Class 12 History Chapter 6 — The Mughal Court: Reconstructing Histories through Chronicles
Welcome to HSLC Guru. This page provides complete ASSEB Class 12 History (English Medium) Chapter 6 question and answer solutions for “The Mughal Court: Reconstructing Histories through Chronicles” (NCERT Theme 9 — Kings and Chronicles). The chapter examines how court chronicles such as the Akbarnama and Badshahnama help us reconstruct the history of the Mughal Empire from 1526 to about 1707.
About the Chapter
This chapter explores the rise of the Mughal Empire founded by Babur in 1526 and consolidated by Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. It introduces students to the Mughal chronicles — Baburnama, Humayunnama, Akbarnama and Badshahnama — and shows how these Persian court histories illuminate imperial ideology, administration, court ritual, the role of women in the imperial household, and the relationship between the emperor and the nobility through the mansabdari system.
Summary (English)
The Mughal Empire was founded by Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur in 1526 after his victory over Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat. Babur was a descendant of Timur on his father’s side and Genghis Khan on his mother’s side. The dynasty ruled most of the Indian subcontinent until 1707, the year of Aurangzeb’s death, after which it gradually declined.
Mughal rulers commissioned official histories called chronicles. The Baburnama was Babur’s autobiography in Turkish; the Humayunnama was written by Gulbadan Begum, Humayun’s sister; the Akbarnama was composed by Abul Fazl in three volumes — the third volume, Ain-i-Akbari, is a detailed gazetteer of Akbar’s empire. Shah Jahan’s reign was recorded in the Badshahnama by Abdul Hamid Lahori. Persian was the court language and the medium of these chronicles. Translations of Sanskrit texts like the Mahabharata (Razmnama) were also produced in Akbar’s maktab khana.
Court rituals expressed imperial sovereignty. Subjects performed sijda (prostration), zaminbos (kissing the ground) and paibos (kissing the emperor’s feet). Akbar introduced the doctrine of sulh-i kul (universal peace) and a personal faith called Din-i-Ilahi. Mughal princesses such as Jahanara and Roshanara controlled vast incomes, designed buildings (Jahanara helped design Chandni Chowk in Shahjahanabad) and authored books. Nur Jahan, Jahangir’s queen, exercised great political influence. Administration rested on the mansabdari system in which nobles received a rank (zat) determining personal status and pay, and a horseman rank (sawar) indicating troops to be maintained. Revenue was assessed and collected through the zabt system perfected by Raja Todar Mal.
সাৰাংশ (Assamese)
মোগল সাম্ৰাজ্য ১৫২৬ চনত বাবৰে পানিপথৰ প্ৰথম যুদ্ধত ইব্ৰাহিম লোদীক পৰাজিত কৰি প্ৰতিষ্ঠা কৰিছিল। এই সাম্ৰাজ্য আকবৰ, জাহাঙ্গীৰ, শ্বাহজাহান আৰু আওৰংজেবৰ অধীনত বিকশিত হৈ ১৭০৭ চনলৈ ভাৰতৰ অধিকাংশ অংশত শাসন কৰিছিল। মোগল ৰজাসকলে দৰবাৰৰ ইতিহাস ৰচনা কৰাইছিল — বাবৰনামা, হুমায়ূননামা (গুলবদন বেগম), আবুল ফজলৰ আকবৰনামা (তৃতীয় খণ্ড আইন-ই-আকবৰী) আৰু আব্দুল হামিদ লাহোৰীৰ বাদশ্বাহনামা। দৰবাৰৰ ভাষা আছিল ফাৰ্ছী। চিজদা, জমিনবোছ আৰু পাইবোছ আদি ৰীতিনীতিৰে সম্ৰাটৰ ক্ষমতা প্ৰকাশ কৰা হৈছিল। আকবৰে চুলহ-ই-কুল আৰু দীন-ই-ইলাহী প্ৰৱৰ্তন কৰিছিল। জাহানাৰা, ৰৌছনাৰা আৰু নূৰজাহানৰ দৰে মোগল ৰাজকুমাৰীসকলৰ যথেষ্ট প্ৰভাৱ আছিল। শাসন প্ৰণালীটো মনচবদাৰী ব্যৱস্থাৰ ওপৰত নিৰ্ভৰ কৰিছিল, য’ত প্ৰতিজন মনচবদাৰক জাট আৰু চৱাৰ পদ দিয়া হৈছিল।
