According to Sangam texts, the term 'uzhavar' referred to:

According to Sangam texts, "uzhavar" was the term used for ordinary ploughmen (peasants) in the Tamil region.

NCERT on rural society in the Tamil region:

• NCERT explains that in the Tamil region, there were different categories of people living in villages:
• Large landowners were known as "vellalar".
• Ordinary ploughmen were known as "uzhavar".
• Landless labourers, including slaves, had another name.
• This shows that society in the Tamil region was divided according to land ownership.

About the uzhavar:

• The word comes from "uzhu", meaning "to plough".
• They worked on the land, often on small plots, and grew crops such as rice, millets, sugarcane and pulses.
• They depended on rain and on irrigation from rivers, tanks and canals.
• Sangam poems praise farming as an important and honourable occupation.

Agriculture in the Sangam period:

• The fertile Kaveri delta was the centre of rice cultivation.
• The Chola king Karikala is said to have built the Kallanai (Grand Anicut) on the Kaveri, to help irrigation.
• Different landscapes ("tinai") had different occupations.
• Marutam (farmland) was associated with ploughmen and agriculture.

Rural society in north India (NCERT):

• The village headman was called the "grama bhojaka"; he was often the largest landowner and collected taxes.
• Independent farmers were known as "grihapatis".
• Landless workers were called "dasa karmakara".

The Tirukkural:

The Tamil classic "Tirukkural" by Tiruvalluvar praises agriculture, saying that the world follows the plough, and that those who plough are the ones who truly live.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Large landowners were called vellalar.
• ✗Landless labourers had another name.
• ✗Warriors were called maravar and other names.