Chapter 8 – Peasants, Zamindars and the State | CBSE History Notes

HISTORY | CLASS XII | NCERT

Book: Themes in Indian History – Part II | Chapter 8

Peasants, Zamindars and the State

Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire (c. 16th–17th centuries)

⭐ Topper Level 💬 Easy Language 📌 Point-Wise 🌾 Sources Included

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1. Learning Objectives

After reading these notes, you will be able to:

Describe the agrarian structure of Mughal India — peasants, their lands, irrigation, crop variety and technology.

Explain the role of the village community — panchayats, headmen, caste groups, and village artisans.

Analyse the position of women in agrarian society — their labour, rights and social constraints.

Understand the life of forest-dwelling tribes, their relation with the state and the impact of agriculture’s expansion on them.

Describe the zamindars — their powers, rights, relationship with peasants and role in revenue collection.

Analyse the Mughal land revenue system and the importance of the Ain-i Akbari as a historical source.

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2. Introduction

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, about 85% of India’s population lived in villages. Both peasants and landed elites (zamindars) were involved in agricultural production and claimed rights over its produce — creating relationships of cooperation, competition and conflict. The most important external agency that shaped this rural world was the Mughal state, which drew the bulk of its income from agricultural production. State agents — revenue assessors, collectors, record-keepers — sought to control rural society, ensure cultivation, and collect taxes. Since many crops were grown for sale, trade, money and markets entered villages and linked agricultural areas with towns.

🗺️ Key Actors in Mughal Agrarian Society

Agrarian Society (16th–17th Century)

🧑‍🌾 PeasantsCultivators, kisan, raiyat

🏯 ZamindarsLanded elite, revenue collectors

👑 Mughal StateRevenue, law, administration

🌲 Forest TribesJangli, shifting cultivation

🏘️ Village PanchayatJustice, caste norms

🔨 ArtisansBlacksmiths, weavers, potters

👩 WomenLabour, inheritance, petitions

📖 Ain-i AkbariKey historical source

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3. Peasants and Agricultural Production

📚 3.1 Sources for Agrarian History

Peasants did not write about themselves, so our knowledge comes from outside sources — mainly chronicles and documents from the Mughal court.
Most important source: Ain-i Akbari by Abu’l Fazl, Akbar’s court historian. It recorded state arrangements for cultivation, revenue collection, and relations with zamindars.
The Ain presents a view from the top — it portrays Akbar’s empire as harmonious; revolts against the state are shown as destined to fail.
Supplementary sources: Revenue records from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan (17th–18th centuries); records of the East India Company for eastern India.
These regional records provide crucial insight into peasant perceptions, conflicts with zamindars and state, and their expectations of justice.

🌱 3.2 Peasants and Their Lands

Indo-Persian sources used terms like raiyat (plural: riaya), muzarian, kisan, or asami for peasants.
Two types of peasants:
- Khud-kashta — resident cultivators of the village where they held land.
- Pahi-kashta — non-resident cultivators from other villages, farming on a contractual basis. Became pahi-kashta out of choice (better revenue terms elsewhere) or compulsion (economic distress, famine).
The average peasant of north India rarely owned more than a pair of bullocks and two ploughs.
In Gujarat, owning ~6 acres = affluent. In Bengal, 5 acres = upper limit of average farm; 10 acres = rich asami.
Cultivation was based on individual ownership — peasant lands were bought and sold like other property.

📜 Source 1 — Babur Nama

Peasants on the Move

Babur observed that villages in Hindustan could be depopulated and set up again “in a moment.” Peasants moved freely because crops were rain-grown, wood was unlimited, and khas-grass was abundant — they could build huts quickly wherever they settled.

💧 3.3 Irrigation and Technology

Three factors drove agricultural expansion: abundance of land, available labour, mobility of peasants.
Monsoons were the backbone of Indian agriculture. Artificial irrigation was needed for crops requiring more water.
Irrigation devices (described in the Babur Nama):
- Persian wheel (rahat/wheel mechanism) — used in Lahore and Dipalpur. Bullock-powered wheels with rope-and-pitcher mechanism.
- Bucket system — used in Agra, Chandwar, Bayana. A rope over a roller tied to a bucket and bullock.
The state also supported irrigation — e.g., Shah Jahan ordered repair of the shahnahr canal in Punjab.
Agricultural tools: Wooden plough (light, with iron tip — didn’t make deep furrows, preserved moisture). Iron drill pulled by oxen to sow seeds. Broadcasting was the most common sowing method. Narrow iron blade for hoeing and weeding.

