MUGHAL EMPIRE

1) What battles Babur fought?

Ans – They are:
 Ibrahim Lodi was defeated by Babur in 1st battle of Panipat in 1526.
 Rana Sanga, the king of Mewar was defeated in in Battle of Khanwa in 1527.
 The Afghan chief of Bengal, Nusrat Shah was defeated in Battle of Ghagra in 1528.

2) When did Babur died? What was the period of Babur?

Ans – 1530.
1526-1530

3) Who was the successor of Babur?

Ans – Humayun (1530-1540, 1555-1556 CE)

4) What battles Humayun fought?

Ans – They are:
 Humayun defeated Sher Shah Suri and captured fort of Chunar in 1532
 Humayun fought with Bahadur Shah and captured Gujrat and Malwa.
 Humayun defeated Sher Shah Suri in 1539 in the battle of Chausa
 Humayun got defeated in battle of Kanauj by Sher Shah in 1540

5) What was Sher Shah real name? Who was his father?
Ans – Farid Khan.
Father – Hasan Khan Suri – a jagirdar at Sasaram in Bihar

6) Write some works of Sher Shah.

Ans – They are:
 He laid the foundation of Sur Dynasty.
 He raised a large army and occupied Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal

7) Write some achievements of Sher Shah.

Ans – They are:
 Under him, whole empire divided into 47 provinces or sarkars and parganas or districts.
 He revived the practice of branding horses called Dagh
 He also introduced the silver coin called Rupia

8) Who built Grand Trunk Road?

Ans – Sher Shah Suri. This road connects Delhi, Agra, Multan and Sonargon in Bengal (now Bangladesh)

9) Who were the successors of Sher Shah?

Ans – Islam Shah Suri (died in 1553)  Firoz Shah Suri (1554)  Md. Adil Shah (1555)

10) When did Sher Shah died and how? Where is his burial place?
Ans – In 1545 due to gun powder explosion during siege in Bundelkhand
Sasaram

11) Who was the last known Suri king? Who defeated him?
Ans – Sikander Shah Suri.
Humayun defeated him in 1555 to regain control Delhi and Agra and reformed Mughal Empire after 15
years.

12) How did Humayun die?

Ans – He died while coming down stairs of his library at Din Panah in Delhi.
13) Who succeeded Humayun? Who was the regent of Humayun?
 Ans – Akbar was crowned at the age of 13. Bairam Khan was his regent.

14) What happened in 2nd Battle of Panipat?

Ans – Hemu, the general of Md. Adil Shah was defeated by Bairam Khan leading the Mughal army in 1556.

15) How did Akbar extend his empire?

Ans – They are:
 Through direct conquests
 Through matrimonial alliances with Rajput princesses
 By winning the trust of Rajput rulers and giving them high positions in administration.

16) What happened in Battle of Haldighati? What did he do after that?

Ans – Rana Pratap, son of Rana Udai Singh was defeated by the Mughal army in 1576. After that he took shelter in
the Aravallis and later on was able to recapture large parts of his kingdom.

17) Name a Rajput ruler who did not accepted the policy of friendship and matrimony. What happened to him?
Ans – Rana Udai Singh was one such chief in 1567 who got defeated by
Akbar and lost Mewar and its capital Chittor in spite of a brave fight.

18) Explain the territorial expansion of Akbar.

Ans – They are:
 He sent his officials to convince the rulers of Ahmednagar, Bijapur and Golkonda to accept him
 He then declared a war against Chand Bibi of Ahmednagar and captured Berar in 1596.
 In 1601, he also captured Khandesh
 In North-West, Akbar conquered Kashmir in 1586, Kandahar and Kabul in 1587 and Sind in 1590.
 By 1601, his empire extended from Hindukush in north-east to Brahmaputra in the east and from
Himalayas in the north tp Godavari in the south.

19) Name the nine gems of Akbar’s court.

Ans – Abul Fazl, Faizi, Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana, Todar Mal, Man Singh, Birbal, Tansen, Humam and Mullah Do
Pyaza.

20) Write the works of Faizi and Tansen and Abul Fazl
Ans – Faizi translated Ramayana and Mahabharata into Persian.
Tansen enriched Hindustani Classical and composed ragas such as Raga Darbari in Akbar’s honour.
Abul Fazl wrote the biography of Akbar - Akbarnama

21) Name two famous painters of Akbar’s court.

Ans – Basawan and Daswant

22) Name the most outstanding architecture during Akbar’s reign.

Ans – Fatehpur Sikri near Agra was made there because it was the birthplace of Sufi Saint Salim Chisti

23) Explain the religious policy of Akbar.

Ans – They are:
 He abolished Jaziya, pilgrimage tax and the practice of forcibly converting prisoners of war to Islam
 He developed the policy of Slh-i-Kul meaning universal peace
 He used to invite scholars from all religious beliefs and had discussion with them in Ibadat Khana (house
of worship)
 In 1582, he made a new religious order called Din-i-Ilahi

24) Who succeeded Akbar?

