Key Points

During the 16th and 17th centuries, approximately 85 percent of India's population lived in villages. Peasants and landed elites were both involved in agricultural production, leading to relationships of cooperation, competition, and conflict.

The Ain-i Akbari, written by Akbar's court historian Abu'l Fazl, is a key source for this period. It provides a detailed account of Mughal administration, revenue systems, and society from the perspective of the imperial court.

Contemporary sources mention two kinds of peasants: the khud-kashta, who were residents of the village and cultivated their own lands, and the pahi-kashta, who were non-resident cultivators working on a contractual basis.

Agriculture was not purely for subsistence, as the Mughal state encouraged the cultivation of cash crops known as jins-i kamil. These crops, such as cotton and sugarcane, brought in higher revenue for the state.

The village community was composed of three main parts: the cultivators, the panchayat (assembly of village elders), and the village headman, who was known as the muqaddam or mandal.

The panchayat was an oligarchy of important village elders that managed community welfare, arbitrated civil disputes, and ensured caste boundaries were upheld. Its decisions were binding on village members.

Deep inequities based on caste were a feature of rural society. Certain caste groups were assigned menial tasks and relegated to poverty, comprising a large section of the village population with the least resources.

Village artisans, such as potters, blacksmiths, and carpenters, provided specialized services. They were often compensated with a share of the harvest or an allotment of land, a system later termed the jajmani system.

Women played a crucial role in agriculture, working alongside men in the fields to sow, weed, thresh, and winnow. They also performed essential artisanal tasks like spinning yarn and preparing clay for pottery.

Women were considered an important resource but were kept under strict male control. However, customs like payment of bride-price and remarriage for widows were legitimate, and women from the landed gentry could inherit property.

Forest dwellers, termed 'jangli', lived by gathering forest produce, hunting, and shifting agriculture. The state viewed forests as places of refuge for troublemakers but also sourced resources like elephants from them.

Zamindars were a class of landed proprietors who held superior status in rural society. They lived off agriculture but did not directly participate in the production process, holding extensive personal lands called milkiyat.

Zamindars derived power from their right to collect revenue on behalf of the state, for which they were financially compensated. They also maintained their own fortresses and armed military contingents.

Revenue from land was the economic foundation of the Mughal Empire. The system involved two stages: assessment of revenue (jama) and the actual amount collected (hasil), with a state preference for payment in cash.

Under Akbar, lands were classified for revenue purposes into four categories based on their cultivation status: Polaj, Parauti, Chachar, and Banjar. The revenue was fixed as one-third of the average produce.

Extensive trade with Europe and other parts of Asia led to a large influx of silver into India. This facilitated the expansion of a money economy and allowed the Mughal state to extract taxes and revenue in cash.

The Ain-i Akbari, while invaluable, has limitations such as a top-down perspective, errors in totalling, and non-uniform data collection across provinces. Historians use regional records to supplement its account.