🌾 3.4 An Abundance of Crops

Agriculture revolved around two seasonal cycles: Kharif (autumn) and Rabi (spring). Most regions produced a minimum of two crops per year (do-fasla); well-watered areas gave three crops.
According to the Ain: Agra province → 39 crop varieties, Delhi → 43 varieties, Bengal → 50 varieties of rice alone.
The state promoted jins-i kamil (perfect/superior crops) — high-revenue cash crops:
- Cotton — grown across central India and the Deccan plateau.
- Sugarcane — Bengal was famous for it.
- Oilseeds (mustard) and lentils also important cash crops.
New crops arrived in the 17th century: Maize (makka) via Africa and Spain; Tomatoes, Potatoes, Chillies from the New World; Pineapple, Papaya.
Tobacco — arrived in the Deccan first, reached northern India early 17th century. Akbar and nobles first encountered it in 1604. Jahangir tried to ban it but failed — by end of 17th century it was a major article of trade.

📌 Agricultural Prosperity and Population Growth

India’s varied agricultural production caused slow but steady population growth. Despite famines and epidemics, India’s population increased by about 50 million people between 1600 and 1800 — a growth of around 33% over 200 years.

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4. The Village Community

The village community had three constituents: the cultivators, the panchayat, and the village headman (muqaddam or mandal). Peasants held lands in individual ownership, yet belonged to a collective community in many aspects of social life.

🏛️ 4.1 Caste and the Rural Milieu

Deep caste inequities made cultivators a highly heterogeneous group. Many tilled the land as menials or agricultural labourers (majur).
Certain caste groups were assigned menial tasks despite abundant land — comparable to Dalits of modern India. They were constrained by caste hierarchy and had the least resources.
In Muslim communities, menials like halalkhoran (scavengers) lived outside village boundaries; mallahzadas (sons of boatmen) in Bihar were comparable to slaves.
At intermediate levels, caste-poverty correlations were less rigid: Rajputs mentioned as peasants in 17th-century Marwar, alongside Jats (lower in hierarchy).
Some castes rose due to economic gain — Ahirs, Gujars, Malis rose through cattle rearing and horticulture; Sadgops and Kaivartas (pastoral and fishing castes of eastern India) acquired peasant status.

⚖️ 4.2 Panchayats and Headmen

The village panchayat was an assembly of elders — usually people with hereditary rights over property. In mixed-caste villages it was a heterogeneous body representing various castes (though menials rarely represented).
Headed by the muqaddam or mandal — chosen by consensus of elders and ratified by the zamindar. Could be dismissed if they lost the elders’ confidence.
Chief function: supervise preparation of village accounts (assisted by accountant/patwari).
Panchayat had funds from contributions — used for entertaining revenue officials, community welfare, construction of bunds or canals.
Key functions of the panchayat:
- Ensured caste boundaries were maintained. In eastern India, all marriages were held before the mandal.
- Levied fines; could expel members from the community (making them outcaste, losing right to profession).
- Acted as a court of appeal against unjust tax demands or begar (unpaid labour).

⚠️ Corrupt Mandals

Mandals often misused their positions — accused of defrauding village accounts in connivance with the patwari, and underassessing their own revenue liability to shift the burden onto smaller cultivators.

Each caste or jati had its own jati panchayat — wielded considerable power. In Rajasthan, jati panchayats arbitrated civil disputes, mediated land claims, oversaw marriage norms, decided ritual precedence. The state generally respected their decisions except in criminal matters.
Archival records from Rajasthan and Maharashtra show petitions to panchayats complaining about extortionate taxation and begar. Peasants viewed the panchayat as guarantor of the state’s moral obligations to them.
When panchayat reconciliation failed, peasants took to deserting the village — an effective resistance as uncultivated land was available and labour was scarce.

🔨 4.3 Village Artisans

Marathi documents and British-era village surveys reveal artisans formed up to 25% of village households.
The distinction between artisans and peasants was often fluid — cultivators also did dyeing, textile printing, pottery and making agricultural implements, especially during agricultural lulls.
Village artisans — potters, blacksmiths, carpenters, barbers, goldsmiths — provided services in exchange for: a share of the harvest, or an allotment of land (cultivable wastes) decided by the panchayat.
In Maharashtra, such lands became miras or watan — the artisan’s hereditary holding.
Another variant: artisans and peasants negotiated goods-for-services exchange (18th-century Bengal — zamindars paid blacksmiths and carpenters “a small daily allowance and diet money”). This later became known as the jajmani system, though the term was not used in the 16th–17th centuries.
Cash remuneration also existed.

