Mughal EMpire

Question 1

Who wrote Ain-i-Akbari?

Answer 1

Abu Fazl, minister + one of Akbar’s court’s nine jewels

Question 2

Sources for Mughal empire

Answer 2

1. Ain-i-Akbari
2. The Taj Mahal, Agra
3. The Jama Masjid
4. The Red Fort, Delhi

Question 3

Why was Ain-i-Akbari written?

Answer 3

it was a part of a large project of history writing commissioned by Akbar

Question 4

Strucuture of Ain-i-Akbari

Answer 4

Five books

1. the imperial household
2. servants of the emperor, the military, and civil services
3. imperial administration(including regulations for judiciary and executive of empire + divisions of empire)
4. hindu philosophy, science, social customs and literature
5. wise sayings of Akbar

additionally , contains account of the ancestry + biography of Abu Fazl

Question 5

Why was Taj Mahal built?

Answer 5

Built in memory of Shah Jahan’s beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal

Question 6

Where is Taj Mahal located?

Answer 6

Built at Agra on the banks of the River Yamuna.

Question 7

Who designed Taj Mahal?

Answer 7

Ustad Isha Khan

Question 8

4 structural features of Taj Mahal

Answer 8

1. Constructed on a high platform.
2. Minaret on each of the four corners of platform
3. The interior has an octagonal chamber.
4. The interior dome looks like an upside-down lotus.

Question 9

pietra dura

Answer 9

Method of decoration where the walls are decorated with floral designs made of semi-precious stones

Question 10

Architectural features given by Taj Mahal

Answer 10

1. Massive domes of marble
2. Pietra dura inlay work
3. Kiosks

Question 11

Who built the Jama Masjid?

Answer 11

Shah Jahan

Question 12

Largest mosque of India

Answer 12

Jama Masjid

Question 13

Structural features of Jama Masjid

Answer 13

1. It is built on a lofty basement with majestic flights of stairs leading to the imposing gateways on three sides.
2. The northern gate has 39 steps, eastern gate has 35 and southern gate has 33.
3. It has three gateways, four towers and two 40m high minarets.
4. Its courtyard is large enough to accommodate thousands of people at once.

Question 14

Who built the Red Fort?

Answer 14

Shah Jahan

Question 15

Why was the Red Fort built?

Answer 15

Built after Shah Jahan moved his capital to Delhi

Question 16

Where is the Red Fort located?

Answer 16

Located on the banks of the Yamuna

Question 17

Structural features of Red Fort

Answer 17

1. It is made of red sandstone and marble.
2. It has massive walls and two gateways.
3. The western gateway is called the Lahori gate. This was used for the emperor’s ceremonial purposes.

Question 18

Diwan-i-Khas

Answer 18

Lavishly ornamented hall where the Peacock throne was placed. The hall was used by emperor to give audience to the princes of the royal family, nobles and other important dignitaries.

Question 19

Full name of Babur

Answer 19

Zahruddin Muhammad Babur

Question 20

Write a short note on Babur

Answer 20

1. He was invited by Daulat Khan Lodhi, the governer of Punjab, to oust Ibrahim Lodhi from the throne.
2. In the first battle of Panipat, he defeated Ibrahim Lodhi and occupied Delhi and Agra.
3. He waged two other wars against Rana Sanga of Mewar and against the eastern Afghans.
4. In the fierce battle of Khanwa, he won against Rana Sanga’s forces, securing his position in the Agra-Delhi region.
5. The Battle of Ghagra was fought near the Ghagra river with the Ganges. In this Battle, Babur crossed the Ghagra river and compelled the Afghan and Bengal armies to retreat.

Question 21

Write a short note on Akbar

Answer 21

1. He was only thirteen when he ascended the throne, being guided by his regent Bairam Khan.
2. He had to virtually reconquer his empire.
3. The Afghans were regrouping under the leadership of Hemu, the Wazir for Adil Shah for a final battle with the Mughals. In the Second Battle of Panipat, the Mughal forces, led by Bairam Khan, defeated Hemu. This re-established the Mughals in Delhi and Agra.
4. After this, Akbar captured Malwa and Gondwana, Bengal, Gujarat, Kashmir and Kabul.
5. He ventured beyond the Vindhayas in the Deccan and after a stiff resistance defeated many of the local rulers. He annexed Ahmednagar, Berar and Khandesh to the Mughal empire.
6. Akbar additionally subdued the Rajput princes except for Mewar. This led to the Battle of Haldighati, where Maharana Pratap, the ruler of Mewar, was compelled to flee with heavy wounds from Akbar.
7. By Akbar’s death, his empire extended from Assam in the east to the areas beyond the North West frontier(Kabul and Kandharhar). In the Deccan he controlled Ahmadnagar, Khandesh and Berar. The kingdoms of Multan, Sindh, Gujarat, Kashmir and Bengal ceased to exist.

