Regulation of rural society by panchayats and headmen:

(i)    Meaning of Panchayat : The Village Panchayat was an assembly of elders, usually important people of the village with hereditary right over their property

(ii)    General composition and importance of panchayat decision : In mixed-caste villages, the panchayat was usually a heterogeneous body. An oligarchy, the panchayat represented various castes and communities in the village, though the village menial-cum-agricultural worker was unlikely to be represented there. The decisions made by these panchayats were binding on the members.

(iii)    Selection, dismisal and main functions of headman or muqaddam: The panchayat was headed by a headman known as muqaddam or mandal. Some sources suggest that the headman was chosen through the consensus of the village elders, and that this choice had to be ratified by the zamindar. Headman held office as long as they enjoyed the confidence of the village elders, failing which they could be dismissed by them. The cheif function of the headman was to supervise the preparation of village accounts, assisted by the accountant or patwari of the panchayat.

(iv)    Funding or sources of income of panchayat : The panchayat derives its funds from contributions made by individuals to a common financial pool.

(v)    Items of expenditure : These funds were used for defraying the costs of entertaining revenue officials who visited the village from time to time. Expenses for community welfare activities such as tiding over natural calamities (like floods), were also met from these funds. Often these funds were also deployed in construction of a bund or digging a canal which peasants usually could not afford to do on their own.

(vi)    Various functions of panchayat : One important function of the panchayat was to ensure that caste boundaries among the various communities inhabiting the village were upheld, In eastern India all marriages were held in the presence of the mandal. In other words one of the duties of the village headman was to oversee the conduct of the members of the village community “chiefly to prevent any offence against their caste”.

(vii)    Imposing fines and expulsion from caste and community : Panchayat also had the authority to levy fines and inflict more serious forms of punishment like expulsion from the community. The later was a drastic step and was in most cases meted out for a limited period. It meant that a person forced to leave the village became an outcaste and lost his right t6 practise his profession. Such a measure was intended as a deterrent to violation of caste norms.

Hints:

Countries : Arab countries, Iran, Afghanistan, China, Central Asia, Western Asia, Italy, Portugal, France, Britain, Holland etc. had trade links with the Mughal Empire.

Possible Routes:

(a)    Sea route via Atlantic Ocean to Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean.

(b)    Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal to China Sea.

(c) From Central Asia to Afghanistan through modem Pakistan upto Kerala or Goa by land route.

Note : Students draw map with the help of their class teacher.

Transformation in the lives of forest dwellers (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries):

(a)    Forest dwellers having their own culture, way of life and occupation: Forest dwellers were termed jangli in contemporary texts. Being jangli, however, did not mean an absence of “civilisation”, as popular usage of the term today seems to connote. Rather, the term described those whose livelihood came from the gathering of forest produce, hunting and shifting agriculture.

(b)    Performance of seasonal activities : Different activities were largely season specific. Among the Bhils, for example, spring was reserved for collecting forest produce, summer for fishing, the monsoon months for cultivation, and autumn and winter for hunting. Such a sequence presumed and perpetuated mobility, which was a distinctive feature of tribes inhabiting in these forests.

(c)    A place of mawas or refuge : For the state, the forest was a subversive place-a place refuge (mawas) for troublemakers. Once again, we turn to Babur who says that jungles provided a good defence “behind which the people of the pargana become stubbornly rebellious and pay no taxes”.

(d)    Collection of elephants by the state or the rulers : External forces entered the forest in different ways. For instance, the state required elephants for the army. So the peshkash levied from forest people often included a supply of elephants.

(e)    Provision for providing justice by the emperor: In the Mughal political ideology, the hunt symbolised the overwhelming concern of the state to ensure justice to all its subjects, rich and poor. Regular hunting expeditions, so court historians tell us, enabled the emperor to travel across the extensive territories of his empire and personally attend to the grievances of its inhabitants. The hunt was a subject frequently painted by court artists. The painter resorted to the device of inserting a small scene somewhere in the picture that functioned as a symbol of a harmonious region.

(f)    Clearance of forest for agriculture settlements by the outsiders : The people from different areas outside of forest region entered for their economic self motifs. For examples, some people tried to clean forest and try to develops land for agriculture and to have dwelling units for agricultural settlements and different peoples definitely the tribal people took it a challenge. They fought against the outsiders but ultimately some outsiders got success with the help of rulers or other powerful groups of the people.

(g)    Development of trade : Trade development between the hill tribes and the plains also disturbed forests settlements.

The zamindars were that class of the people who did not directly participate in the processes of agricultural production. They enjoyed an elevated status in society.

(i)    The zamindars were the proprietors of their land. They considered their land as their property (milkiyat). They could sell, give and mortgage it. They enjoyed many social and economic privileges because of their superior status in society.

(ii)    The zamindars belonged to the upper caste. It added to their exalted status in society.

(iii)    The zamindars rendered certain services (khidmat) for the state. So they got respect and position in the state.

(iv)    The zamindars became very powerful because they collected revenue on bahalf of the state. They also got financial compensation for this work.

(v)    Another source for the power of zamindars in society was their control over the military resources. They kept a fortress as well as an armed unit comprising cavalry, artillery and infantry.

(vi)    The zamindars played an important role in inhabiting and developing the agricultural land. They helped in the settlements of farmers by lending them money and agricultural instruments. Because of the sale and purchase of land by the zamindars, the market became quite brisk. Besides the zamindars used to sell the crops grown on their land. There are evidences that the zamindars held bazaars where even the farmers came to sell their crops.

(vii)    If we observe social relations of villages of Mughal age, as a pyramid then zamindars were at the top i.e. their place was the highest.

(viii)    There is no doubt in the fact that the zamindars belonged to an exploitative class. But their relations with the farmers depended on their mutual togetherness and hereditary patronage. That’s why zamindars often got support of peasants in case of their revolt against the state.

(a) Cultivators were a highly heterogeneous group because they were divided on the basis of caste and other caste like distinctions. Thus among the peasants were many who worked as agricultural labourers.

(b)    A large proportion of the village people were constrained by their caste being regarded as the modem day Dalits. They were assigned menial tasks and thus were poverty-stricken.

(c)    Caste distinctions had also begun to permeate other communities as well. In Muslim communities menials like halkhoron (scavengers) lived outside the villages. A direct relation existed between caste, poverty and social status.

(d)    In Marwar in the seventeenth century, Rajputs are mentioned as peasants and equated with Jats who were given an inferior status in the caste hierarchy.

(e)    Castes like Ahirs, Gujjars and Malis reached an elevated status in the caste hierarchy because of immense profits generated by cattle-rearing and horticulture. In the eastern regions, the pastoral and fishing castes like the sadgops and Kaivartas acquired the status of peasants.