Tobacco in Mughal India
Topic: Mughal Agrarian Society and Economy · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Peasants, Zamindars and the State"
Meaning
Tobacco was a new crop in Mughal India. It reached the Deccan first. By the early 1600s it had spread to northern India. Within about a century it went from an unknown plant to a major crop and trade good. This shows how quickly peasants took up a profitable new crop.
Example
Tobacco is missing from the Ain-i Akbari's crop lists for northern India. Akbar's court first saw it in 1604. Later, Jahangir banned smoking, but the ban did not work. By c. 1700, tobacco was widely grown, used and traded across India.
Don't confuse with
- Ain-i Akbari crop lists: these were completed in 1598. Tobacco is not in the northern lists, so they cannot be used to date when tobacco spread in the north.