The 13th & 14th Centuries

Rural Society
Peasants
1.
Landed and self-cultivating (khudkasht) > lessee tenants (muzari) >
sharecroppers (mustajir) > landless (paikasht) > artisans (shudras +
untouchables).
2.
The khudkashts claimed to be the traditional owners of the land and had
privileged access to the village commons and other things. They used to exploit
the paikashts and in turn were exploited by the zamindars.
3.
Peasants had property rights and they could not be evicted from their land
except on the non-payment of land revenue.
The Zamindars
1.
They were the intermediaries in the LR chain. They had armed groups and
high social status and used to dominate certain tracts of land. Strong zamindars
were called choudhris who had a large number of zamindars under them.
2.
Due to their dispersion and grass-root connections, it was not possible for
sultanate to have an endless war with them. They were accommodated in the
LRS of sultanate and used as instruments. They even began to support Sultan
in his military expeditions. Still there was a basic conflict of interests and strong
kings tried to limit their influence.
3.
The source of their authority was not the ownership of land but service to the
state. They never owned the general cultivation land (which was owned by the
khudkashts). But they collected LR and deposited it with the state for which they
were allowed to retain a share, levy additional feudal levies on the peasants and
also granted tax free lands of their own.
Ruling Classes
Sultan
1.
They maintained extensive court paraphernalia. They built huge palaces and
employed many people in royal karkhanas.
Nobles
1.
The Turkish ruling class was essentially an urban ruling class with a taste for
town life.
2.
The Muslim noblery remained divided into various ethnic groups. They
practiced endogamy and hereditary occupation. In the early phase, there was a
dominance of Turks with occasional exceptions. Later, noblery became broad
based with broadest being under MbT.

3.
4.
5.

6.
7.

The high nobles were called maliks and the low were called amirs. Special
status nobles were called khans.
The number of top nobles expanded after the expansion of Sultanate under
Alauddin and under Tughluqs they began to be paid very high salaries.
Initially there was considerable social mobility, but as the Sultanate settled
down, the social order became rigid and men of 'respectable' origin were
preferred except under MbT.
Initially due to wars, most of the noblery comprised of the warring class, but
later men of religion and administrative skills also came up.
The nobles used to party away their money, hoard it, conducted trade or
invest in the orchard gardens.

Town Dwellers
Traders
1.
The overland trade with West & Central Asia was dominated by Multanis
(mostly hindus) and Khurasanis. They had settled in Delhi. In the maritime trade,
though Arabs were the dominant partners, Gujaratis and Marwaris too carried
out the trade. Hindus dominated this.
2.
The rich merchants were called nagar shresthis while the shopkeepers etc.
were called baniks. Another section was the dallas or the brokers active in
horse, cloth trade.
White Collared People
1.
These included lower government officials, clerks etc. They were mostly
Muslims for most part who could read and write.
2.
The ulemmas comprised of the madarssa teachers, theologians, mosquekeepers, officials responsible to look after religious and moral conduct of
muslims. They were educated and highly respected. They also provided the
lower clerks to the government thou some became influential.
Lower Classes
1.
They comprised of beggars and slaves and domestic servants.
2.
Traditionally people following a particular profession lived in a particular area
of the town. The untouchables loved at the outskirts though within the city walls.
3.
The artisans worked at home and were organized into guilds.
Women
1.
Sati & Jauhar gained more approval. Purdah became widespread.

2.

But inheritance rights improved if the man died son-less and property was not
joint.
Caste
1.
Numerous sub-castes grew among brahmans as they began to pursue
different occupations other than performing sacrifices. Pursuing different
occupations for brahmans was allowed even in normal times.
2.
Shudras were allowed to indulge in all kinds of occupation except liquor and
meat.
3.
The Muslim society remained divided into various ethnic groups. They
practiced endogamy and hereditary occupation. Indian Muslims generally
occupied lower strata and among them too the low caste Hindu converts
occupied the lowest.
Slavery
1.
Slave markets existed. Slaves generally performed household and artisanal
work. The sultans also employed them in important functions. Wars and
countryside campaigns were common ways of capturing slaves.
2.
They were allowed to marry and have some private property.
The 16th & 17th Centuries
Hindu Social Order
Challenges
1.
Islamic and Christian activities.
2.
Growth of bhakti and tantric sects
Response
1.
One response was increased rigidity. It was claimed only brahmans and
shudras left in this kali age. Kshatriyas disappeared long ago and vaishyas lost
caste status due to non-performance of duties.
2.
Another was adapting to new situation where bhakti was integrated with
brahmanism. Tulsidas upheld duties as prescribed by vedas but said by
becoming a true bhakt, even an untouchable can become a brahman.
3.
There was a tendency for orthodox brahmans and hindu rulers to come
together and exploit the rest.
Composition of Peasantry
Khudkashts / Riyayati
1.
They cultivated their own lands with their own implements and also hired
labor. The upper castes and local village officials etc. generally belonged to this
class. Gradually a tradition evolved that these higher caste Riyayati peasants

