To what extent to do you think caste was a factor in influencing social and economic relations in agrarian society?
(i) Cultivators were divided on the basis of their caste and other caste-like distinctions or caste-based distinctions. Thus, among the peasants were many who worked as agricultural labourers (majurs) or worked as manacles. Thus, they were not allowed to live in villages. They resided outside the village and were assigned to do menial tasks and lacked resources. Thus, they were poverty-stricken.
(ii) Caste distinctions had also begun to permeate other communities as well. In Muslim communities menials were like halkhoron (scavengers). A direct relation existed between caste poverty and social status.
(iii) In the seventeenth century Marwar Rajputs are described as peasants and equated with jats. They were given an inferior status in the caste hierarchy.
(iv) Castes like Ahirs, Gujjars and Malis reached and elevated status in the eastern regions.
(v) The pastoral and fishing castes like the Sadgops and Kaivatas acquired the status of peasants.
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.