Match List – I with List – II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists : List – I: A. Jajmani, B. Bara Balute, C. Mirasi, D. Adade List – II: 1. North India, 2. Karnataka, 3. Maharashtra, 4. Tamil Nadu
- (a)A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4
- (b)A-1, B-3, C-2, D-4
- (c)A-1, B-4, C-2, D-3
- (d)A-1, B-3, C-4, D-2
Marked answer per the official UPPSC key — B, A-1, B-3, C-2, D-4. Two of the four pairings are firmly documented: (A) the Jajmani system, the hereditary patron-client village service arrangement, is the North India name → 1-North India; and (B) the Bara Balute / Balutedar system of twelve hereditary village servants belongs to Maharashtra → 3-Maharashtra. These two anchors alone eliminate options (a) and (c). The key then pairs (C) Mirasi with Karnataka (2) and (D) Adade with Tamil Nadu (4), giving option (b). Honest caveat: standard sources usually associate the Mirasi (mirasdari) system with the Tamil country / Madras region and the Adade practice with Karnataka — i.e. the reverse of the key's last pair (that reading would be option (d)). The Mirasi/Adade attribution is contested; the answer is retained as (b) only because that is what the official key records.
- (a)A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4 — Wrongly places the Bara Balute (Balutedar) system in Karnataka (B-2). The twelve-servant Balutedar system is firmly a MAHARASHTRA institution, so B must be 3 — this option is out.
- (c)A-1, B-4, C-2, D-3 — Wrongly places the Bara Balute system in Tamil Nadu (B-4). It belongs to Maharashtra (B-3), so this option fails on the one pairing everyone agrees on.
- (d)A-1, B-3, C-4, D-2 — Gets the two solid anchors right (Jajmani-North India, Balute-Maharashtra) and pairs Mirasi with Tamil Nadu and Adade with Karnataka — which is actually the attribution most reference sources give. It is NOT the option the official UPPSC key marks (the key chose (b), reversing the Mirasi/Adade pair). Flagged here as a key-vs-sources conflict on that last pair.
Across pre-modern rural India the same idea — hereditary, caste-based village service in exchange for a customary share of the harvest — went by different regional names. In North India it is called Jajmani; in Maharashtra the Bara Balute (Balutedar) system of twelve village servants; and in the South further variants such as Mirasi (mirasdari) and Adade are cited. The system tied artisan and service castes (kamins) to landholding patrons (jajmans) in a self-sufficient village economy.
The question pairs each regional name with a state. Two pairings are safe textbook facts — Jajmani = North India, Bara Balute = Maharashtra — and those two are enough to knock out options (a) and (c). The remaining choice between (b) and (d) turns entirely on the Mirasi/Adade split, which the literature reports inconsistently; the official key opts for Mirasi-Karnataka, Adade-Tamil Nadu (option b).
- Jajmani = the North Indian name for the hereditary patron (jajman)-client (kamin) village service system.
- Bara Balute / Balutedar = Maharashtra's system of twelve hereditary village servants paid in grain.
- Mirasi (mirasdari) and Adade are South Indian variants of the same village-service idea; their exact state attribution is reported inconsistently.
- Official key marks Mirasi-Karnataka and Adade-Tamil Nadu (option b); many sources reverse this (Mirasi-Tamil Nadu, Adade-Karnataka).
Jajmani-North India and Balute-Maharashtra are solid; the official key's Mirasi-Karnataka / Adade-Tamil Nadu pair (option b) reverses the commonly cited attribution.
- Mismatching the Bara Balute system to a state other than Maharashtra — that is the one anchor that must not be missed.
- Treating the contested Mirasi/Adade regional labels as settled facts; sources differ, and the official key's pairing is itself debatable.
UPPSC likes match-list items on regional/social institutions (village service systems, land tenures) — lock in the certain pairings first (Jajmani-North, Balute-Maharashtra) and let them eliminate options rather than agonising over the disputed South-Indian labels.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The 'Bara Balutedar' system of twelve hereditary village servants is historically associated with which region?
- (a)North India
- (b)Maharashtra
- (c)Tamil Nadu
- (d)Assam
Answer(b) Maharashtra — the Bara Balute (Balutedar) system of twelve village servants paid in grain is a Maharashtra institution, akin to the North Indian jajmani system.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In the jajmani system, the landholding patron who receives services is called the 'jajman'. The service/artisan castes who serve him are generally termed:
- (a)Mirasdar
- (b)Kamin (or purjan)
- (c)Balutedar
- (d)Ryot
Answer(b) Kamin (or purjan) — in the jajmani system the serving castes are the kamins/purjans, while the patron who receives their services is the jajman.