NCERT Textbook Questions and Answers
1. Describe the process of manuscript production in the Mughal court.
Answer: Manuscript production was a highly specialised activity carried out in the imperial kitabkhana (literally “library”, but in practice a scriptorium-cum-workshop). Several groups of people collaborated to produce a single manuscript: paper-makers prepared the folios; scribes (katibs) or calligraphers copied the text; gilders illuminated the pages; painters illustrated scenes from the text; and bookbinders gathered the folios into a finely bound volume. Each finished book was thus a product of cooperation between many craftsmen, but the painters and calligraphers received the highest social recognition. Calligraphy, considered a noble art, was practised in styles like nastaliq, the favourite at Akbar’s court.
2. In what ways would the daily routine and special festivities associated with the Mughal court have conveyed a sense of the power of the emperor?
Answer: The emperor’s day began with appearances at the jharoka, a small balcony from which he showed himself to subjects gathered below — a ritual called jharoka darshan that linked the ruler to the public. He then held court in the diwan-i-am (hall of public audience) for two hours, where petitioners, officials and reports were received. Confidential matters were discussed in the diwan-i-khas (hall of private audience). On special occasions like the lunar and solar birthdays of the emperor, he was weighed against gold, silver, silk and grain that were then distributed as charity. Festivals such as Nauroz (the Iranian new year), Id, Shab-i-Barat and Diwali were celebrated with great pomp. Gifts, robes of honour (khilat) and jewelled ornaments were exchanged, and the entire ceremonial vocabulary projected the emperor as the axis of the empire.
3. Assess the role played by women of the imperial household in the Mughal Empire.
Answer: The women of the imperial household — wives, concubines, royal mothers, foster mothers, sisters, daughters and slaves — lived in the harem (haram), which was a major institution of Mughal politics and culture. The senior women, especially the emperor’s mother and elder wives, exercised significant influence: they arranged marriages, mediated disputes and could intercede on behalf of nobles. Nur Jahan, queen of Jahangir, became the de facto power for over a decade, issuing farmans in her own name. Jahanara, daughter of Shah Jahan, controlled the income of the busiest port — Surat — and helped design the bazaar of Chandni Chowk in Shahjahanabad. Gulbadan Begum, sister of Humayun, wrote the Humayunnama in Turkish, providing a unique female perspective on Mughal household life. Royal women were also patrons of architecture, gardens and learning.
4. What were the concerns that shaped Mughal policies and attitudes towards regions outside the subcontinent?
Answer: Mughal foreign policy was shaped by ancestral, strategic and commercial concerns. The Mughals traced their descent from Timur and never abandoned the dream of recovering Samarqand, the Timurid homeland in Central Asia. Their rivalry with the Uzbeks and the Safavids of Iran centred on the city of Qandahar, a frontier fortress that controlled the route into Afghanistan and India; Qandahar changed hands repeatedly between the Mughals and Safavids. With the Ottomans, Mughal emperors maintained relations to ensure free movement of pilgrims and merchants visiting the Hijaz (Mecca and Medina). Ports such as Surat, Hugli and the Red Sea trading routes brought the empire into contact with European powers (Portuguese, Dutch, English, French). Jesuit missionaries from Goa visited Akbar’s court at Fatehpur Sikri and were received in the ibadat khana. Thus relations with neighbours were a mix of dynastic ambition, frontier defence and protection of trade and pilgrimage.
5. Discuss the major features of Mughal provincial administration. How did the centre control the provinces?
Answer: By Akbar’s reign the empire was divided into 12 (later 15) provinces called subas, each headed by a subadar (governor) who combined political and military authority. The diwan looked after revenue; the bakhshi paid the troops and prepared muster rolls; the sadr supervised religious endowments and charity; the qazi dispensed justice; and the waqia-navis recorded events and dispatched newsletters to the court. Each suba was further subdivided into sarkars and parganas, with shiqdars, amils and qanungos at the lower levels. The centre controlled the provinces through frequent transfers of officials (so they did not build local power bases), regular reports through the imperial postal system, the news writers, and inspection by mansabdars. Salaries were largely paid through jagirs — temporary revenue assignments — which the centre could resume at any time, ensuring loyalty to the emperor.
