KINGS AND CRONICLES ( MCQs, SHORT & LONG QUESTIONS ALSO MAP WORK) 2021-2022

KINGS AND CRONICLES

 ( MCQs ASSERTION REASON MCQs, CASE STUDY MCQs, SHORT AND LONG QUESTIONS AND MAP WORK)

Q. 1. With which Mughal Emperor can we associate ‘Alamgir Nama’?

 (A) Aurangzeb                  (B) Shah Jahan

 (C) Humanyun                  (D) Jahangir

Ans. Option (A)

Q. 2. Who is said to be the founder of the Mughal Empire?

 (A) Nasiruddin Humayun             (B) Timur

(C) Ghenghiz Khan                          (D) Zahiruddin Babur

 Ans. Option (D)

Q. 3. What led to the diminishing of Mughal power?

(A) Death of Aurangzeb in 1706                                 (B) Shifting of Mughal capital

(C) Death of Aurangzeb in 1707                                 (D) None of these

 Ans. Option (C)

Q. 4. Which of these languages flourished under the Mughal rule?

 (A) English                          (B) Persian          (C) Hindavi                         (D) Both (B) and (C)

Ans. Option (B)

Q. 5. When did Akbar build a new capital at Fatehpur Sikri?

 (A) 1500s                            (B) 1520s                              (C) 1570s              (D) 1750s

Ans. Option (C)

Q. 6. Which of the following was introduced by Akbar with the aim of popularly accepting the imperial authority as part of popular faith?

 (A) Jharokha Darshan (B) Aghas (C) Polygamy (D) None of these

Ans. Option (A)

Q. 7. Which of the following was written by Gulbadan Begum?

 (A) Badshah Nama     (B) Akbar Nama     (C) Babur Nama     (D) Humayun Nama

Ans. Option (D)

Q. 8. With which of the following responsibilities, Mir Bakshi the officer in Akbar’s reign was entrusted?

 (A) Revenue Collection                             (B) Payment of Salaries 

(C) Head of the military administration     (D) Head of Nobility

Ans. Option (B)

Q. 9. Which of the following religions was Akbar keen to know about?

 (A) Islam     (B) Buddhism     (C) Christianity     (D) None of the above

Ans. Option (C)

Q. 10. Which of these was a distinctive feature of Mughal nobility?

(A) It consisted of people from diverse ethnic and religious groups.

 (B) It used modern weapons.

 (C) It was paid in kind instead of cash/currency.

(D) It consisted of women.

 Ans. Option (A)

Q.11. Which among the following statements is incorrect about Mughal Empire and its rulers?

 (A) The name Mughal derives from Mongol but today the term evokes the grandeur of an empire, it was not the name the rulers of the dynasty chose for themselves.

 (B) Mughal rulers referred to themselves as Timurids, as descendants of the Turkish ruler Timur on the paternal side.

 (C) Humayun, the first Mughal ruler, was related to Ghenghiz Khan from his mother’s side and he spoke Turkish and referred derisively to the Mongols as barbaric hordes.

 (D) During the sixteenth century, Europeans used the term Mughal to describe the Indian rulers of this branch of the family.

 Ans. Option (C)

Q. 12. Which of the following statements is/are correct about Mughal Chronicles?

 (i) Chronicles commissioned by the Mughal emperors are an important source for studying the empire and its court.

(ii) The Mughal chronicles were written in order to project a vision of an enlightened kingdom to all those who came under its umbrella.

 (iii) At the same time they were meant to convey to those who resisted the rule of the Mughals that all resistance was destined to fail and also, the rulers wanted to ensure that there was an account of their rule for posterity.

(iv) Mughal court chronicles were written in Arabic. All though the Mughals were Persian by origin, Persian was their mother tongue.

 Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct?

 (A) (i), (ii), (iii)                   (B) (ii), (iii), (iv)                 (C) (i), (iii), (iv)                  (D) All of the above.

Ans. Option (A)

Q. 13. Humayun expanded the frontiers of the empire, but lost it after being defeated in 1540, and was driven into exile. He took refuge after this loss. Where he took the refuge?