🤝 4.4 A “Little Republic”?

💡 British Misconception vs Reality

Some 19th-century British officials called the village a “little republic” of fraternal partners sharing resources. In reality, it was not egalitarian — there was individual ownership, deep caste and gender inequities, exploitation by the powerful, and a developed cash nexus through trade with towns.

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5. Women in Agrarian Society

⚒️ Role in Production

Men and women worked together in the fields — men tilled and ploughed; women sowed, weeded, threshed and winnowed.
The basis of production was the labour and resources of the entire household. A strict home/world gender divide was not possible.
However, biological-function biases continued — e.g., menstruating women could not touch the plough or potter’s wheel in western India, or enter betel-leaf groves in Bengal.
Artisanal tasks heavily dependent on female labour: spinning yarn, sifting and kneading clay for pottery, embroidery.
The more commercialised the product, the greater the demand on women’s labour. Women went to employers’ houses and markets when needed.

👩‍👧 Social Status and Rights

Women were valued as child-bearers in a labour-dependent economy. But high mortality rates among women (malnutrition, frequent pregnancies, deaths in childbirth) caused a shortage of wives.
This led to social customs in peasant/artisan communities distinct from elite norms: bride-price (rather than dowry) was common; remarriage (widowed or divorced) was considered legitimate.
Women were strictly controlled by male family members under patriarchal norms — household headed by a male (grihasthi).
Documents from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra record women’s petitions to panchayats — protesting husband’s infidelity or neglect. Their names were often excluded from records (referred to as “mother of” or “wife of”).
Amongst the landed gentry (zamindars), women had the right to inherit property. Hindu and Muslim women inherited zamindaris they could sell or mortgage.
One of the largest 18th-century zamindaris — Rajshahi (Bengal) — was headed by a woman.

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6. Forests and Tribes

🏕️ 6.1 Beyond Settled Villages

Apart from intensively cultivated provinces, large areas of dense forest (jangal) and scrubland (kharbandi) existed across eastern, central, northern India (including Terai), Jharkhand, and peninsular India. Contemporary sources suggest forests covered about 40% of the subcontinent.
Forest dwellers were called jangli in contemporary texts — not meaning uncivilised, but describing those whose livelihood came from gathering forest produce, hunting and shifting agriculture.
Activities were season-specific. Among the Bhils: spring = collecting forest produce; summer = fishing; monsoon = cultivation; autumn/winter = hunting. This presupposed mobility.
For the Mughal state, the forest was a subversive space — a refuge (mawas) for rebels who paid no taxes (Babur noted this in the Babur Nama).

🪓 6.2 Inroads into Forests

The state levied peshkash (tribute) from forest people, which often included a supply of elephants for the army.
Royal hunts had political symbolism — they allowed emperors to travel through the empire and attend to subjects’ grievances.
Commercial agriculture spread into forest zones — forest products like honey, beeswax and gum lac (a major overseas export) were in great demand.
Some tribes were engaged in overland trade — e.g., the Lohanis in Punjab traded between India, Afghanistan, and in Punjab itself.
Tribal chiefs → many became zamindars, some even became kings. They built armies from lineage groups.
- Tribes in Sind had armies of 6,000 cavalry and 7,000 infantry.
- Ahom kings of Assam had paiks — people obliged to give military service in exchange for land; they declared capture of wild elephants a royal monopoly.
By the 16th century, tribal kingdoms in the north-east were fully developed. Koch kings subjugated neighbouring tribes through wars in the 16th–17th centuries.
New cultural influence: Sufi saints (pirs) played a major role in spreading Islam among agricultural communities emerging in newly colonised forest areas.

📜 Source 3 — Chandimangala (16th-century Bengali poem by Mukundaram Chakrabarti)

Clearance of Forests for Agricultural Settlements

The poem describes how the hero Kalaketu set up a kingdom by clearing forests — outsiders came from north, south and west with axes and heavy knives. Forests were cleared, markets established, and tigers fled as the sound of axes rang out.

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7. The Zamindars

Zamindars were landed proprietors who lived off agriculture but did not directly participate in agricultural production. They enjoyed social and economic privileges by virtue of their superior status in rural society.

🔑 Powers and Sources of Authority

🌾 Land Rights (Milkiyat)

Zamindars held extensive personal lands called milkiyat (= property).
Cultivated with hired or servile labour.
Could sell, bequeath or mortgage these lands freely.