6. Discuss, with examples, the distinctive features of Mughal chronicles.
Answer: Mughal chronicles share several features. (i) They were court-sponsored works written in Persian, the official language. (ii) They were focused on the events of the emperor’s reign, presenting the ruler as the centre of the political universe. (iii) They were lavishly illustrated with paintings — text and image were complementary. The Akbarnama, for example, contains 116 paintings narrating Akbar’s victories and ceremonies. (iv) The authors were learned courtiers — Abul Fazl for the Akbarnama, Abdul Hamid Lahori for the Badshahnama — who had access to imperial archives, edicts and eyewitness reports. (v) Chronicles also articulated imperial ideology — for instance, Abul Fazl described Akbar as the “perfect man” (insan-i-kamil) and the source of justice (farr-i-izadi, divine light). (vi) Some volumes (like Ain-i-Akbari) departed from narrative to provide statistical and administrative information about the empire.
7. To what extent do you think the visual material presented in this chapter corresponds with Abul Fazl’s description of the taswir (Ain, Volume I)?
Answer: Abul Fazl described painting (taswir) as a “magical art” that gave life to lifeless things and through which a painter could attain spiritual knowledge. The visual material in the textbook — Akbarnama paintings of court scenes, sieges and processions, Badshahnama paintings of Shah Jahan’s durbar, depictions of jharoka darshan and weighing ceremonies — corresponds closely with this description. The paintings combine realistic portraits of named individuals with symbolic motifs (haloes around the emperor’s head, lions and lambs side by side to suggest sulh-i kul). Mughal painters borrowed perspective and shading from European art, producing images that were both lifelike and ideologically charged, exactly as Abul Fazl claimed.
8. What were the distinctive features of the Mughal nobility? How was their relationship with the emperor shaped?
Answer: The Mughal nobility (umara) was a heterogeneous body recruited from many backgrounds — Turanis (Central Asian Turks), Iranis (Persians), Indian Muslims (Shaikhzadas), Rajputs and, under Aurangzeb, Marathas and Deccanis. Each noble was assigned a mansab consisting of a zat rank (personal status and pay) and a sawar rank (number of cavalry to be maintained), introduced by Akbar. The highest ranks held a mansab of 5,000 zat or above; princes could hold up to 7,000. Nobles were paid either in cash (naqdi) or, more commonly, through a jagir — a revenue assignment that was periodically transferred. They served the emperor as commanders, governors, diwans and bakhshis. Their relationship with the emperor was intensely personal: every appointment, promotion and demotion flowed from the throne, and the nobles’ loyalty was reinforced through ritual gifts (khilat), the granting of titles, and participation in court ceremonies.
9. Identify the elements that went into the making of the Mughal ideal of kingship.
Answer: The Mughal ideal of kingship combined several elements: (i) Timurid descent — the Mughals proudly traced their lineage to Timur and Genghis Khan, giving them a prestigious Central Asian heritage. (ii) Divine sanction — Abul Fazl borrowed from the Iranian sage Suhrawardi the idea that kingship was a “light emanating from God” (farr-i-izadi); the king was the recipient of divine illumination. (iii) Sulh-i kul — Akbar’s policy of universal peace ensured that all communities (Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Zoroastrians) could live and worship without coercion; the emperor stood above all religions. (iv) Justice — the king’s principal duty was to provide justice to all subjects irrespective of creed, often symbolised by the chain of justice (zanjir-i-adl) hung by Jahangir. (v) Court ritual and symbolism — jharoka darshan, the halo in paintings, the title Padshah (universal ruler) all projected sovereignty. Together these elements made the Mughal emperor both a temporal ruler and a quasi-spiritual figure.
Short Answer Questions
1. Who founded the Mughal Empire and when?
Answer: Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur founded the Mughal Empire in 1526 after defeating Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat.
2. What does the term “Mughal” mean?
Answer: “Mughal” is the Indian form of “Mongol”. The Mughals descended from Timur on the father’s side and Genghis Khan on the mother’s side, but preferred to call themselves Timurids.
3. What is the Baburnama?
Answer: The Baburnama is the autobiography of Babur, written in Chaghtai Turkish. It records his battles, family life, and observations on the natural world and people of Hindustan. It was later translated into Persian as Tuzuk-i-Baburi.