(A) Mings of China                           (B) Uzbeks of Uzbekistan           

 (C) Chaghtai’s of Turkey               (D) Safavid’s of Iran

Ans. Option (D)

Q. 14. Which of the following Mughal emperors wrote poetry and memoirs in Turkish language?

(A) Akbar             (B) Babur            (C) Humayun    (D) Aurangzeb

 Ans. Option (B)

Q. 15. Which among the following statement(s) is/are correct regarding the shifting of capitals between the 15th to 16th centuries?

 (i) During the 1560s Akbar had the fort of Agra constructed with red sandstone quarried from the adjoining regions.

(ii) In the 1570s, he decided to build a new capital, Fatehpur Sikri. One of the reasons prompting this may have been that Sikri was located on the direct road to Ajmer, where the dargah of Shaikh Muinuddin Chishti had become an important pilgrimage centre.

 (iii) In 1585, the capital was transferred to Lahore to bring the North-West under greater control and Akbar closely watched the frontier for thirteen years.

(iv)  In 1648 the court, army and household moved from Agra to the newly completed imperial capital, Shahjahanabad.

Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct?

(A) (i), (ii), (iii)    (B) (ii), (iii), (iv)                                 (C) (i), (iii), (iv)                   (D) All of the above.

Ans. Option (D)

Q. 16. .............. was a form of ceremonial salutation in which the courtier placed the palm of his right hand against his forehead and bent his head suggesting that the subject has placed his head – the seat of the senses and the mind – into the hand of humility, presenting it to the royal assembly.

 (A) Axis Mundi                 (B) Kornish                         (C) Paibos                           (D) Sajda

 Ans. Option (B)

Q. 17. During whose reign did William Hawkins visit the Mughal court to secure a right to trade in Mughal ports?

 (A) Jahangir         (B) Akbar         (C) Shah Jahan         (D) Aurangzeb

Ans. Option (A) is correct.

Q. 18. The Mughal School of Painting was interested in portraying:

 (A) Mughal court                                     (B) Domestic subjects

 (C) Scenes from the Indian classics         (D) The scenes of their motherland

 Ans. Option (A) is correct.

Q. 19. The Mughal kings celebrated three major festivals in a year. Identify the festival which is not included as major festivals.

(A) The Solar and Lunar birthdays of the monarch and Nauroz. 

(B) the Iranian New Year on the vernal equinox 

(C) Emperor’s Birthday 

(D) English New Yea

Ans. Option (D) is correct

Q. 20. Mansabdari System was founded by Akbar. The Mansabdars were

 (A) military commanders                             (B) provincial governors

 (C) high civil and military officers               (D) all of the above

Ans. Option (D)

 is correct. Explanation: Appointment to the ranks of mansabdars was made by the emperor, usually on the recommendation of military leaders, provincial governors, or court officials.

 Q. 21. Which of the following was built by Akbar to commemorate his conquest of Khandesh in Gujarat?

 (A) Bada Imambara     (B) Buland Darwaza     (C) Jama Masjid     (D) Siddi Bashir

Ans. Option (B)

Q. 22. Akbar’s concept of Sulh-i-kul (or Qul) means:

 (A) friendship and goodwill to all                        (B) common brotherhood     

 (C) fraternity and friendship                                 (D) harmony and peace to all

 Ans. Option (D)

Q. 23. What was the name of the Hall of Worship constructed by Akbar?

(A) Diwan-e-khas     (B) Diwan-e-Aam     (C) Ibadat Khana     (D) Buland Darwaza

 Ans. Option (C)

. Q. 24. Bahadur Shah was the

 (A) Last ruler of the Lodis (B) Successor of Sher Shah Suri (C) Last Mughal ruler (D) Successor of the Marat

Ans. Option (C)

 

ASSERTION AND REASON BASED MCQs (1 Mark each)

 Directions : In the following questions, a statement of Assertion (A) is followed by a statement of Reason (R). Mark the correct choice as:

 (A) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.

 (B) Both A and R are true but R is NOT the correct explanation of A.

(C) A is true but R is false.

(D) A is false and R is true.

Q. 1. Assertion (A): Many consider Jalaluddin Akbar (1556-1605) the greatest of all the Mughal emperors.

 Reason (R): He expanded and consolidated the empire during his reign.

