ryot

1. (India) A farmer or tiller of the soil.Examples: "We have seen, however, how the condition arose, namely, that the Government at first half-intended to make a permanent settlement direct with the ryots, but subsequently altered its intention and devolved this duty upon the zemindars."; "Scattered about the grazing and arable country are now small towers of refuge, loop-holed for defense, to which ryots working in the fields, or shepherds tending their flocks, fled for safety in case of a sudden appearance of Turcoman marauders."; "They are simply the rank and file — the food for fever — sharing with the ryot and the plough-bullock the honor of being the plinth on which the State rests."India