4. Who wrote the Humayunnama?
Answer: The Humayunnama was written by Gulbadan Begum, the daughter of Babur and sister of Humayun. It is the only Mughal chronicle authored by a woman of the royal household.
5. Who was Abul Fazl?
Answer: Abul Fazl was a courtier, scholar and close friend of Akbar. He was the author of the Akbarnama and one of the navratnas (nine jewels) of Akbar’s court. He was assassinated in 1602 at the instigation of Prince Salim (later Jahangir).
6. Name the three volumes of the Akbarnama.
Answer: Volume I covers Akbar’s ancestors from Adam onwards; Volume II narrates events of Akbar’s reign year by year; Volume III, called the Ain-i-Akbari, is a detailed gazetteer of the empire’s administration, revenue, geography and culture.
7. What is the Ain-i-Akbari divided into?
Answer: The Ain-i-Akbari is divided into five books: Manzil-abadi (imperial household), Sipah-abadi (army and nobility), Mulk-abadi (administration and revenue), and the last two books deal with the religious, literary and cultural traditions of India, including a final section of Akbar’s “auspicious sayings”.
8. Who composed the Badshahnama?
Answer: The Badshahnama, the official chronicle of Shah Jahan’s reign, was composed by Abdul Hamid Lahori, a pupil of Abul Fazl. Each volume covers ten lunar years.
9. What was Persian’s role at the Mughal court?
Answer: Persian was the official language of the Mughal court, used for chronicles, administrative records, diplomacy and literature. Akbar elevated Persian’s status by making it the language of all government departments through Raja Todar Mal in 1582.
10. What is sijda?
Answer: Sijda was prostration before the emperor, a form of obeisance considered the highest mark of submission. Akbar later replaced it with the less obtrusive chahar taslim and zaminbos. Aurangzeb abolished sijda altogether as it resembled prostration before God.
11. What was paibos?
Answer: Paibos (literally “kissing the feet”) was a form of greeting in which a courtier kissed the emperor’s feet — a privilege granted only to the highest nobles and ambassadors as a mark of special honour.
12. Who was Nur Jahan?
Answer: Nur Jahan (“Light of the World”) was the influential queen of Jahangir. Her original name was Mehrunnisa. She was a politically powerful figure who issued farmans in her own name and was part of a “junta” with her father Itimaduddaula and brother Asaf Khan.
13. Who was Jahanara?
Answer: Jahanara was the eldest daughter of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. She enjoyed the income of the port city of Surat, designed parts of Shahjahanabad including the Chandni Chowk bazaar, and authored religious works. She supported her brother Dara Shukoh in the war of succession.
14. Who was Roshanara?
Answer: Roshanara was another daughter of Shah Jahan, sister of Jahanara. Unlike Jahanara, she sided with Aurangzeb in the war of succession and exercised influence at his court.
15. What is Din-i-Ilahi?
Answer: Din-i-Ilahi (“Religion of God”) was a personal spiritual order established by Akbar in 1582. It drew on Islamic, Hindu, Zoroastrian and Christian ideas and emphasised loyalty to the emperor as a spiritual master. It had only a few elite followers and lapsed after Akbar’s death.
16. What is sulh-i kul?
Answer: Sulh-i kul means “absolute peace” or “universal harmony”. It was the cornerstone of Akbar’s religious policy under which all communities in the empire were guaranteed equal protection and freedom of worship.
17. What is mansabdari?
Answer: Mansabdari was the administrative system introduced by Akbar in which every officer was assigned a mansab (rank). The rank fixed the officer’s salary, social status and military obligation, integrating the entire ruling class into a single graded hierarchy under the emperor.
18. What is the difference between zat and sawar?
Answer: Zat indicated the personal rank of the mansabdar and determined his pay and place in court. Sawar indicated the number of horsemen he was required to maintain. A mansabdar with 5,000 zat / 5,000 sawar was higher in status than one with 5,000 zat / 3,000 sawar.
19. What was a jagir?
Answer: A jagir was a revenue assignment given to a mansabdar in lieu of cash salary. The jagirdar was entitled to collect the assessed revenue from the territory, but the assignment was temporary and transferable, ensuring central control over the nobility.
20. What is jharoka darshan?
Answer: Jharoka darshan was the daily appearance of the emperor at a balcony (jharoka) overlooking the public, instituted by Akbar. It served as a symbol of accessibility and a public legitimation of imperial authority.
