Page 4 - #1812080101

• As a result, the period between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries was
marked by a remarkable stability in the silver currency.

Caste Based Village Communities:

• There were three constituents of village community, the cultivators, the panchayat
and the village headman (muqaddam or mandal).
• The cultivators were a highly heterogeneous group. Caste inequalities were there
and certain castes were assigned menial tasks and thus faced poverty.
• There was a direct correlation between caste, poverty and social status at the
lower strata of society.
• Sometimes castes rose in the hierarchy because of their developing economic
conditions.
• In mixed-caste villages the panchayat represented various castes and
communities in the village, though village menial-cum-agricultural worker were not
included in it
• The panchayat was headed by a headman known as muqaddam or mandal.
Panchayat used their funds for community welfare activities.
• The village headman observed the conduct of the members of village community
to prevent any offence against their caste.
• The panchayat had the authority to levy fines and inflict punishment.
• In addition to the village panchayat, each caste or jati in the village had its own jati
panchayat. Jati panchayat enjoyed considerable power in rural society.
• In most cases, except in matters of criminal justice, the state respected the
decisions of jati panchayats. There were substantial number of artisans in the
villages, sometimes it was as high as 25 percent of the total house holds.
• Village artisans like potters, blacksmiths, carpenters, barbers, goldsmiths, etc
provided specialized services, in return for which they were compensated by the
villagers.
• Some British officials in the 19th century saw the village as a ‘little republic’ but it
was not a sign of rural egalitarianism.
• There was individual ownership of assets and deep inequalities based on caste
and gender distinctions.

Social and Economic Status of Women in Village Communities:

• Women and men had to work shoulder to shoulder in the agricultural fields.
• Men tilled and ploughed, w’hile women sowed, weeded, threshed and winnowed
the harvest. Although biases related to women’s biological functions did continue.
• Many artisanal tasks like spinning yarn, sifting and kneading day for pottery and
embroidery were dependent on female labour.
• Women were considered an important resource in agrarian society because they
were child bearers in a society dependent on labour.
• Sometimes in rural communities the payment of bride-price, remarriage for both
divorced and widowed women were considered legitimate. Women had the right
to inherit property.