Jins-i kamil

History glossary

Also called: Perfect crops · Topic: Mughal Agrarian Society and Economy · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Peasants, Zamindars and the State"

Meaning

Jins-i kamil ("perfect crops") were the high-value cash crops that the Mughal state actively encouraged peasants to grow, because they brought in more revenue. The best examples were cotton and sugarcane, and oilseeds and lentils were also in this group. The idea matters because it shows that Mughal peasants did not farm only to feed themselves. The same peasant grew food to eat and a cash crop to sell, so farming for food and farming for the market went on side by side.

Explanation

Background: a rich crop regime

  • The monsoon was the base of Indian farming. Rain decided which crops could grow where:
  • Areas with 40+ inches (about 100 cm) of rain a year grew rice.
  • Areas with middling rain grew wheat.

  • Dry areas grew millets (jowar, bajra).

  • Thirsty crops needed extra water. Rain alone was not enough for them, so they depended on artificial irrigation:

  • Peasant level: the Persian wheel and the bucket-lift, both described by Babur in the Babur Nama.

  • State level: canals (nahr, nala), such as the shahnahr in Punjab, repaired under Shah Jahan.

  • Peasants took two harvests a year. These were kharif (the autumn crop, sown with the monsoon) and rabi (the spring crop). Taking at least two crops a year was called do-fasla. Where water was assured, three crops were possible.

  • The crop range was wide. Abul Fazl's Ain-i Akbari lists 39 crop varieties in Agra, 43 in Delhi and 50 varieties of rice alone in Bengal.
  • This variety left room for crops grown to be sold, not only eaten. Jins-i kamil belongs to this space.

Main features: what counted as a "perfect crop"

  • Cotton was grown mainly in central India and the Deccan.
  • Sugarcane was the crop Bengal was best known for (Bengal par excellence).
  • Oilseeds, such as mustard, were also counted as jins-i kamil.
  • Lentils were also counted as jins-i kamil.
  • What these crops had in common:
  • They sold for more in the market than ordinary food grain.
  • So they produced more revenue for the state.
  • Several of them, such as cane and cotton, needed more water. This links them to the irrigation devices and canals described above.

How it worked: the state shaped the crop mix

  • The state cared about which crops were grown, not just how much tax it took.
  • Higher-value crops meant a higher revenue yield.

  • So the Mughal state pushed peasants towards jins-i kamil.

  • Revenue was demanded in cash.

  • To pay in cash, a peasant had to sell part of the harvest.
  • Cash crops made selling easier and more profitable.

  • So the push towards the market came from state policy as well as from merchants.

  • There was one farmer, not two kinds of farmer.

  • The same holding grew grain for the family to eat and cotton or cane for the market.
  • "Subsistence peasants" and "commercial peasants" were not two separate groups.

Results

  • Farming became more tied to the market. This links jins-i kamil to Mughal monetisation (the wider use of money), to mandis (local markets) and to the cotton and sugar trade.
  • The idea of a "closed, self-sufficient village" does not hold. Villages produced for distant markets too.
  • Growth was steady but slow. Population rose by about 50 million between 1600 and 1800, roughly 33 per cent, despite famines. The farming system could feed more people over time, but tools stayed simple: a light iron-tipped plough, an oxen-drawn seed drill and a narrow iron hoe. Output grew mainly by adding land and labour, so it could not jump suddenly.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: the Mughal empire, 16th–17th centuries.
  • Regions:
  • Cotton: central India and the Deccan.

  • Sugarcane: Bengal above all.

  • Key people:

  • Abul Fazl, author of the Ain-i Akbari, which records the crop varieties of Akbar's empire.
  • Babur, whose Babur Nama describes the irrigation devices that thirsty crops needed.

  • Shah Jahan, under whom the shahnahr canal in Punjab was repaired.

  • How we know:

  • The Ain-i Akbari is the main source for the crop range (Agra 39, Delhi 43, Bengal 50 rices).

  • The Babur Nama describes the Persian wheel at Lahore and Dipalpur and the bucket-lift in the Agra–Chandwar–Bayana belt.

  • Textbook: NCERT Class 12, Part 2, Ch 4, "Peasants, Zamindars and the State".

Don't confuse with

  • Do-fasla means taking two crops a year (kharif and rabi). It is about how many harvests a field gave. Jins-i kamil is about which crops were grown: high-value cash crops.
  • Kharif and rabi are the two farming seasons. They are not crop types. A cash crop could belong to either season.
  • New World crops (maize, tomato, potato, chilli, tobacco) were new arrivals, many of them in the 17th century. Jins-i kamil is a revenue category of valued crops such as cotton and sugarcane. Tobacco became a major trade crop by 1700, but the study note does not list it as jins-i kamil.
  • Food grains (rice, wheat, millets) were mapped mainly by rainfall and grown mainly to be eaten. Jins-i kamil crops were grown mainly to be sold, and the state promoted them for revenue.

Prelims Hooks

  • Jins-i kamil = "perfect crops" = cash crops. The best examples are cotton and sugarcane.
  • Other jins-i kamil: oilseeds (like mustard) and lentils.
  • Cotton was grown in central India and the Deccan. Sugarcane was grown in Bengal.
  • The Mughal state promoted these crops because they brought in more revenue.
  • Ain-i Akbari (Abul Fazl): Agra 39 crop varieties, Delhi 43, Bengal 50 varieties of rice.
  • Trap: do-fasla means two harvests a year. It does not mean cash crops.

Mains Points

  • The state shaped what peasants grew, not just what they paid.
  • By favouring jins-i kamil, the Mughal state steered peasants towards the market.

  • Because revenue was demanded in cash, commercial farming was partly an effect of state policy, not only of merchants.

  • Subsistence and commerce lived in the same field.

  • One peasant grew grain to eat and cotton or cane to sell.
  • This weakens the old picture of an unchanging, self-sufficient Indian village.

  • It links farming to Mughal monetisation, mandis and the export trade in cotton and sugar.

  • Commercial farming had limits.

  • Cash crops grew on top of a rich crop regime (do-fasla, dozens of varieties) and needed irrigation from both peasant devices and state canals.
  • But simple, animal-powered tools kept growth slow: about 33 per cent population growth over 1600–1800. This is a useful point when judging how far the Mughal economy had become commercial.

Related concepts

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Sources

  1. 1Class 12, Ch 4 "Peasants, Zamindars and the State" (primary)