongside men at almost every stage of craft production.
A valued resource
- Because of their central role in both production and reproduction, women were regarded as a valued resource in a labour-scarce society.
- High mortality in childbirth, however, meant that remarriage was common for both widows and widowers.
Control and patriarchal customs
- Since family honour was tied to women, their sexuality was guarded and their labour and movement controlled.
- Yet peasant and artisan women still went to the houses of employers and to the markets.
Access to property and justice
- Women could approach the village panchayat to seek justice.
- Among landed groups, Hindu and Muslim women could inherit zamindaris, which they were free to sell or mortgage; some even held zamindaris themselves.
Marking Scheme
- 12 marks: the two crop seasons (kharif and rabi) and the peasant household as the basic unit of cultivation.
- 22 marks: cash crops or jins-i kamil (cotton, sugarcane) and new crops introduced from the New World (maize, tobacco, chillies, potato).
- 32 marks: irrigation and technology — Persian wheel, wells, drill, plough and state support for canals and tanks.
- 42 marks: conclusion on abundant land, mobile labour and productivity. For option (b): field and artisanal labour of women (2), their value and the patriarchal control over them (3), and their access to the panchayat and inheritance of zamindaris (3).
Hint
For (a) cover crop seasons, cash crops (jins-i kamil), new-world crops, and irrigation technology like the Persian wheel. For (b) show women as essential to farming and crafts, yet controlled, with panchayat access and inheritance rights among the landed.
Quick Oral Answer
Mughal agriculture developed through two crop seasons, kharif and rabi, the growing of cash crops like cotton and sugarcane, new crops such as maize and potato from the New World, and irrigation by the Persian wheel and wells, with the peasant household as the basic unit of production.
Analysis & Explanation
This 8-mark question offers a choice between the economic story of agriculture and the social story of women's labour, both drawn from the same NCERT chapter on Mughal agrarian society.
Concept
- Option (a) rewards knowledge of crop seasons, cash crops, new-world crops, irrigation technology and the peasant household as the unit of production.
- Option (b) rewards the insight that agrarian production rested heavily on women's labour, even as women were subordinated and controlled within the patriarchal household.
Exam trap
- In (a), do not reduce the answer to a list of crops — the examiner wants the development, i.e. two harvests, cash crops, new crops, and irrigation technology together.
- In (b), avoid the mistake of saying women played no economic role; the NCERT stresses that women were indispensable to farming and artisanal work while still being subject to patriarchal control, including inheritance rights among the landed.
Real-world link
- The invisibility of women's agricultural labour in official records mirrors debates today about the under-counting of women's work in the farm and informal sectors.
Common Mistakes
- 1In option (a), merely listing crops without explaining the two harvests, cash crops and irrigation that constitute the 'development'.
- 2In option (b), claiming women had no economic role — the NCERT emphasises their essential labour in fields and crafts alongside their subordination.
- 3Mixing up the two options and giving half of each; the answer must fully develop one chosen option for all eight marks.
Interesting Facts
The Ain-i-Akbari, compiled by Abul Fazl, is the single most important source for Mughal agrarian arrangements, listing crops, revenue rates and administrative details.
Crops like potato, tomato, chillies, maize and tobacco were unknown in India before the sixteenth century and arrived through global exchange after the European voyages to the Americas.
In eighteenth-century Bengal and Rajasthan there are documented cases of women holding and inheriting zamindaris, showing that even in a patriarchal society landed women could exercise property rights.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What were jins-i kamil and why were they important?
Jins-i kamil meant 'perfect crops' — high-value cash crops such as cotton and sugarcane that the Mughal state actively encouraged because they brought the most revenue. Their cultivation shows that Mughal agriculture was market- and revenue-oriented, not merely subsistence farming.
Did women have any property rights in Mughal agrarian society?
Yes. Although society was patriarchal and women's labour and sexuality were controlled, women could approach the village panchayat for justice, and among landed groups both Hindu and Muslim women could inherit zamindaris which they were free to sell or mortgage; some women even held zamindaris themselves.