1 - Mughal India

Summary

Mughal India had the appearance of a vast geographical zone cultivated by myriads of peasants, each with his own separate field. In essentials the agricultural practices of the Indian peasants seemed similar to those pursued by their counterparts in Europe, given the difference in crops and climate. As an English visitor noted, they tilled the land and dressed the corn ‘with no remarkable difference from other nations’. The wooden ploughs they used were similar to the ‘foot ploughs’ used at the time in England; and if there was in the ploughshare only one little iron tooth, or none at all, it was because the ‘light grounds’ in India did not need the heavy iron coulter. The Indian peasant, moreover, made use of the seed-drill, a late-comer in European agriculture, and, in the case of some crops like cotton, employed even dibbling.

On the peasants' knowledge and use of fertilizer, we have unluckily very little information. On the coasts, fish was used as manure. The usefulness of certain crops in preparing land for cultivation was known at least to theorists. The traditional lore about rotation of crops also gave the peasant an important means to preserve the productivity of the soil.

Another feature of Indian agriculture was the use of artificial irrigation to supplement rain and flood. Wells and tanks were the main sources of such irrigation. Different devices were used for lifting water from wells into field-channels. The simplest device was the wooden scoop or dhenklī, working on the lever principle, usable where water was close to the surface.