📜 Revenue Collection

Collected revenue on behalf of the state — financially compensated for this service.
Performed services (khidmat) for the state — a factor in their elevated status.

⚔️ Military Power

Most zamindars had fortresses (qilachas) and armed contingents of cavalry, artillery and infantry.
The Ain recorded zamindars’ combined military strength: 384,558 cavalry; 4,277,057 infantry; 1,863 elephants; 4,260 cannons; 4,500 boats!

🏪 Economic Role

Spearheaded colonisation of agricultural land and settled cultivators by providing means of cultivation including cash loans.
Often established haats (markets) where peasants sold their produce.
Buying and selling of zamindaris accelerated monetisation in the countryside.

🧩 Caste and Social Base

The Brahmana-Rajput combine had established firm control over rural society. There was also significant representation from intermediate castes and Muslim zamindars.
Origins of zamindaris: conquest, colonisation of new lands, transfer of rights, state orders, and purchase. Zamindaris were bought and sold briskly — allowing “lower” castes to enter the zamindar rank.
Clan/lineage-based consolidation: Rajputs and Jats in northern India; Sadgops (peasant-pastoralists) in central and south-western Bengal.

🤝 Relationship with Peasantry

Though exploitative, the zamindars’ relationship with peasants contained elements of reciprocity, paternalism and patronage.
Bhakti saints condemned caste oppression but did not portray zamindars as oppressors — it was usually the revenue official of the state who was their target.
In many 17th-century agrarian uprisings in north India, zamindars and peasants joined together against the state.

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8. Land Revenue System

Revenue from land was the economic mainstay of the Mughal Empire. The state created a vast administrative apparatus headed by the diwan (head of the fiscal system) to fix and collect revenue.

⚙️ Two Stages of Revenue

1️⃣ Assessment (Jama)

Jama = the amount assessed (what was to be paid).
State first measured cultivated and cultivable land in each province.
The Ain compiled land aggregates during Akbar’s rule.
Aurangzeb (1665) instructed revenue officials to prepare annual records of cultivators in each village.

2️⃣ Collection (Hasil)

Hasil = the amount actually collected.
Akbar decreed that while cultivators should pay in cash, the option of payment in kind was to be kept open.
Local conditions sometimes prevented full realisation of assessed amounts.

🗂️ Classification of Lands (Ain-i Akbari)

Polaj
Annually CultivatedNever allowed to lie fallow. Best quality land.
Parauti
Fallow for RecoveryLeft uncultivated temporarily to regain strength.
Chachar
3–4 Years FallowLand that has lain fallow for 3–4 years.
Banjar
5+ Years UncultivatedLand uncultivated for five years or more.

For Polaj and Parauti, three classes were made (good, middling, bad). Revenue = one-third of medium produce.

💰 Methods of Revenue Collection

Kankut (grain estimate) — crops cut and estimated in three lots (good, middling, inferior); hesitation resolved by physical inspection.
Batai / Bhaoli — crops reaped, stacked and divided by agreement between parties. Required intelligent inspectors to prevent fraud.
Khet-batai — fields divided after sowing.
Lang-batai — grain formed into heaps after cutting and divided between parties.

📌 The Mansabdari System

The Mughal administrative system had a military-cum-bureaucratic apparatus (mansabdari). Some mansabdars were paid in cash (naqdi); most were paid through revenue assignments (jagirs) in different regions, transferred periodically.

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9. The Flow of Silver

The Mughal Empire was one of the great Asian territorial empires of the 16th–17th centuries, alongside the Ming (China), Safavid (Iran) and Ottoman (Turkey).
Political stability created vibrant overland trade networks from China to the Mediterranean. Voyages of discovery opened new trade with Europe, expanding India’s overseas commerce.
An expanding trade brought in massive amounts of silver bullion into Asia to pay for Indian goods. India, lacking natural silver resources, greatly benefited.
Result: remarkable stability in availability of the silver rupya (16th–18th centuries), facilitating unprecedented expansion of coin minting and money circulation.
This enabled the Mughal state to extract taxes and revenue in cash.

📜 Source 8 — Giovanni Careri (Italian traveller, c. 1690)

How Silver Came to India

Careri described how silver from American mines flowed through Europe into Turkey and Persia, then to India to pay for spices and textiles. Dutch silver from Japanese mines, goods sold to France, England and Portugal — all payments ultimately ended up in Hindustan.

