History · Ch 8 — Peasants, Zamindars and the State — Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire
Irrigation and technology
Irrigation and technology
The Mughal agrarian economy was not static. Three factors drove its constant expansion: the abundance of land, the availability of labour, and the mobility of peasants. Because the primary purpose of agriculture was to feed people, the most frequently cultivated crops were basic staples — rice, wheat, and millets. The choice of crop depended heavily on rainfall. Areas receiving 40 inches or more of rain annually were generally rice-producing zones. Wheat and millets followed, corresponding to a descending scale of precipitation.
Monsoons remained the backbone of Indian agriculture, as they are even today. But some crops required additional water, and for this, artificial systems of irrigation had to be devised.
Peasants on the move
A striking feature of agrarian society that caught the attention of the first Mughal emperor, Babur, was the extraordinary mobility of peasants. In his memoirs, the Babur Nama, he wrote that in Hindustan, hamlets, villages, and even towns could be depopulated and set up in a moment. If the people of a large town fled, they could vanish without a trace in a day and a half. On the other hand, if they fixed their eyes on a place to settle, they did not need to dig water courses because their crops were all rain-grown. They would make a tank or a well, build huts from abundant khas-grass and unlimited wood, and straightaway there would be a village or a town.
Babur observed that the population of Hindustan was "unlimited" and "swarms in," which made this rapid settlement possible.
Irrigation devices observed by Babur
Babur also described the irrigation devices he saw in northern India. He noted that the greater part of Hindustan was level land, and though it had many towns and cultivated lands, it had nowhere running waters. Water was not a necessity for cultivating crops and orchards — autumn crops grew by the downpour of the rains themselves, and spring crops grew even when no rains fell. However, for young trees, water had to be made to flow by means of buckets or wheels.
Two distinct systems were observed:
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In Lahore, Dipalpur (present-day Pakistan) and those parts: People watered by means of a wheel. They made two circles of rope long enough to suit the depth of the well, fixed strips of wood between them, and fastened pitchers on these. The ropes with the wood and attached pitchers were put over the wheel-well. At one end of the wheel-axle, a second wheel was fixed, and close to it another on an upright axle. The last wheel the bullock turned; its teeth caught in the teeth of the second wheel, and thus the wheel with the pitchers was turned. A trough was set where the water emptied from the pitchers, and from this the water was conveyed everywhere. This is the Persian wheel (reconstructed in Fig. 8.2 of the textbook).
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In Agra, Chandwar, Bayana (present-day Uttar Pradesh) and those parts: People watered with a bucket. At the well-edge they set up a fork of wood, having a roller adjusted between the forks. They tied a rope to a large bucket, put the rope over the roller, and tied its other end to the bullock. One person had to drive the bullock, and another had to empty the bucket.
State support for irrigation …
Source 1 — Peasants on the move. A feature of agrarian society that struck a keen observer like Babur, the first Mughal emperor, forcefully enough for him to write about it in the Babur Nama (his memoirs):
In Hindustan hamlets and villages, towns indeed, are depopulated and set up in a moment! If the people of a large town, one inhabited for years even, flee from it, they do it in such a way that not a sign or trace of them remains in a day and a half. On the other hand, if they fix their eyes on a place to settle, they need not dig water courses because their crops are all rain-grown … They make a tank or a well; they need not build houses or set up walls … huts are made, and straightaway there is a village or a town! …
Source 2 — Irrigating trees and fields. An excerpt from the Babur Nama describing the irrigation devices the emperor observed in northern India:
The greater part of Hindustan country is situated on level land … it nowhere has running waters … Autumn crops grow by the downpour of the rains themselves; and strange it is that spring crops grow even when no rains fall. (However) to young trees water is made to flow by means of buckets or wheels …
In Lahore, Dipalpur and those other parts, people water by means of a wheel. They make two circles of rope … fix strips of wood between them, and on these fasten pitchers … At one end of the wheel-axle a second wheel is fixed … The last wheel the bullock turns; its teeth catch in the teeth of the second (wheel), and thus the wheel with the pitchers is turned …
In Agra, Chandwar, Bayana and those parts again, people water with a bucket … tie a rope to a large bucket, put the rope over a roller, and tie its other end to the bullock. One person must drive the bullock, another empty the bucket. …
The figure shows a reconstruction of the Persian wheel, the device Babur described in his memoirs. At the centre is a deep well. Over the well, a large vertical wheel is fitted with a loop of rope that carries a series of earthen pitchers tied between strips of wood. As the wheel turns, the pitchers dip into the well, fill with water, rise, and empty into a trough set at the top. From that trough, water flows through a channel to irrigate fields or young trees.
The power source is a bullock. The bullock walks in a circle, turning a horizontal axle. At the end of that axle is a small gear wheel. Its teeth mesh with the teeth of a second, upright gear wheel fixed to the axle of the large vertical wheel. This gear system converts the bullock’s horizontal motion into the vertical rotation needed to lift the water. The reconstruction clearly shows the two interlocking gear wheels — the key innovation that made the device efficient.
The figure also includes labels for the well, the rope-and-pitcher loop, the trough, the channel, the bullock, and the two gear wheels. Arrows indicate the direction of the bullock’s movement and the rotation of the wheels. The entire arrangement is set in an open landscape, with a few trees and a field nearby, suggesting its use in a village setting. …