 Ans. Option (A)

Q. 2. Assertion (A): Chronicles commissioned by the Mughal emperors are an important source for studying the empire and its court.

 Reason (R): Mughal court chronicles were written in Persian.

 Ans. Option (B)

Q. 3. Assertion (A): Abu’l Fazl did not give importance to Mughal kingship in his work.

 Reason (R): According to Shihabuddin Suhrawardi there was a hierarchy in which the Divine Light was transmitted to the king.

Ans. Option (D)

Q. 4. Assertion (A): In the history of Indian painting, Mughal emperor Humayun occupies a secure place. It was during his exile from India in Persia that he established contact with great painters. Reason (R): The Iranian painters were brought by Humayun were Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad. Both the painters were the founders of an independent branch of Persian art popularly known as the Mughal school of miniature painting.

 Ans. Option (A)

Q. 5. Assertion (A): Mughals had a strong grasp on India during the period of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The capital cities of the Mughal shifted frequently from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

 Reason (R): In the 1570s, Akbar decided to build a new capital, Fatehpur Sikri. One of the reasons prompting this may have been that Sikri was located on the direct road to Ajmer, where the dargah of Shaikh Muinuddin Chishti had become an important pilgrimage center.

Ans. Option (A)

Q. 6. Assertion(A): The granting of titles to men of merit was an important aspect of Mughal polity. Reason (R): A man’s ascent in the court hierarchy could be traced through the titles he held.

Ans. Option (A)

Q. 7. Assertion (A): Both for the Rajput clans as well as the Mughals marriage was a way of cementing political relationships and forging alliances.

 Reason (R): This ensured a continuing hierarchical relationship between ruling groups.

 Ans. Option (A)

Q. 8. Assertion (A): After Nur Jahan, Mughal queens and princesses began to control significant financial resources.

 Reason (R): Control over resources enabled important women of the Mughal household to commission buildings and gardens. Gul Badan Begum participated in many architectural projects of Shah Jahan’s new capital, Shahjahanabad (Delhi).

Ans. Option (C)

Q. 9. Assertion (A): The nobility was recruited from diverse ethnic and religious groups in Mughal Court. Iranians gained high offices under Jahangir.

 Reason (R): Most of the Persians migrated to South Asia to prosper and obtain high positions in Mughal Empire. Also, Jahangir’s politically influential queen, Nur Jahan (d. 1645), was an Iranian.

 Ans. Option (A)

Q. 10. Assertion (A): News reports and important official documents traveled across the length and breadth of the regions under Mughal rule by imperial post.

 Reason (R): Although it takes lots of time to the emperor received reports from distant provincial capitals.

 Ans. Option (C)

Q. 11. Assertion (A): The Christian missions to India during the sixteenth century were part of this process of trade and empire building.

Reason (R): The Portuguese king was also interested in the propagation of Christianity with the help of the missionaries of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).

Ans. Option (A)

CASE-BASED MCQs

 I. Study this Mughal painting entitled ‘Jahangir Shooting the Figure of Poverty’ carefully and answer the following questions by choosing the correct option

 

 

Q. 1. The artist has enveloped the target in a dark cloud to suggest:

 (A) The person is of bad character.                                                              (B) The person is a slave.

(C) The person is not real rather it is symbolic of an abstract quality.         (D) The person is a woman. Ans. Option (C)

Q. 2. The animals seen in the painting underneath the feet of the emperor stand for:

 (A) a realm in which both the strong (lion) and the weak (lamb) exist in harmony

(B) an ideal world where animals and humans live together

 (C) Both (A) and (B)

 (D) None of the above

Ans. Option (A)

Q. 3. The chain descending from the heaven is a symbol of:

(A) Divinity          (B) Justice          (C) Power           (D) All of the above.

Ans. Option (B)

Q. 4. The ‘halo’ shown around the face of Jahangir indicates:

(A) The Mughal concept of Kingship.                       (B) The Mughal concept of Sulh-i-kul.

 (C) Both (A) and (B)                                                 (D) None of the above

 Ans. Option (A)

 II. Study this Mughal painting entitled Jahangir’s dream carefully and answer the following questions by choosing the correct option:

 Q. 1. This Mughal painting is given the name of Jahangir’s dream because:

 (A) It shows the two rulers Jahangir and Safavid Shah Abbas in a friendly embrace which was Jahangir’s desire.

