question_answer

Read the following paragraph carefully and answer the questions that follow:

The Poor Peasant

An excerpt from Bernier's description of the peasantry ion the countryside:

Of the vast tracts of country constituting the empire of Hindustan, many are little more than sand, or barren, mountains, badly cultivated, and thinly populated. Even. A considerable portion of the good land. .Even a remains unfilled for want of labourers; many of whom perish in consequence of the bad treatment they experience from Governors. The poor people, when they become incapable of discharging the demands of their rapacious lords, are not only often deprived of the means of subsistence, but are also made to lose their children, who are carried away as slaves. Thus, it happens that the peasantry, driven to despair by so excessive a tyranny, abandon the country.

In this instance, Bernier was participating in contemporary debates in Europe concerning the nature of state and society, and intended that his description of Mughal India would? serve as a warning to those who did not recognize the merits? of private property.

(i)  Name the book written by the Francois Bernier on the critical insight and reflection on the empire of Hindustan.

(ii) What description Bernier has given on the condition of Indian peasantry during the Mughal Empire?

(iii) Which fundamental differences he found between Mughal India and Europe during 16th and 17th century?

 

Answer:

(i) Francois Bernier?s book name was. ?Travel in the Mughal Empire?.

(ii) (a) Bernier gave a subdued description on the condition of Indian peasantry during the Mughal Empire.

(b) The poor and resource less peasants became in capable of discharging the demands of their greedy owners.

(c) Peasants were not only deprived of the means, of subsistence, but were also made to lose their children, who were carried away as slaves.

(iii) (a) According to Bernier, one of the fundamental differences between Mughal India and Europe was the shortage of private property in land in the Mughal India.

(b) Bernier was a staunch supporter of private property. He felt that in the Mughal Empire the emperor owned all the land and distributed the same among his nobles. However, it had disastrous results for the economy and society.

(c) Bernier opined that there was no middle state in India. On the other hand, none of the Mughal official documents suggest that the state was the only owner of land.