Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c6.s1.53

c6.s1.53

3. *Standard of economic life.*—To complete the discussion of rural life, a word may be added as to the standard of economic life in the villages. Of the produce of land, a large share went to the state, in the form of the land-tax and various perquisites. Of the remainder, a customary share was fixed for various classes of domestic and other labourers. The peasant and his family kept the rest for their own use, gradually consuming the produce, and making special use of it on the great occasions of domestic life, namely, at birth, marriage and funeral celebrations. A certain proportion went to the share of the priest and the temple, and the rest was consumed by the peasant and his stock of domestic animals. In a certain sense the menial and domestic labourers, for instance the carpenter, the smith, the potter, the washerman, the scavenger, etc. were better off, for no animals and not many respectable priests encumbered their lives. Their despised isolation gave them some sort of security against external interference. Like the peasants they also spent their meagre resources on domsestic ceremonies and the upkeep of family customs, and lived on a bare pittance, usually indebted to the local money-lender like all other producing classes.³