Question 22

Write a short note on Akbar’s Rajput policy

Answer 22

1. He entered into marriage alliances with Rajputs. Bhara Mal, the ruler of Amber, married his younger daughter Harka Bai to Akbar.
2. Akbar gave religious freedom to his wives who followed Hinduism and he also gave an honoured place to their parents and relations in the nobiltiy.
3. This helped the growth of a composite culture.

Question 23

Write a short note on Akbar’s steps towards integration.

Answer 23

1. Akbar abolsihed poll tax or jizyah which non-Muslims were required to pay. He also abolsihed pilgrim tax on bathing at holy plaecs such as Prayag and benaras. Further, he abolished the practice of forcibly converting prisoners of war to Islam. All these gave way to an equal society irregardless of religion.
2. To strengthen the liberal principles, Akbar erolled a number of Hindus into the nobility. While most of these were Rajput rajas who Akbar was in a matrimonial alliance wtih, mansabs were given to others on the basis of their competence.
3. Akbar built a hall called the Ibadat Khana or Hall of Prayer at Fatehpur Sikri. At this hall, he used to call selected theologians of all religions, mystic nad intellectuals and discuss religious and spiritual matters with them.
4. Akbar set up a big translation department for translating works in Sanskrit, Arabic and Greek into persian. Thus the Singhasan Battisi, the Atharva Veda and the Bible were taken up for translation - these were followed by the Quran, the mahabharata , the Gita and the Ramayana.

Question 24

Write a short note on Akbar’s educational and social reforms

Answer 24

1. Akbar issued orders to the kotwals to check the forcible practice of Sati or the burning of a widow on the funeral pyre of her husband. However, a woman could commit Sati if she wished to do so.
2. Akbar legalised widow remarriage.
3. Akbar raised the marrying age to 14 for girls and 16 for boys.
4. Akbar was against having more than one wife unless the first wife could not bear children.

Question 25

What was the maximum extent of the Mughal empire?

Answer 25

Kashmir in the north to the river Kaveri in the south and from Kabul in the west to Chittagong in the east.

Question 26

Why did Aurangzeb face so many rebellions?

Answer 26

He reversed Akbar’s policies of religious tolerance.

Question 27

Write a short note on monarchy in the Mughal empire

Answer 27

1. It was believed that the Mughal rulers came from God himself.
2. The Mughal rulers ruled with “paternal love” for their subjects.
3. The emperor was head of the Legislative, Executive, Judiciary and Military.
4. He was the supreme commander of the armed forces and all other commanders were appointed and removed by him.
5. He made laws and issued administrative orders.

Question 28

Write a short note on Ministers in the Mughal empire

Answer 28

1. In the days of babur and Humayun, there used to be a Prime Minister(vakil) who was entrusted with large powers. Howeer, after Bairam Khan’s death the office was stripped of all its powers and it became majorly honorary.
2. Diwan-i-ala: Head of revenue department, responsible for all income and expenditure.
3. Mir Bakshi: head of military department and of intelligence and info agencies of the empire.

Question 29

Write a short note on Judiciary in the Mughal empire

Answer 29

The Judiciary was headed by the qazi. This position was sometimes combined with the position of the chief Sadar who was responsible for all charitable and religious matters.

Question 30

Write a short note on provincial government.

Answer 30

1. Empire was divided into 12 subahs(provinces) - headed by the subahdar/sipah salar/nazim.
2. The Subahdar was usually a mansbdar of a high rank. His functions included
3. Maintainance of law and order
4. Enforcement of imperial decrees.
5. Administration of criminal justice
6. Smooth collection of revenue
7. At this level, diwan = revenue administration(similar to central diwan).
8. Other important ministers at this level included faujdar, kotwal, bakshi, sadr qazi and muhtasib.
9. Subahs were divided into sarkars.
10. Sarkars were divided into parganas or mahals.

Question 31

Write a short note on the Mansabdari system

Answer 31

1. Introduced by Akbar.
2. Unique feature of Mughal administration.
3. every officer was assigned a rank(mansab). Thus, mansabdar refers to someone who holds a mansab(positon or rank).
4. They formed the ruling group in the Mughal empire - almost the whole nobility, the bureaucracy as well as the military heierarchy, had mansabs.
5. The lowest rank in this system was 10 and the highest rank was 5000 for nobles.
6. It was a grading system used by the Mughals to fix rank, salary and military responsibbilities.
7. They were divided into zat and sawar.
8. zat: personal status of a person and for him.
9. sawar: number of cavalrymen or sawar a mansabdar was required to maintain. every 10 cavalry men = 20 horses.
10. Mansabdars received salary in the form of jagirs(land). They only had rights to revenue of their assignments which was collected from them by their servants

Question 32

Write a short note on Land Revenue System

Answer 32

1. A uniform system of measurement was established for calc. land tax.
2. Todar Mal drew up schemes for effective tax collection.
3. This enriched state treasury.
4. State also gave loans to poor farmers.
5. This created progress in agriculture, trade and industry.