 (B) It gave a sense of authenticity to a scene which was fictional as the two rulers had never met.

 (C) An inscription on this miniature records that Jahangir commissioned Abu’l Hasan to render in painting a dream the Emperor had recently seen.

 (D) All of the above.

Ans. Option (D)

 

Q. 2. The major attributes of the given painting were largely inspired by the:

 (A) Incoming European art motifs and imaginaries in the Mughal court.

 (B) Persian art motifs and imaginaries in the Mughal court.

(C) Turkish art motifs and imaginaries in the Mughal court.

 (D) None of the above.

Ans. Option (A)

Q. 3. The globe beneath the feet of both the Emperors suggests:

(A) The dream of Jahangir (the world seizure) to conquer the whole world by embracing his rival Shah Abbas.

(B) The globe is used by the painter to provide depth to the painting.

(C) The globe is representing the ideal world of humans and animals existing together.

(D) Both (B) and (C)

 Ans. Option (A)

Q. 4. A comparison of the physique and posture of both the Emperors in the painting portrays:

 (A) The superiority of Jahangir over Shah Abbas as shown by the difference in the physical size of their respective portraits.

(B) The dream of Jahangir of embracing his rival Shah Abbas in a friendly manner to retain Qandhar.    

(C) Both (A) and (B) 

(D) None of the above.

 Ans. Option (C)

III. Observe the picture and answer any three of the following questions by choosing the correct option.

 

 

Q. 1. Which building is this?

(A) Agra Fort      (B) Humayun’s Tomb    (C) Mausoleum of Timur              (D) Fatehpur Sikri

Ans. Option (C)

Q. 2. Where is it situated?

(A) Samarqand                 (B) Agra                                (C) New Delhi                   (D) Chandigarh

Ans. Option (A)

 Q. 3. Which famous dynasty was started by the descendants of the person connected with this building?

 (A) Delhi Sultanate                         (B) Mughal Empire        

 (C) Nizams of Hyderabad             (D) Nawabs of Awadh

 Ans. Option (B)

Q. 4. Which author has used a name derived from the descendant dynasty as the name of the superhero of his/her novel?

 (A) Rudyard Kipling        (B) Annie Besant             (C) Sarojini Naidu            (D) William Wordsworth

 Ans. Option (A)

 IV. Observe the picture and answer the following questions by choosing the correct option.

 

 

 Q. 1. Which auspicious occasion has been depicted in this painting?

(A) Prince Khurram’s crowning                  (B) Victory in Battle of Panipat

(C) Dara Shukoh’s wedding                         (D) None of these

 Ans. Option (C)

Q. 2 When did the event take place?

 (A) 1633              (B) 1685               (C) 1745               (D) 1799

 Ans. Option (A)

Q. 3. What is the source of this painting?

 (A) Akbar Nama               (B) Humayun Nama       (C) Badshah Nama          (D) Ain-i-Akbari

Ans. Option (C)

Q. 4. Which of these festival(s) was celebrated by the Mughal rulers?

 (A) Solar birthday of monarch (B) Lunar birthday of monarch (C) Nauroz (D) All of these

 Ans. Option (D)

NCERT TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS SOLVED

1. Describe the process of manuscript production in the Mughal court.
Ans: Process of manuscript production in the Mughal court included the following:
(a) Paper-maker’s responsibility was to prepare the folios of the manuscript.
(b) Skill writer, i.e. scribes or calligrapher copied the texts.
(c) Guilders, illuminated the pages of the manuscript.
(d) Miniature painter illustrated the scene from the text.
(e) The book binders gathered the folio and gave it to the original shape of a book.

