HISTORY

CHAPTER:-9 – THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

EXERCISES:-

I. SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

Q1)Name two important sources which provide information about the Mughal
?

Ans) Two sources which provide information

about the mughals are :-

i. Ain-i-Akbari
ii. Monuments

Q2)Name of the author of Ain-i-Akbari.

Ans) Abul fazl was the author of Ain-i-Akbari.

Q3) What was the title of the Mahabharata translated into Persian?

Ans) Razm Namah was the title of the Mahabharata which was translated in
to Presian.

Q4)Who was the architect who designed Humayun’s tomb?

Ans) Mirak Mirza Ghiyas was the architect who designed Humayun’s tomb.

Q5)Who built the Agra fort?

Ans)Akbar built the Agra fort.

Q6)Name the two buildings located in Fatehpur Sikri?

Ans) Two buildings located in the Fatehpur Sikri are:-

i. Panch Mahal
ii. Buland Darwaza

Q7)Why did Akbar build Fatehpur Sikri?

Ans)Akbar built Fatehpur Sikri to honour the Sufi saint Salim Chisti.

8) Between whom was the first battle of Panipat fought?

Ans) The first battle of Panipat was fought between Ibrahim Lodhi and

Babur.

9) Who was defeated by Akbar at the battle of Haldighati in 1576?

Ans) Maharana Pratap was defeated by Akbar at the battle of Haldighati in

1576.

10) Name the mughal ruler whose reign was famous for ‘Chain of Justice’?

Ans) Jhanagir was the mughal ruler whose reign was famous for ‘Chain of
Justice’.

11)Name the two taxes abolished by Akbar?

Ans) Jizyah or the poll tax and pilgrim tax were the two taxes abolished by
Akbar.
12) Name the mughal ruler who forbade the evil practice of sati?

Ans) Aurangzeb was the mughal ruler who forbade the evil practice of sati.

13) What principles did Akbar’s Din-i-Illahi promote?

Ans)- In 1580, Akbar promulgated a new religion called Din-i-Illahi.

-It was based on the principle of oneness of god.

-The new religion stressed on virtues like courage, loyalty and justice.it also
demand loyalty to the emperor.

-The basic purpose of forming Din-i-Illahi was Sulh-kul or universal harmony

which governed all public policies of Akbar.

14)Name the two important centres of trade during the mughal period?

Ans)Agra and Delhi were the two important centres of trade during the
mughal period.

Structured Questions

1. With reference to mughal empire, explain briefly the significance of the

following:

a. Ain-i-Akbari:

It was written by Abul Fazl,the minister and one of the nine jewels at akbar’s
court.

It was part of a large project of history writing commissioned byAkbar.

The Ain-i-Akbari is divided into five books.

The first book deals with the imperial household.

The second book deals with servants of the emperor,the military and civil
sevices.

The third book deals with the imperial administration.

It consists of the regulations or judicial and executive departments, and the

divisions of the empire.

The fourth book contains information about the hindu

philosophy,science,social,customs and literature.

The fifth book contains the wise sayings of Akbar.

This also contains an account of the ancestry and biography of the author

b.Fatehpur Sikri:

It has a grand palace where akbar’s court functioned for a few years, until the
shortage of water caused the city to be abandoned

Other grand monuments in it are Panch Mahal,the Buland Darwaza ,a mosque

dedicated to Salim Chisti,tomb of salim chisti a prayer hall for the new religion
called Din-i-Ilahi started by Akbar,halls of public and private audience,the
Diwan-i- am and Diwan-i- Khas,Jodha Bai’s palace and Raja Birbal’s house

The monuments at Fateh pur Sikri are the best examples of Indo-Islamic art as
they show influences from hindu and jain architecture along with Islamic
elements

Besides,they also show a synthesis of various regional schools of architecture

such as Gujarati and Bengali

2 . With reference to Mughal rule, state briefly:

a.Akbar’s policy towards the Rajputs.

The Rajputs policy of akbar proved to be of his greatest achievements.

He entered into marriage alliances with Rajputs.

Bhara Mal,married his younger daughter Harka Bai to Akbar.

Akbar not only gave complete religious freedom to his wives who followed
Hinduism but also gave honoured place to their parents and relations in the
nobility.
Since the Rajputs were made equal partners in the mughal government, it
considerably affected the public policies of the Mughals helped in the growth of
a in the growth of a composite culture.

b.Akbar’s policy of religious tolerance

1. Akbar abolished the poll tax or jizyah, which the non-muslims were required
to pay. He also abolished the pilgrim tax on bathing at holy places such as
Prayag and Benaras. Further he abolished of forcibly converting prisoners of
war to Islam.All these steps laid to foundation of a society based on equal rights
to aall,citizens,irrespective of their religious beliefs

2.To strengthen the liberal principles, Akbar enrolled a number of hindus into
nobility.While most of these were rajput rajas,many of whom entered into
matrimonial alliances with Akbar, mansabs were given to others also on the
basis of their compentence.

3.In 1575,akbar built a hall called Ibadat khanna or the hall of prayer at
Fatehpur Sikri.At this hall he used to call selected theologians and discuss
religious and spiritual matters with them.

4. In 1580, Akbar promulgated a new religion called Din-i-Illahi.

-It was based on the principle of oneness of god.

-The new religion stressed on virtues like courage, loyalty and justice.it also
demand loyalty to the emperor.