Ans – Jahangir whose real name was Prince Salim (1605-27 CE)

25) What were the challenges for Jahangir?

 Ans – They are:
 Revolt by his son Prince Khurram in alliance with Raja man Singh of Lahore
 Loss of Kandahar to persians
 Bid for independence by Ahmednagar in the Deccan

26) Who was Nur Jahan? What does Nur jahan mean? What did Jahangir confer upon her?
Ans – She was jahangir’s wife. Her real name was Mehrunnisa
It means Light of the World
He conferred upon Nur Jahan, the status of Padshah Begum

27) When did Jahangir died? Who succeeded him? What did Nur Jahan do after Jahangir’s death?
Ans – 1627.
Shah Jahan
She retired from court life and died in 1645

28) Write the military campaigns done under Shah Jahan.

Ans – They are:
 Shah Jahan defeated and killed the chieftain of Bundelkhand Raja Juhar Singh in 1636
 Rest from book

29) Who was Mumtaz Mahal? When did she die? What did Shah Jahan do for her after her death?
Ans – She was wife of Shah Jahan.
She died in 1631
He made a mausoleum for her named Taj Mahal in Agra

30) Name the 4 sons of Shah Jahan. Who became the king after Shah Jahan? Write the title adopted by him.
Ans – Dara Shikoh, Shuja, Murad and Auurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Prince Alamgir

31) Explain the two phases of Aurangzeb’s reign.

Ans – They were:
 One from 1658-1681 where he was positioned in North india
 Another from 1681-1707 where he was positioned in the Deccan

32) Write some of the reasons for the collapse of Mughal empire due to Aurangzeb.
Ans – They are:
 Confrontations with the Ahoms of Assam
 Rebellion by the Afghan tribes of the North-east
 Protest of Jat peasants due to heavy land revenue demands
 Tensed relations with Sikhs because of intolerant religious policies

33) Under which ruler, Mughal empire was the largest? Write the extent.
Ans – It was under Aurangzeb.
It extended from Kashmir in the north to Jinji in the south and from the Hindukush in the west to Chittagong
in the east.

34) How was the setup of the Mughal Court?

Ans – The Mughal throne was kept on a raised platform and officials bowed to the ruler, following the Central
Asian traditions where the ruler is a representative of God on Earth

35) Explain Diwan-i-Aam and Diwan-i-Khas.

Ans – Diwan-i-Aam was meant for meetings with general public
Diwan-i-Khas was the hall of private audience where the emperor received his personal guests.
36) Write about the administration of Mughal Empire.
 Ans – They are:
 The wazir headed the diwan-i-wizarat. He looked after the income, expenditure, collection of revenue
 The mir atish supervised the artillery
 The khan-i-saman looked after the imperial household
 The chief sadr or qazi looked after all charities, religious affairs, education etc
 The daroga-i-dak chowki was in-charge of the imperial post

37) Write the division of Mughal Empire.

Ans – They are:
 Subas – headed by subedars
 Sarkars
 Parganas
 Village – looked after by panchayats

38) Explain the Mansabdari System.

Ans – They are:
 It is a refined formed of Iqta system of Delhi Sultanate
 Mansab means rank or position in Arabic
 Every officer was assigned a mansab and was called a mansabdar
 Usually a mansabdar enters service at a low rank but rose to a higher rank through promotions on the
basis of loyalty and service.
 His rank depends on how many horses he will maintain
 Some mandandars were paid cash while others received jagirs
 Mansabdars needed to keep a fixed army of well trained troops for wars.

39) Who was Todar mal? What did he introduce? What was the state land called?
Ans – He was the chief architect of the land revenue system during Akbar’s reign.
He introduced Todar Mal’s bandobast
The state land was called Khalisa

40) Explain 4 categories of land.

Ans – They are:
 Polaj – Fertile land which was always cultivated
 Parauti – the land which was kept uncultivated for one or two years to regain fertility
 Chachar – the land which was kept fallow for three to four years to regain fertility
 Banjar – the lowest quality of land which was not cultivated at all

41) How was land measured? What was the unit of measuring land? What was the state’s share in each piece of land?
Ans – It was measured with bamboo sticks.
Bigha was the unit of measurement.
State’s share was one-third of the average produce.

42) Name the major literary sources of Mughal Empire.

Ans – They are:
 Tuzuk-i-Baburi – Babur’s autobiography written in Chagatai Turkish
 Humayunnama – written by Humayun’s sister Gulbadan Begum
 Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari – written by Abul Fazl
 Muntakhab-ul-Tawarikh – by Badauni
 Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri – by Jahangir
 Padshahnama – by Abdul Hamid Lahori
 Futuhat-i-Alamgiri – by Iswar Das Nagar
 Accounts by foreigners during their visit – William Hawkins, Sir Thomas Roe, Peter Mundy, Tavernier,
Nicolo Manucci and Francois Bernier

43) Write the 3 volumes of Akbarnama.

Ans – They are:
 1st vol. – It was about Akbar’s ancestors
 2nd vol. – It was about Akbar’s reign
 3rd vol. – It was about Akbar’s administration