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?
Ans: The daily routine and special festivities associated with the Mughal court would have conveyed a sense of the power of the emperor in the following ways :

1. The emperor, after personal religious prayers, appeared on a small balcony for Jharoka darshan, before a crowd of people for darshan of the emperor. The Jharoka darshan was introduced by Akbar with the objective of broadening the acceptance of the imperial authority as part of the popular faith.
2. The focus of the physical arrangement of the court was on the sovereign. It mirrored his status as the heart of society. Its centrepiece was, therefore, the throne, the takht which gave physical form to the function of the sovereign as pillar.
3. The rules regarding status of the Mughal elites were laid down with great precision. In court, status was determined by spatial proximity to the emperor.
4. Once the emperor sat on the throne, no one was permitted to move from his position or to leave without permission.
5. Whenever the court or darbar was held, all who had admittance were required to make the kornish.
6. The forms of salutation to the ruler indicated the person’s status in the hierarchy. Deeper prostration represented higher status.
7. The diplomatic envoys like ambassador were expected to offer an acceptable form of greeting — either by bowing deeply or kissing the ground or else to follow the Persian custom of clasping one’s hands in front of the chest.
8. Special occasions such as Id, Shab-i barat anniversary of accession to the throne, festivals — the solar and lunar birthdays of the monarch were celebrated in such a way that left tremendous impression on visitors.
9. Grand titles were adopted by the Mughal emperors at the time of coronation or after a victory over an enemy.
10. Mughal coins carried the full title of the reigning emperor with regal protocal.
11. A courtier always approached the emperor with gifts. He generally offered a small sum of money (nazr) or a large amount (peshkash).
12. Even in diplomatic relations, gifts were regarded as a sign of honour and respect.

3. Assess the role played by women of the imperial household in the Mughal Empire
Ans: (i) The term “haram” is used to describe the domestic world of the Mughals. This word is taken from the Persian word haram, which means a sacred place.

(ii) The Mughal household consisted of the emperor’s wives and concubines, his near and distant relatives (mother, step- and foster-mothers, sisters, daughters, daughters-in-law, aunts, children, etc.), and female servants and slaves.
(iii) Polygamy was practised widely in the Indian subcontinent, especially among the ruling groups. Both for the Rajput clans as well as the Mughals marriage was a way of cementing political relationships and forging alliances.

 

(v) In the Mughal household a distinction was maintained between wives who came from royal families (begams), and other wives (aghas) who were not of noble birth.
(vi) The begams, married after receiving huge amounts of cash and valuables as dowry (maahr), naturally received a higher status and greater attention from their husbands than did aghas. The concubines (aghacha or the lesser agha) occupied the lowest position in the hierarchy of females intimately related to royalty.
(vii) The agha and the aghacha could rise to the position of a begam depending on the husband’s will, and provided that he did not already have four wives.

(viii) Love and motherhood played important roles in elevating such women to the status of legally wedded wives. Apart from wives, numerous male and female slaves populated the Mughal Household. The tasks they performed varied from the most mundane to those requiring skill, tact and intelligence.
(xi)Slave eunuchs (khwajasara) moved between the external and internal life of the household as guards, servants, and also as agents for women dabbling in commerce.

4. What were the concerns that shaped Mughal policies and attitudes towards regions outside the subcontinent?
Ans: (i) The Safavids and Qandahar: The political and diplomatic relations between , the Mughal kings and the neighbouring countries of Iran and Turan hinged on the control of the frontier defined by the Hindukush mountains that separated Afghanistan from the regions of Iran and Central Asia. A constant aim of Mughal policy was to ward off this potential danger by controlling strategic outposts – notably Kabul and Qandahar. The fortress-town Qandahar had initially been in the possession of Humayun, reconquered in 1595 by Akbar.The Safavid court retained diplomatic relations with the Mughals, it continued to stake.claims to Qandahar. Jahangir sent a diplomatic envoy to the court of Shah Abbas in 1613 to plead the Mughal case for retaining Qandahar, but the mission failed to achieve its objectives. Persian army besieged Qandahar in 1622. The Mughal garrison was defeated and had to surrender the fortress and the city to the Safavids.

(ii) The Ottomans: pilgrimage and trade: The relationship between the Mughals and the Ottomans ensured free movement for merchants and pilgrims in the territories under Ottoman control. This was especially true for the Hijaz, that part of Ottoman Arabia where the important pilgrim centres of Mecca and Medina were located.
The Mughal emperor combined religion and commerce by exporting essential goods to Aden and Mokha, and distributing the proceeds of the sales in charity to the keepers of shrines and religious men there.

