Test: Peasants, Zamindars And The State- 1 - Humanities/Arts MCQ

The New World is a term used for the non-Afro-Eurasian parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas. During the seventeenth century, fruits like pineapple and papaya also reached India.

Among the landed gentry, women had the right to inherit property. Records show that they freely participated in land dealings that used to take place in the markets. In 18th century, one of the most famous zamindaris was of Rajshahis, and it was headed by a woman.

The third battle of Panipat took place in 1761 AD. Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas in this battle.

Riaya was plural for the term 'raiyat' or 'muzarian'. During the seventeenth century, there were two kinds of peasants – khud-kashta and pahi-kashta in the Mughal Empire.

The book of mulk-abadi provides rich quantitative information on revenue rates and included the “Account of the Twelve Provinces”. This section has a detailed statistical information on the geographic, topographic and economic profile of all subas and their administrative and fiscal divisions (sarkars, parganas and mahals), total measured area and assessed revenue (jama).

Low-caste groups comprised a large section of the village population. They had the least resources and were constrained by their position in the caste hierarchy, much like the Dalits of modern India. The Mallahzadas (literally, sons of boatmen) in Bihar were comparable to slaves.

The basic unit of agricultural society was the village. The village was inhabited by peasants who performed the manifold seasonal tasks that made up agricultural production throughout the year – tilling the soil, sowing seeds, harvesting the crop when it was ripe. They also produced agro-based goods like sugar and oil.

Akbar’s “auspicious sayings” were included in the fourth and fifth books of Ain. Along with the sayings of Akbar, they give an account of the ancestry and biography of the author.

Agriculture was organised around two major seasonal cycles, the kharif (autumn) and the rabi (spring). Most regions, except those terrains that were the most arid or inhospitable, produced a minimum of two crops a year (do-fasla).

The Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period used terms like Raiyat or Muzarian to denote peasants. In addition, the terms Kisan or asami were also used.