💡 Money in the Village

French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (17th century) noted that even a very small Indian village would have a shroff (money-changer) who acted as a banker, made cash remittances, and managed exchange rates between the rupee, paisa and cowrie shells.

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10. The Ain-i Akbari of Abu’l Fazl

📜 About the Text

The Ain-i Akbari was authored by Abu’l Fazl Allami, Akbar’s court historian. Completed in 1598 (Akbar’s 42nd regnal year) after five revisions.
It was the third book of a larger history called the Akbar Nama (Books 1 and 2 = historical narrative; Book 3 = Ain-i Akbari).
Organised as a compendium of imperial regulations and a gazetteer of the empire.

📚 Structure of the Ain (Five Daftars)

Daftar 1: Manzil-abadi

Imperial household and its maintenance.

Daftar 2: Sipah-abadi

Military and civil administration; biographical sketches of mansabdars, scholars, poets, artists.

Daftar 3: Mulk-abadi

Fiscal side of empire; revenue rates; Account of the Twelve Provinces with detailed statistical tables.

Daftar 4 & 5

Religious, literary and cultural traditions of the people of India; Akbar’s “auspicious sayings.”

📊 What the Mulk-abadi Tables Record

Detailed tables for each sarkar with 8 columns: (1) pargana/mahal; (2) forts; (3) measured area; (4) cash revenue; (5) revenue grants in charity; (6) zamindars; (7–8) caste of zamindars and their troops (cavalry/sawar, foot-soldiers/piyada, elephants/fil).
Detailed geographic, topographic and economic profiles of all subas and their divisions (sarkars, parganas, mahals), total measured area, and assessed revenue (jama).

✅ Value and Limitations

✅ Value / Strengths

Unique quantitative record of Mughal agrarian structure.
Oral testimonies were cross-checked before being recorded.
All numeric data reproduced in words to minimise transcription errors.
Departed from the tradition of writing only about political events — recorded people, professions, provinces.
Benchmark for studying India at the turn of the 17th century.

⚠️ Limitations

Numerous errors in totalling detected — arithmetic slips by Abu’l Fazl’s assistants.
Data not uniform across provinces — e.g., caste data for Bengal and Orissa zamindars is missing.
Prices and wages data mainly from Agra region — limited relevance for rest of India.
View from the top — reflects the state’s and elite’s perspective, not the peasants’.

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11. Timeline — Landmarks in the History of the Mughal Empire

Year	Landmark
1526	Babur defeats Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat — becomes the first Mughal emperor
1530–40	First phase of Humayun’s reign
1540–55	Humayun defeated by Sher Shah; in exile at the Safavid court
1555–56	Humayun regains lost territories
1556–1605	Reign of Akbar — Ain-i Akbari completed 1598; elaborate land revenue system established
1604	Akbar and nobles first encounter tobacco; Jahangir later tries (and fails) to ban it
1605–27	Reign of Jahangir
1628–58	Reign of Shah Jahan — shahnahr canal in Punjab repaired
1658–1707	Reign of Aurangzeb — 1665: orders detailed survey of cultivators village-by-village
c.1690	Giovanni Careri passes through India; describes flow of global silver into Mughal Empire
1739	Nadir Shah invades India and sacks Delhi
1761	Ahmad Shah Abdali defeats the Marathas at the third battle of Panipat
1765	Diwani of Bengal transferred to the East India Company
1857	Last Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah II deposed by the British; exiled to Rangoon (Yangon, Myanmar)

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12. Summary — Quick Revision

During the 16th–17th centuries, 85% of India’s population lived in villages. The Mughal state derived most of its income from agriculture, deploying revenue assessors and collectors to control rural society.

Peasants were called raiyat, muzarian, kisan or asami. Two types: khud-kashta (resident cultivators) and pahi-kashta (non-resident, contractual cultivators). Land ownership was individual.

Agriculture was organised around kharif and rabi seasons (do-fasla system). The Ain records Agra producing 39 varieties of crops, Delhi 43, Bengal 50 varieties of rice alone. State promoted jins-i kamil (cash crops like cotton, sugarcane).

The village community had three constituents: cultivators, panchayat, and headman (muqaddam/mandal). Panchayats maintained caste boundaries, collected funds, and acted as courts of appeal for peasant grievances.

Zamindars were landed proprietors who collected revenue, held milkiyat lands, commanded armed forces (qilachas), and spearheaded agricultural colonisation. Their combined army strength rivalled the state’s own.