(iii) Jesuits at the Mughal court: European received knowledge about India through the accounts of Jesuit missionaries, travellers, merchants and diplomats. After the discovery of sea route to India, the Portuguese merchants set up their trading network stations in coastal region. The Portuguese was also interested in the spread of Christianity with the help of the missionaries of the Society of Jesuits. The Christian missions who sent to India during the sixteenth century were part of this process of trade and empire building. The first Jesuit mission reached the Mughal court of Mughal emperor Akbar at Fatehpur oikri in 1580 and stayed here for about two years. The Jesuits spoke to Akbar about Christianity and debated its virtues with the ulema. Two more missions were sent to the Mughal court at Lahore, in 1591 and 1595. The Jesuit accounts are based on personal observation and shed light on the character and mind of the emperor. At public assemblies the Jesuits were assigned places in close proximity to Akbar’s throne.. The Jesuit accounts corroborate the information given in Persian chronicles about state officials and the general conditions of life in Mughal times.

5. Discuss the major features of Mughal provincial administration. How did the centre control the provinces ?
Ans:

1. The Mughal provincial administration was like the central administration as mentioned below :
• There were diwan, bakhshi and sadr corresponding the central ministers – Diwan-i ala, mir-bakshi and sadr-us sudur.
• The head of the provincial administration was the governor (subadar) who directly reported to the emperor.
• A suba was divided into sarkars.
• Faujdars were deployed with contingents of heavy cavalry and musketeers in districts.
• At the local level were parganas which were looked after by the qanungo (keeper of revenue records), the chaudhuri (in charge of revenue collection) and the qazi.
• There was clerks, accountants, auditors, messengers and other functionaries who were technically qualified officials. They functioned with standardised rules and procedures.
• Persian was the language of the administration but local languages were used for village accounts.
2. The Mughal emperor and his court controlled the entire administrative apparatus down to the village level. However, the relationship between local landed magnates, the zamindars, and the representatives of the Mughal emperor was sometimes marked by conflicts over authority and a share of the resources. Moreover, after the death of Aurangzeb the provincial governors became powerful and this led to the downfall of the Mughal Empire.

6. Discuss, with examples, the distinctive features of Mughal chronicles.
Ans: (i) Chronicles commissioned by the Mughal emperors are an important source for studying the empire and its court. They were written in order to project a vision of an enlightened kingdom to all those who came under its umbrella. The authors of
Mughal chronicles focused on events-related to life of the ruler, their family, the court and nobles, wars and administrative
system.

(ii) These chronicles were written in Persian. This language flourished as a language of the court and of literary writings, alongside north Indian languages, especially Hindavi and its regional variants. As the Mughals were Chaghtai Turks by origin, Turkish was their mother tongue.

(iii) Chronicles narrating the events of a Mughal emperor’s reign contained, alongside the written text, images that described an event in visual form.

(iv) When scenes or themes in a book were to be given visual expression, the scribe left blank spaces on nearby pages; paintings, executed separately by artists, were inserted to accompany what was; described in words.

Question 7.
To what extent do you think the visual material presented in this chapter corresponds with Abu’l Fazl’s description of the taswir (Source 1)?
Solution :
Abu’l Fazl held the art of painting in high esteem. Drawing the likeness of anything was called taswir. Many paintings were masterpieces which could be compared with wonderful works of the European painters. The minuteness in detail, the general finish and the boldnesss of execution observed in pictures were incomparable. Such was the observation of Abu’l Fazl about the taswir. The visual material presented in this corresponds to the above description to a great extent in the followings ways :

1. In the picture, ‘A Mughal Kitabkhana’, every work relating to the preparation of the manuscript has been shown minutely.
2. In another painting by Abu’l Hasan, Jahangir has been shown dressed in resplendent clothes and jewels, holding up a portrait of his father Akbar. The emperors have been portrayed wearing halo.
3. In another painting by the artist Prayag, Jahangir is presenting Prince Khurram with a turban jewel. It is a scene from the Badshah Nama. The artist has also used the motif of the lion and the cow peacefully nestling next to each other to signify a realm where both the strong and the weak could exist in harmony. It has been placed in a niche directly below the emperor’s throne.

The above and other paintings — Jahangir shooting the figure of poverty (Abu’l Hasan), Shah Jahan honouring Prince Aurangzeb at Agra before his wedding (Payag), Dara Shukoh’s wedding — meet the above description of Abu’l Fazl.

