Q.Visit a neighbouring village. Find out how many people live there, which crops are grown, which animals are raised, which artisanal groups reside there, whether women own land, how the local panchayat functions. Compare this information with what you have learnt about the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries, noting similarities and differences. Explain both the changes and the continuities that you find.

This is a comparative exercise, not a single factual answer. You are being asked to observe a present-day village and then contrast it with what you have studied about village life in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The core idea is to identify changes (what is different now) and continuities (what has remained the same).

Changes you are likely to observe:

• Population: Villages today are far more populated and connected to towns and cities than in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries, when villages were more isolated.
• Crops: Today, many farmers grow cash crops (like sugarcane, cotton, or vegetables) for the market. In the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries, subsistence farming was the norm, with a heavy focus on food grains like rice, wheat, and millets.
• Animals: While cattle, buffalo, and goats were raised then as well, today there is often a greater focus on dairy as a commercial activity (cooperative dairies), which was less organised earlier.
• Artisanal groups: In the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries, villages had many hereditary artisans (weavers, potters, carpenters, blacksmiths) who served the village community in a jajmani system. Today, many of these traditional crafts have declined due to factory-made goods, and artisans often work for the market or have shifted to other occupations.
• Women and land: In the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries, women rarely owned land; property was controlled by men. Today, while legal rights exist, actual ownership of land by women remains very low in practice — this is a continuity of social inequality.
• Local panchayat: The sixteenth-seventeenth century village was governed by a panchayat of elders (often upper-caste men) that handled disputes, collected revenue, and managed common resources. Today’s panchayat is a constitutional body with elected members, reservations for women and lower castes, and a formal role in development — a major change.

Continuities you are likely to find:

• Caste and social hierarchy: Despite legal equality, caste still influences who holds power in the panchayat, who owns land, and who does which work — a strong continuity from the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries.
• Agriculture as the main occupation: Even today, most villagers depend on farming and animal husbandry, just as they did centuries ago.
• Role of the village headman: The mukhiya or sarpanch still holds significant influence in resolving local disputes, much like the headman of the sixteenth-seventeenth century.

When you walk into a neighbouring village today, you are stepping into a living archive. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in India — the period of the Mughal Empire at its height — were also overwhelmingly agrarian. Most people lived in villages, and the rhythms of life were tied to the land, the seasons, and the monsoon. A visit today will show you that many of these fundamentals have not vanished, but they have been reshaped by modern laws, democratic institutions, and new economic forces.

Population and settlement patterns

In the sixteenth–seventeenth centuries, a typical village might have had a few hundred to a couple of thousand people. The NCERT textbook notes that villages were often clustered around a water source, with houses made of mud, thatch, or brick. Today, the village you visit may have a population of 1,000–5,000, depending on its location. The biggest change is that many young people have migrated to cities for work, so the population may be older or more female than in the past. In the Mughal period, migration was rarer — people were tied to the land through caste and the jajmani system of reciprocal services.

Crops and agriculture

Then: The main crops were food grains — wheat, rice, barley, millets (jowar, bajra) — and cash crops like cotton, sugarcane, and indigo. The Mughal state collected revenue as a share of the produce, often one-third to one-half. Irrigation depended on wells, tanks, and canals built by rulers or local zamindars.

Now: In the same village, you will likely see wheat and rice still dominant, but also vegetables, fruits, and perhaps cash crops like mustard or cotton. The big change is the use of chemical fertilisers, high-yielding seeds, and tube wells powered by electricity. The Green Revolution of the 1960s–70s transformed yields, but also created new problems like groundwater depletion. The kharif and rabi seasons remain the same, but the tools are different — tractors and threshers instead of wooden ploughs and bullocks.

Animals raised

Then: Cattle (bullocks for ploughing, cows for milk), buffaloes, goats, sheep, and poultry were common. Horses and camels were used by the elite and for transport. Animals were essential for manure, milk, and traction.

Now: You will still find cows, buffaloes, goats, and poultry. But the purpose has shifted: many families now keep a single buffalo or cow for milk, and commercial dairy farming (often through cooperatives like Amul) has replaced subsistence herding. Bullocks are far fewer because tractors have taken over ploughing. In the sixteenth century, every village had a gwal (herder) caste; today, animal husbandry is more individualised.

Artisanal groups

Then: Every village had a range of specialists — potters (kumhar), weavers (julaha), carpenters (badhai), blacksmiths (lohar), oil-pressers (teli), leather-workers (chamar), and barbers (nai). They served the village in exchange for grain or a share of the harvest, under the jajmani system. The NCERT textbook describes how these groups were often organised into caste-based jatis, and their skills were hereditary.

Now: Many of these crafts still exist, but they are under pressure. You may find a potter who makes clay pots for festivals, but most households use steel or plastic. A blacksmith may still sharpen tools, but factory-made implements are cheaper. Weavers have been hit hardest by machine-made cloth. Some artisanal groups have shifted to new occupations — driving auto-rickshaws, working in construction, or running small shops. The caste–occupation link has weakened legally, but it persists socially in many places.

Women and land ownership

Then: Women rarely owned land. The Mughal legal system (based on Islamic law and local customs) generally gave inheritance to male heirs. Women could hold property as a stridhan (gifts at marriage) or through a waqf (religious endowment), but this was exceptional. In most Hindu communities, women had no right to ancestral land.

Now: This is one of the most dramatic changes. Under the Hindu Succession Act (1956, amended in 2005), daughters have equal rights to ancestral property. In the village you visit, you may find women who own land — though social barriers remain. Many women do not exercise their rights due to family pressure or lack of awareness. The panchayat may have a reserved seat for a woman (under the 73rd Amendment, 1992), but real decision-making often stays with male relatives. So the law has changed, but practice lags behind.

The local panchayat

Then: The village panchayat in the sixteenth–seventeenth centuries was an informal body of elders, usually from the dominant caste. It settled disputes, collected revenue for the zamindar, and managed common resources like tanks and grazing lands. The NCERT textbook mentions that panchayats had considerable autonomy, but they were not democratic — they were oligarchic, and lower castes had little voice.

Now: The modern panchayat is a constitutional body elected by universal adult suffrage. It has three tiers: gram panchayat (village level), block panchayat, and district panchayat. The gram panchayat has a sarpanch (head) and ward members, with reserved seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and women. It is responsible for local development — roads, water supply, sanitation, schools, and health centres. It also implements central and state government schemes (like MGNREGA for employment). The contrast is sharp: then, the panchayat was a tool of the elite; now, it is a democratic institution, though still often dominated by powerful families and caste networks.

Changes and continuities: a summary

Continuities are striking: agriculture remains the backbone; caste still influences occupation and social relations; the village remains a face-to-face community; and the panchayat, though transformed, still handles local disputes and resources. The jajmani system is gone, but the idea of reciprocal obligations within the village has not entirely disappeared.

Changes are equally profound: the state is no longer a distant Mughal emperor but a democratic republic with a constitution; land revenue is no longer a share of the crop but a tax assessed in cash; women have legal rights to land; and the panchayat is now a formal, elected body with constitutional powers. The biggest change is the penetration of the market and the state into every aspect of village life — something the Mughal state, for all its power, never achieved.