What were the two categories of peasants in the 17th century (the Mughal period)?
According to the Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period, raiyat or Nazarian were the terms used to denote a peasant. Besides terms like Kisan or Asami were also used. The sources of the 17th century refer to two kinds of farmers. They were Khud-Kashta and Pahi-Kashta. The Khud-Kashta lived in the village where they cultivated their own lands themselves. On the other hand, the Pahi-Kashta were not the residents of the village. They belonged to some other village but cultivated lands in some other village. They performed their work on a contractual basis.