Women worked alongside men — sowing, weeding, threshing. Artisanal tasks (spinning, pottery) also relied heavily on female labour. Among the landed gentry, women could inherit zamindaris. The Rajshahi zamindari was led by a woman.

Forest dwellers (jangli) lived by hunting, gathering and shifting agriculture. Forest was seen as a subversive space by the state. Tribal chiefs evolved into zamindars and kings. Commercial agriculture and Sufi saints both penetrated forest zones.

The Mughal revenue system had two stages: assessment (jama) and collection (hasil). Land was classified into Polaj, Parauti, Chachar and Banjar. Revenue was typically one-third of medium produce. Flexible collection in cash or kind.

Inflow of silver bullion from American mines (via Europe, Turkey, Persia) sustained the silver rupya and monetised the Mughal economy, enabling cash-based revenue extraction.

The Ain-i Akbari (completed 1598) by Abu’l Fazl is the key source. Five daftars covering the imperial household, military/civil administration, fiscal data, and cultural traditions. Invaluable but biased — a view from the top.

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13. Important Terms to Remember

Raiyat / Riaya: The most common Indo-Persian term for peasant in Mughal sources. Also referred to as muzarian, kisan, or asami.
Khud-kashta: Resident peasants who cultivated land in the village where they lived.
Pahi-kashta: Non-resident cultivators from another village who farmed on a contractual basis — out of choice (better revenue terms) or compulsion (famine/distress).
Do-fasla: The practice of growing two crops per year (kharif + rabi), common in most regions of Mughal India.
Jins-i kamil: Literally “perfect/superior crops” — high-revenue cash crops like cotton and sugarcane that the Mughal state actively encouraged.
Muqaddam / Mandal: The village headman, head of the panchayat. Chosen by village elders’ consensus, ratified by the zamindar.
Patwari: The village accountant who assisted the headman in preparing village accounts.
Begar: Forced or unpaid labour demanded by superior castes or state officials from lower-caste villagers. A common grievance in panchayat petitions.
Jajmani system: A system of mutually negotiated, hereditary exchange of goods and services between artisans and peasant households. The term was not used in the 16th–17th centuries — emerged later.
Miras / Watan: In Maharashtra, the hereditary land allotment given to village artisans in return for their services to the community.
Zamindar: Landed proprietors who lived off agriculture without directly cultivating. Held milkiyat lands, collected revenue for the state, commanded armed forces, and enjoyed social privileges based on caste and services (khidmat) to the state.
Milkiyat: The private personal land of the zamindar, cultivated for their own use. Could be sold, bequeathed or mortgaged.
Qilacha: The fortresses of zamindars — a key source of their military power.
Khidmat: Services performed by zamindars for the Mughal state — a factor in their elevated social status.
Haats: Markets established by zamindars where peasants also came to sell their produce.
Jama: The amount of revenue assessed (what was theoretically owed to the state).
Hasil: The amount of revenue actually collected.
Amil-guzar: The Mughal revenue collector responsible for fixing and collecting land revenue.
Diwan: The head of the fiscal/revenue administration of the Mughal Empire.
Kankut: A method of revenue assessment — estimating the produce of crops by physical inspection and cutting samples.
Batai / Bhaoli: A method of revenue collection where harvested crops are stacked and divided between cultivator and state by agreement.
Jagir: Revenue assignment given to Mughal mansabdars instead of cash salary. They collected revenue from a given area.
Peshkash: A form of tribute/tax collected by the Mughal state — often demanded from forest-dwelling tribes, sometimes in the form of elephants.
Jangli: The term used for forest-dwellers in Mughal texts — referring to those whose livelihood came from gathering forest produce, hunting and shifting cultivation. Not a term of social inferiority.
Mawas: Forest refuges or hideouts used by rebels and those avoiding the state.
Paiks: People in Assam (under the Ahom kings) obligated to render military service in exchange for land.
Ain-i Akbari: The third book of the Akbar Nama, authored by Abu’l Fazl. Completed in 1598. A detailed compendium of imperial regulations, provincial statistics and a gazetteer of Akbar’s empire. The most important source for Mughal agrarian history.
Shroff: A money-changer/banker found in almost every Indian village, noted by the French traveller Tavernier. Managed currency exchange between rupee, paisa and cowrie shells.
Mansabdari system: The Mughal military-cum-bureaucratic system; officials (mansabdars) ranked by the number of soldiers they commanded; paid in cash (naqdi) or revenue assignments (jagir).