Examine the evidence that suggests that land revenue was important for the Mughal fiscal system.
(i) Agriculture was the mainstay of the economy. Land Revenue collected was used to pay salaries and to meet different kinds of administrative expenses. So it was considered important to establish an administrative apparatus to ensure control over agricultural production.
(ii) Thus, before fixing land revenue, Mughal state first acquired specific information about the extent of agricultural lands and their produce.
(iii) Land revenue collection arrangements was consisted of two stages of assessment. These were Jama and hasil. Cultivators were given the choice to pay land revenue either in cash or kind. The state preferred to collect land revenue as cash. Attempts were made to maximize profits from the land revenue collection.
(iv) Both cultivated and cultivable lands were measured in each province to fix land revenue. According to a decree of Akbar, it was the responsibility of malguzar to make cultivator pay land revenue in kind and it was also kept open. Thus, it is clear from the evidence that the monetary transactions were very important. To continue this policy efforts by subsequent emperors like Aurangzeb continued to measure land for collection of land revenue.
To what extent is it possible to characterise agricultural production in the sixteenth- seventeeth centuries as subsistence agriculture? Give reasons for your answer.
To what extent to do you think caste was a factor in influencing social and economic relations in agrarian society?
How were the lives of forest dwellers transformed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?(or)
Describe the lives of forest-dwellers in the 16-17th centuries.
On an outline map of world, mark the areas which had economic links with the Mughal Empire, and trace out possible routes of communication.
Discuss, with examples, the significance of monetary transactions during the period under consideration.
What are the problems in using the Ain as a source for reconstructing agrarian history? How do historians deal with this situation?
Examine the evidence that suggests that land revenue was important for the Mughal fiscal system.
Discuss the ways in which panchayat and village headmen regulated rural society.(or)
Explain the role of Panchayats in the Mughal rural Indian society during 16th-17th centuries.