Long Answer Questions
1. Describe the Mughal court and the rituals through which the emperor’s authority was projected.
Answer: The Mughal court (darbar) was a meticulously ordered space in which the seating of every noble — measured in distance from the throne — reflected his exact place in the imperial hierarchy. The emperor sat on a raised throne or under a canopy of state, often beneath a halo of light in paintings symbolising the divine effulgence of kingship. The day began with jharoka darshan, when the emperor appeared at a high window to greet the public. He then proceeded to the diwan-i-am to receive petitions, and later to the diwan-i-khas for confidential business with senior nobles. The forms of greeting — sijda, chahar taslim, zaminbos, paibos — graded the courtier’s intimacy with the throne. Robes of honour (khilat), jewelled daggers, elephants and titles were distributed as marks of favour, while disgrace or dismissal was equally public. Festivals such as Nauroz, Id, Diwali and the emperor’s solar and lunar birthdays were occasions for spectacular ceremonial including the weighing of the emperor against precious metals (tula-dan). Through these rituals the court continuously rehearsed the message that the emperor was the source of all rank, wealth and authority.
2. Explain the Mughal mansabdari system.
Answer: The mansabdari system was the administrative backbone of the Mughal Empire from Akbar onwards. Every officer was assigned a numerical rank called mansab, ranging from 10 to 7,000. Akbar in 1595–96 split the rank into two parts: zat, which fixed the officer’s personal status and salary; and sawar, which fixed the number of cavalry he was obliged to maintain. A 5,000/5,000 mansabdar was thus paid for personal status equivalent to 5,000 and was required to keep 5,000 troopers, with their horses regularly branded (dagh) and rolled (chehra) to prevent fraud. Salaries were either naqdi (cash) or, more often, paid through a jagir — a revenue assignment that was rotated frequently to prevent the holder from striking local roots. Mansabdars served interchangeably as commanders, governors of provinces, finance officers and judges. The nobility under Akbar was deliberately cosmopolitan: Turanis, Iranis, Indian Muslims, Rajputs and later Marathas were all enrolled, ensuring that no single ethnic group could threaten the throne. The system gave the emperor direct command over a unified ruling class and remained the key institution of imperial integration until the late seventeenth century, when the shortage of jagirs (the jagirdari crisis) contributed to imperial decline.
3. Discuss the contribution of Mughal chronicles to our understanding of the empire.
Answer: Mughal chronicles are the single most important source for understanding the empire. The Baburnama, written in Turkish, gives a frank personal account of Babur’s life and a vivid description of the flora, fauna and people of Hindustan. The Humayunnama by Gulbadan Begum offers a rare insider’s view of the women’s quarters and family politics. Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama narrates Akbar’s reign year by year and develops a sophisticated theory of kingship based on divine light (farr-i-izadi) and sulh-i kul. The third volume, Ain-i-Akbari, supplies an unparalleled statistical account of the empire — its provinces, revenue, army, household, coinage, weights and measures, and even its agricultural produce. Jahangir’s own memoir Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri continues this tradition. The Badshahnama by Abdul Hamid Lahori records the architectural and military glories of Shah Jahan. Aurangzeb forbade an official chronicle after the first ten years of his reign; nonetheless the Alamgirnama by Mirza Muhammad Kazim and the later Maasir-i-Alamgiri by Saqi Mustaid Khan fill the gap. These chronicles, although obviously partisan toward the emperor, provide political narrative, administrative detail, ideological self-presentation and even visual evidence through the magnificent paintings that accompany them. Read critically alongside other sources — European travellers, Rajput records, regional histories and revenue documents — they enable historians to reconstruct the Mughal world in extraordinary depth.
