Existence of Middle class in Medieval India. Existence of a Middle Class. Traders and Shopkeepers. Middle State. Income Sources. Rural Gentry. Class Composition.
The Middle Strata in Mughal Society: Traders, Professionals, and Rural Gentry
Existence of a Middle Class in Medieval India: A Historical Debate
There has been a lot of discussion on whether during the medieval period, India had a middle class or not.
The Frenchman, Bernier, said that in India there was no ‘middle state’, a person was either extremely rich or lived miserably.
It is, however, not possible to agree with this statement.
Traders and Shopkeepers in Mughal India: A Significant Economic Group
If the word ‘middle class’ means traders and shop keepers, India had a large class of rich traders and merchants.
Some of them being amongst the richest merchants of the world at that time.
These merchants also had rights based on tradition, such as protection of life and property.
But they did not have the right to administer any of the towns.
Such rights had been acquired in Europe by the merchants in special circumstances.
These rights tended to be abridged whenever strong territorial states grew up, as in France and Britain.
Middle State in Mughal India: Diverse Occupations and Standards of Living
If by ‘middle state' is meant a section whose standard of living was between the rich and the poor, such sections were large in Mughal India.
They included the small mansabdars, petty shop-keepers, and a small but important section of master craftsmen.
It also included the class of professionals—hakims, leading musicians and artists, historians, scholars, qazis, and theologians.
Additionally, there was a large class of petty officials or pen-pushers, who ran the large and growing Mughal administrative apparatus.
Income Sources for the Middle Strata in Mughal Society
The petty officials were generally paid in cash and supplemented their income by means of corruption.
Many of the others, especially the scholars and religious divines, were granted small tracts of land for maintenance.
Such grants were called madad-i-maash in Mughal terminology, or sasan in Rajasthan.
In addition to the Mughal emperor, local rulers and zamindars, and even nobles made such grants.
Although these grants were to be renewed by every ruler, they often became hereditary in practice.
Rural Gentry and Their Role in Mughal Society
These sections often became part of the rural gentry, and a link between the village and the town.
Writers, historians, and theologians often belonged to this class.
Class Composition and Diversity of the Middle Strata in Mughal India
The ‘middle strata’ did not form a class: the interests of different sections being different.
They were also drawn from various religious groups and castes.
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