Vagaries of Monsoon,Resilience of Society: Revisiting Nature of Socio-political Structures in Early-modern Rajasthan

Abstract

Recent writings have questioned the conventional portrayal of nature as benevolent and suggested that vagaries of monsoon necessitated regular negotiations to ensure agrarian production at multiple levels especially during early modern times in the semi-arid and arid landscape of Rajasthan. It is generally assumed that most of the negotiations were carried out by the peasantry, and political apparatus was usually a mere spectator or at best provided relief during severe scarcity. This article argues that political authorities were accommodative in their attitude towards the implications of inherent dynamism of the physical environment. Therefore, if not by choice then definitely under compulsions of natural exigencies, the ruling elites were forced to make preventive interventions by extending support to the peasantry in their negotiations with the environment.