would not cultivate personally. So they would hire lower castes labor to cultivate
their land. Caste played an important role in granting Riyayati rights and as such
a particular work came to be dominated by a particular caste.
2.
They carried a prestigious social status in the village society, dominated the
local decision making bodies, paying LR @ concessional rates and had rights
over village commons. He was also free from many other feudal levies.
3.
They lived in the same village where they cultivated and had full ownership
rights over their own land.
Muzari / Mustajir / Raiyyats
1.
They worked on other people's lands either on a lease basis or share
cropping. This situation used to arise when someone had so much land that it
was not possible for him to cultivate the entire piece on his own. So he would
lease it out to Muzaris.
2.
They would have the inheritable right to cultivate the land so long as they paid
their share of LR to the lessor which was usually 50% of their share. If they
didn't pay the LR for some season and were evicted they had no right to claim
the land back. The responsibility to pay the LR to the state was that of the
lessor.
3.
Usually they comprised of middle castes. They didn't enjoy a high prestige in
the village. While paikasht could become a khudkasht by paying a nazrana and
when there was ample land, a muzari could never become the owner of the
land.
Paikashts / Raiyyats
1.
They didn't belong to the village where they cultivated. They migrated - either
to found new villages or to neighboring village to cultivate the surplus land there.
This was a part of the effort of the state to bring more land under cultivation.
Such a system was made possible due to low pressure on land in general. Such
a newly cultivated land attracted lower rate of LR and this worked as an
incentive for the Paikashts to move.
2.
Paikashts can be divided into 3 sub categories - (a) Those who were
khudkasht in their own village but cultivated land as paikasht in nearby villages.
This was a special case. (b) Those who cultivated milk lands or zamindari lands
but didn't have any oxen, seeds, plough etc. of their own. (c) Those
who cultivated milk lands or zamindari lands and had their own oxen, seeds,
plough etc. of their own. They were welcomed in the new villages as they helped
bring in new land under cultivation and paid LR @ concessional rate.

3.

They cultivated the land themselves (didn't give it on sub lease but could
employ agriculture labor temporarily) and some of them may have had their own
bullocks and other implements. They had inheritable rights to cultivate the land
so long as they paid the LR but couldn't sell it or transfer it.
4.
They usually belonged to low castes. Even though migration was there, the
new villages were structurally similar to the old ones.
Artisans
1.
They were part-timers and generally belonged to lower castes / untouchables.
They were paid a small share from the produce in exchange of their services.
Majurs
1.
They were the landless labor. They generally belonged to lower castes /
untouchables.
2.
They would generally get a share from the output as their wages or
sometimes they were given smaller pieces of land in the field to cultivate for
themselves and on relaxed rents. They could be either bound to a khudkasht or
free.
Inequality in Peasantry
1.
The peasantry formed an unequal mass. Generally the khudkashts formed top
5-10% and were well off. Majority were the raiyyats and survived in the normal
years. 30-40% were the landless / artisans who were really poor. This inequality
had its + and -. + is that the richer ones could lend money. - is they exploited.
2.
Obviously there was no caste based homogeneity in the village as the
economic considerations of bringing more and more land under cultivation were
the overriding factors.
Condition of Poor Peasants
1.
Apart from coarse grains other items which formed a part of the diet of the
peasants were ghee and cheap sweets. Milk and milk products, mustard, gud
etc. were available only on festive occasions. Salt was expensive and so were
spices and pepper.
2.
Even though India was a major center of textiles making peasantry had hardly
enough clothes to clad themselves. Most didn't have shoes. Ornaments were
made of shells etc. Houses were one room kuccha and only utensils were clay
pots and one iron tawa. Expenses were heavy on social obligations which kept
the peasants in debt trap. Despite the heavy LR demands and other levies
peasants used to have some stocks to last a lean season. This and some
movement of grains from other areas prevented frequent and severe famines.

But when there were successive droughts, plague or agrarian crisis severe
famines broke out like 1555 in Agra - Bayana - Delhi belt, 1575 and 1660 in
Gujarat, 1597 in Kashmir and 1630-32 in Gujarat and S India.
3.
Even though the LR was 1/3rd to 1/2, it was on gross or the estimated
produce and as a proportion of real produce it often came to be higher.
Moreover there were other cesses and feudal levies as well.
Condition of Women
Upper Class Women
1.
They were generally educated, lived a life of luxury but confined within harem.
They gave patronage and set the royal taste. Sometimes they played an active
part in politics.
2.
Akbar tried to up the marriageable age and freedom for girls to marry on their
own and curb sati. But this had little effect.
3.
Sati became more widespread as now even mistresses and other queens
performed sati.
Lower Class Women
1.
They used to work but their wages were lower.
Evolution of Sikh Community
Factors Responsible
(a) Political
1.
The degeneration of bureaucracy, insensitivity of administration.
2.
The sikh gurus were able to give supreme authority to the institution of guru
instead of a particular guru. So word of any guru had same authority.
3.
Aurangzeb failed to understand the true significance of the movement. He
took them lightly until the movement had become too strong.
(b) Social
1.
They created a separate socio-cultural identity. Common socio-geographical
settings helped.
(c) Cultural
1.
Religious bigotry of Aurangzeb clearly didn't help.
(d) Economic
1.
Exploitation of peasantry. Revenue farming, high rate of LR, jagirdari crisis,
law of escheats, frequent transfers.
The Khalsa Panth