4. Examine the role of women in the Mughal household and politics.
Answer: The imperial harem was not merely a private space but a centre of political power, patronage and culture. It included the emperor’s mothers, foster-mothers, wives, concubines, sisters, daughters, female attendants and slaves. Senior women — especially the emperor’s mother (the Padshah Begum) — exercised enormous moral and political influence: they arranged royal marriages, mediated quarrels among princes and nobles, and could intercede on behalf of petitioners. Hamida Banu Begum, mother of Akbar, accompanied her son on campaigns; Maham Anaga, his foster-mother, virtually controlled the early years of Akbar’s reign. Nur Jahan dominated Jahangir’s later reign — coins were struck in her name, and she signed farmans. Mumtaz Mahal, in whose memory the Taj Mahal was raised, was politically influential during Shah Jahan’s reign. Their daughters Jahanara and Roshanara held independent jagirs, controlled large incomes (Jahanara received the revenues of Surat) and authored books on Sufism. Royal women were also major patrons of architecture: Maryam-uz-Zamani built mosques at Lahore, Nur Jahan designed the tomb of Itimaduddaula, and Jahanara designed the Chandni Chowk bazaar. The harem thus shaped Mughal politics through marriage alliances, succession disputes, patronage networks and cultural production.
5. Describe the Mughal provincial administration in detail.
Answer: Akbar in 1580 reorganised the empire into 12 subas (provinces) — later increased to 15 under Shah Jahan and 22 under Aurangzeb. Each suba was headed by a subadar (governor) who exercised political and military authority. He was assisted by a parallel set of officers responsible directly to the centre: the diwan looked after revenue assessment and collection; the bakhshi conducted musters and paid the troops; the sadr supervised religious endowments and charitable grants; the qazi administered justice in accordance with the shariat; the kotwal kept order in towns; and the waqia-navis (news-writer) sent regular dispatches to the emperor. Each suba was subdivided into sarkars, and sarkars into parganas. At the pargana level the shiqdar maintained order, the amil collected revenue and the qanungo kept land records. At the village level, the muqaddam (headman) and patwari (accountant) represented the state. Revenue was assessed through Todar Mal’s zabt system, which fixed cash demands on each measured plot based on a ten-year average yield. The centre kept this elaborate machinery under firm control through frequent transfers of mansabdars, the news-writer system, the imperial postal network (dak chauki) and the practice of paying officers through transferable jagirs. The result was one of the most efficient pre-modern administrations in the world, capable of governing a population of perhaps 100 million across the subcontinent.
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
1. The Mughal Empire was founded in:
(a) 1498 (b) 1526 (c) 1556 (d) 1605
Answer: (b) 1526
2. Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at:
(a) Khanwa (b) Chausa (c) First Battle of Panipat (d) Haldighati
Answer: (c) First Battle of Panipat
3. The Akbarnama was written by:
(a) Abdul Hamid Lahori (b) Abul Fazl (c) Badauni (d) Faizi
Answer: (b) Abul Fazl
4. The Humayunnama was authored by:
(a) Nur Jahan (b) Gulbadan Begum (c) Jahanara (d) Mumtaz Mahal
Answer: (b) Gulbadan Begum
5. The third volume of the Akbarnama is called:
(a) Tuzuk-i-Akbari (b) Ain-i-Akbari (c) Akbar-Shahi (d) Tarikh-i-Akbari
Answer: (b) Ain-i-Akbari
6. The official chronicle of Shah Jahan’s reign is the:
(a) Padshahnama / Badshahnama (b) Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri (c) Alamgirnama (d) Akbarnama
Answer: (a) Padshahnama / Badshahnama
7. The court language of the Mughals was:
(a) Turkish (b) Arabic (c) Persian (d) Urdu
Answer: (c) Persian
8. The Mahabharata was translated into Persian as:
(a) Iqbalnama (b) Razmnama (c) Akbarnama (d) Anwar-i-Suhaili
Answer: (b) Razmnama
9. The mansabdari system was introduced by:
(a) Babur (b) Humayun (c) Akbar (d) Aurangzeb
Answer: (c) Akbar
10. The “sawar” rank in mansabdari indicated:
(a) Personal pay (b) Number of cavalry to be maintained (c) Court rank (d) Land area
Answer: (b) Number of cavalry to be maintained