8. What were the distinctive features of the Mughal nobility? How was their relationship
with the emperor shaped?
Ans: Recruitment, rank of the n ability and relationship with the emperor:
(i) Mughal chronicles, especially the Akbar Nama, have bequeathed a vision of empire in which agency rests almost solely with the emperor, while the rest of the kingdom has been portrayed as following his orders, if we look more closely at the available information the histories provide us about the apparatus of the Mughal state, we may be able to understand the ways in which the imperial organisation was dependent on several different institutions.

(ii) The most important pillar of the Mughal state was the nobility. The nobility was recruited from diverse ethnic and religious group which ensured that no faction was large enough to challenge the authority of the state.

(iii) The officer corps of the Mughals was described as a bouquet of flowers (guldasta) held together by loyalty to the emperor. In Akbar’s imperial service, Turani and Iranian nobles were present from the earliest phase of carving out a political dominion. Many had accompanied Humayun; others migrated later to the Mughal court.

(iv) The holders of government offices was given the ranks (mansabs) comprising two numerical designations: zat which was an indicator of position in the imperial hierarchy and the salary of the official (mansabdar), and sawar which indicated the number of horsemen he was required to maintain in service.

(v) Akbar, who designed the mansab system, also established spiritual relationships with a select band of his nobility by treating them as his disciples (murid).

(vi) For members of the nobility, imperial service was a way of acquiring power, wealth and the highest possible reputation. A person wishing to join the service petitioned through a noble, who presented a tajwiz to the emperor.

(vii) If the applicant was found suitable, a mansab was granted to him. The mir bakhshi (paymaster general) stood in open court on the right of the emperor and presented all candidates for appointment or promotion, while his office prepared orders bearing his seal and signature as well as those of the emperor. There were two other important ministers at the centre: the diwan-i ai (finance minister) and sadr-us sudur (minister of grants or madad-i maash, and in charge of appointing local judges or qazis)

(viii) The three ministers occasionally came together as an advisory body, but were independent of each other.

(xi) Akbar with these and other advisers shaped the administrative, fiscal and monetary institutions of the empire. Nobles stationed at the court (tainat-i rakab) were a reserve force to be deputed to a province or military campaign. Nobles were duty-bound to appear twice a day to express submission their to the emperor.
(x) They also had to share the responsibility for guarding the emperor and his household round the clock.

9. Identify the elements that went into the making of the Mughal ideal of kingship.
Ans: (i) According to Akbars court poet, Abu’l Fazl Mughal kingship as the highest station in the hierarchy of objects receiving light emanating from God (farr-i- izadi). According to this idea, there was a Hierarchy in which the Divine Light was transmitted to the king (Mughal Emperor) who then became the source of spiritual guidance for his subjects.

(ii) Mughal chronicles present the empire as comprising many different ethnic and religious communities – Hindus, Jainas, Zoroastrians and Muslims. As the source of all peace and stability, the emperor stood above all religious and ethnic groups, mediated among them, and ensured that justice and peace prevailed.

(iii) Abu’l Fazl describes the ideal of sulh-i kui (absolute peace) as the cornerstone of enlightened rule. In sulh-i kul all religions and schools of thought had freedom of expression but on condition that they did not undermine the authority of the state or fight among themselves The ideal of sulh-i kul was implemented through state policies – the nobility under the Mughals was a composite one comprising Iranis, Turanis, Afghans, Rajputs, Qeccanis – all of whom were given positions and awards purely on the basis of their service and loyalty to the king.

(iv) Akbar abolished the tax on pilgrimage in 1563 and jizya in 1564 as the two were based on religious discrimination. Instructions were sent to officers of the empire to follow the concept of sulh-i kul.

(v) All Mughal emperors gave grants to support the buildings and maintenance of places of worship. However, it was during the reign of Auranzeb, the jizya was re¬imposed on non-Muslim subjects.

(vi) Abu’l Fazl defined sovereignty as a social contract. According to him the emperor protects the four essences of subjects, namely, life (jan), property (mal), honour (narnus) and faith (din), and in return demands obedience and a share of resources from the people. Only sovereigns were thought to be able to honour the contract with power and Divine guidance.

 

 

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