Forest dwellers in the Mughal agrarian
i. An average of 40 per cent of Mughal Empire was covered by forests
ii. Their livelihood came from the gathering of forest produce, hunting and shifting agriculture.
iii. Collection of livelihood was largely season specific. Spring was reserved for collecting forest produce, summer for fishing, the monsoon months for cultivation, and autumn and winter for hunting.
iv. For the state, the forest was a place of rebels and troublemakers.
v. State required elephants for the army. Elephants were captured from forest and sold.
vi. Rulers went for regular hunting expeditions which enabled the emperor to travel across the extensive territories of his empire and personally attend to the grievances of its inhabitants.
vii. The spread of commercial agriculture was an important external factor that impinged on the lives of those who lived in the forests.
viii. Forest products –like honey, beeswax and gum lac – were in great demand. Some, such as gum lac, became major items of overseas export from India in the seventeenth century.
ix. Social factors too brought changes in the lives of forest dwellers. Like the head men of the villages, tribes also had their chieftains. Many tribal chiefs had become zamindars, some even became kings.
x. Tribal Kings recruited people from their lineage groups or demanded that their fraternity provide military service. Tribes in the Sind region had armies comprising 6,000 cavalry and 7,000 infantry.
