Question

Who were the Ryots?
(a)Diwans
(b)Herders
(c)Peasants
(d)Industrialists

Answer 1

Hint: -The term has originated from an Arabic word, ra`īyah meaning ‘flock’.
-Other alternative words used for it were rait, ravat or raiyat.

Complete answer: ‘Ryot’ was a term used to refer to the peasants. This was the general economic use of the term, ‘ryot’. Otherwise, it did have some variations in usage in different provinces.
-During the Mughal rule, there was a system of land control which had two types of Raiyat or Ryot. They were:
(i)Khudkasta – They were the permanent residents and cultivators of their village. Their rights concerning land were heritable according to Hindu and Muslim laws. They lived in or near the land that they used to cultivate in. They had much more salaries than Paikastas.
(ii)Paikasta – These were peasants who did not cultivate the land permanently. Instead, they moved from settlement to settlement and engaged themselves for a specific crop season. They were generally paid much lower than Khudkasta ryots. They were a group of peasants who went to work at a land that was away from their residence.
-This Mughal system of land control was even used way after the Mughal Empire collapsed. -This system was also prominent during the British rule in India. E.g., we know about the ryots in West Bengal who were forced to grow indigo. Thousands of ryots protested and refused to grow indigo. This happened in March of 1859.
Thus, the correct answer is Option (C) Peasants.

Note: -The British later modified this Mughal system and formed two new systems for the same.
-They were the Ryotwari System and the Mahalwari System.
-The Ryotwari system was based on the peasant’s ownership of the cultivated land, more like a landlord.
-The Mahalwari system consisted of numbardars or lambardars who owned entire villages and even groups of villages.