11. The “zat” rank indicated:
(a) Religious affiliation (b) Personal status and salary (c) Number of horsemen (d) Type of jagir
12. Sulh-i kul was the policy of:
(a) Babur (b) Akbar (c) Aurangzeb (d) Shah Jahan
Answer: (b) Akbar
13. Din-i-Ilahi was founded in:
(a) 1556 (b) 1575 (c) 1582 (d) 1605
Answer: (c) 1582
14. The queen of Jahangir who exercised great political influence was:
(a) Jodha Bai (b) Nur Jahan (c) Mumtaz Mahal (d) Hamida Banu
Answer: (b) Nur Jahan
15. Jahanara was the daughter of:
(a) Akbar (b) Jahangir (c) Shah Jahan (d) Aurangzeb
Answer: (c) Shah Jahan
16. Jharoka darshan was the practice of:
(a) Holy bath (b) Daily appearance of the emperor at a balcony (c) Religious procession (d) Tax assessment
Answer: (b) Daily appearance of the emperor at a balcony
17. Aurangzeb died in:
(a) 1657 (b) 1686 (c) 1707 (d) 1719
Answer: (c) 1707
18. The diwan-i-am was the:
(a) Hall of public audience (b) Hall of private audience (c) Royal kitchen (d) Treasury
Answer: (a) Hall of public audience
19. The diwan-i-khas was the:
(a) Hall of public audience (b) Hall of private audience (c) Mosque (d) Garden
Answer: (b) Hall of private audience
20. The kitabkhana was the:
(a) Royal stable (b) Imperial scriptorium-cum-library (c) Tax office (d) Mint
Answer: (b) Imperial scriptorium-cum-library
21. The frontier fortress contested between Mughals and Safavids was:
(a) Kabul (b) Qandahar (c) Lahore (d) Multan
Answer: (b) Qandahar
22. The provinces of the Mughal Empire were called:
(a) Sarkars (b) Parganas (c) Subas (d) Mahals
Answer: (c) Subas
23. The zabt revenue system was perfected by:
(a) Abul Fazl (b) Raja Todar Mal (c) Birbal (d) Man Singh
Answer: (b) Raja Todar Mal
24. Akbar’s tomb is located at:
(a) Agra (b) Sikandra (c) Fatehpur Sikri (d) Delhi
Answer: (b) Sikandra
25. The “halo” depicted around the Mughal emperor’s head in paintings symbolised:
(a) Sun worship (b) Divine light (farr-i-izadi) (c) Royal kinship (d) Military victory
Answer: (b) Divine light (farr-i-izadi)
Mughal Emperors — Reference Table
| Emperor | Reign | Major Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Babur | 1526–1530 | Founder of the Mughal Empire; victor of First Panipat; author of the Baburnama |
| Humayun | 1530–1540, 1555–1556 | Lost the throne to Sher Shah Suri; recovered it with Persian help |
| Akbar | 1556–1605 | Consolidated the empire; introduced mansabdari and zabt; sulh-i kul; Din-i-Ilahi |
| Jahangir | 1605–1627 | Patron of painting; Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri; reign dominated by Nur Jahan |
| Shah Jahan | 1628–1658 | Architectural golden age — Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Shahjahanabad |
| Aurangzeb | 1658–1707 | Greatest territorial extent; Deccan campaigns; reversal of sulh-i kul |
Key Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Padshah | Universal ruler / emperor — title adopted by Babur |
| Kitabkhana | Imperial library and manuscript workshop |
| Nastaliq | Calligraphic style favoured at Akbar’s court |
| Tuzuk | Memoir / autobiography (Tuzuk-i-Baburi, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri) |
| Sijda | Prostration before the emperor |
| Paibos | Kissing the emperor’s feet — highest mark of honour |
| Zaminbos | Kissing the ground before the throne |
| Sulh-i kul | “Absolute peace”; Akbar’s policy of religious tolerance |
| Din-i-Ilahi | Akbar’s syncretic spiritual order, founded 1582 |
| Farr-i-izadi | Divine light radiating from the king (Suhrawardi’s idea) |
| Mansab | Numerical rank held by every Mughal officer |
| Zat | Personal rank determining pay and status |
| Sawar | Rank indicating the number of cavalry to be maintained |
| Jagir | Revenue assignment given in lieu of cash salary |
| Khilat | Robe of honour bestowed by the emperor |
| Diwan-i-am | Hall of public audience |
| Diwan-i-khas | Hall of private audience |
| Jharoka darshan | Daily appearance of the emperor at a balcony |
| Suba | Province |
| Subadar | Provincial governor |
| Sarkar / Pargana | Administrative subdivisions of a suba |
| Zabt | Revenue assessment system based on measured yield |
| Waqia-navis | News-writer who reported to the court |
| Razmnama | Persian translation of the Mahabharata commissioned by Akbar |
| Tula-dan | Ceremony of weighing the emperor against precious goods |