-The basic purpose of forming Din-i-Illahi was Sulh-kul or universal harmony

which governed all public policies of Akbar.

3. With reference to administrative system in the mughal period, answer the

following questions:

a.What was the position of monarch?

The emperor was the head o f the executive, legislature, judiciary and army.
He was the supreme commander and all other commanders were appointed
and removed by him.

He was the fountain head of justice and supreme judge.

He made laws and iisued administrative ordinances.

His main duty was benevolence towards the subjects.

The royal uzuk was affixed to farmans granting appointments, titles, jagirs,
etc.

b.Who were the 3 important ministers?

Prime minister, known as vakil, who was entrusted with large powers in civil
and military affairs.

The head of the revenue department was the wazir, known as diwan or diwan-
i-ala.

The diwan was responsible for all income and expenditure.

The head of military department was mir bakshi.

He was also the head of intelligence and information agencies of the empire.

c.How was the provincial government orgainsed?

Akbar paid great attention to the oraganisation of the provincial government.

The empire was divided into 12 provinces or subahs, which was further
subdivided into sarkars and each sarkar into parganas or mahals.

Each subah was headed by one governor who was called the subahdar or sipah
salar or nazim.

He was usually a mansabdar of high rank.

His functions included maintenance of law and order, enforcement of imperial

decrees, administration of criminal justice and smooth collection of revenue.

The provincial diwan was incharge of revenue administration of the province.

His responsibilities were similar to those of central dawn.

Besides the subahdar and diwan, the other important officials in the province
were faujdar, kotwal, bakhshi, sadr qazi and muhtasib.

Q4)WITH RESPECT TO THE MANSABDARI SYSTEM,ANSWER THE

FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

A)What was the mansabdari system?

ANS)The mansabdari system introduced by akbar was a unique feature

of the administrative system of the mughal empire.Under this

system,every officer was assigned a rank(mansab).Thus, the term

mansabdars refers to an individual who hold a mansab,meaning a

position or rank.The mansabdars formed the ruling group in the

mughal empire.Almost the whole nobility,the bureaucracy as well

as the military hierachy,and mansabs.The lowest rank in the

system was 10,and the highest was 5000 for nobles.it was a grading

system used by the mughals to fix rank,salary and military

responsiblities

B)What was meant by zat and sawar rank?

ANS)These rank were divided into two,namely zat and sawar.Zat

fixed the personal status of a person and the salry due to him.
The higher the zat,the more prestigious was the nobles position

in court and the larger his salary.The sawar rank indicated the

number of cavalrymen or sawar a mansabdar was required to maintain.

for every ten cavalrymen,the mansabdar had to maintain twenty horses

Q5)With reference to the social development during the mughal age,

answer the following questions:

A)Explain the division of society on the basis of wealth.

Ans)During the mughal age,society looked like a fedual

organisation with the king at the apex.next in the rank to the

king were the nobles,who enjoyed special honours and privileges.

below the nobles,there was a middle class.the merchant in general

led a simple life.merchants of the western coast,having made much

wealth of their extensive commerce,lived in a comparitively rich

style

B)Explain briefly any two steps taken by akbar towards integerating

the hindus and the muslims.

ANS)same as 2.2B

c)What steps were taken by the mughal rulers to promote education?

ANS)Akbar revised the educational syllabus,laying more emphasis on

moral education and mathematics and on secular subjects such as

agriculture,geometry,astronomy,logic and history.In fact one or the

duties of the public works department,shuhra-i-am was to build

schools and colleges.Shah jahan although more interested in building

monuments,did take some significant educational initiatives like

providing scholarships to assists students.Female education also

existed in some form during the mughal period.Girls from rich families

were usually able to have education through private tutions at home.

The Middle class girls were usually able to attend the same schools as

the boys.

6)Study the picture of the red fort and answer the following questions:

a)who built this monument?where is it located?

ans)the monument is built by hamida banu begam during the reign of akbar.

it is located in Delhi

B)Name the architect who designed the building.

ANS)Mirak Mirza Ghiyas is the architect who designed the monument

C)how is this monument a precusor of the taj mahal?

ANS)The bulbous marble dome is slightly curved.its structure is

considered as the precursor of taj mahal

7. Study the given picture of the Red Fort and answer the following questions:

(a) Who built this fort? Where is it located?

Ans. The Red Fort was built by Shah Jahan at Delhi on the banks of River
Yamuna.

(b)Mention two architectural features of the fort.

Ans. (i) Red sandstone and marble were used in its construction.

(ii) The fort measures 930 metres by 495 metres has massive walls. There
are two gateways. The Western Gateway is known as the Lahori
Gate. This gate was used by the emperor’s ceremonial purposes. Among the
many impressive buildings in the complex are Diwan- i-Aam and Diwan-i-
Khas. The Diwan –i-Khas is lavishly ornamented hall where
the Peacock Throne was placed.

8. Study the picture of the Taj Mahal and answer the following questions:

(a) Who built this monument? Where is it located? Why was it erected?

Ans. The Taj Mahal is built by Shah Jahan at Agra on the banks of River
Yamuna. The monument was
erected by Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.

(b) How does this monument reflect the Mughal style of architecture?

Ans. (i) The main structure is constructed on a high platform.

(ii) On each of the four corners of this platform is a minaret. The

central dome rises to a height of 56.1 metres. The dome in the centre looks like
an inverted lotus. The grave is in lower chamber, underground.
By Roll nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of Grade IXB, ICSE.