Chp 4 The Mughal Empire A.
Fill in the blanks with
appropriate words.1. First battle of Panipat; 2. Medini
Rai;3. Fatehpur Sikri;4. navratnas;5. zat and sawarB.
Match the rows. 1. (d)2. (c);3. (e)4. (b)5. (a)C. Write true
or false. Correct the false sentences in your notebook.1.
True2. False. The Din-i-Ilahi or the divine faith, was
propounded by Akbar.3. False. Shah Jahan was a prolific
builder. 4. False. Aurangzeb was not a tolerant and liberal
ruler.5. False. The governor of the suba was known as
subedar.D. Choose the correct answer. 1. (a)2. (b);3. (c)4.
(b)5. (c)E. Answer the following questions in one or two
sentences.1. Many well-known and grand monuments like
the Taj Mahal, Red Fort and Jama Masjid were
commissioned by him. Hence, Shah Jahan is known as a
patron of architecture. 2. Humayun had to flee to the
Persian empire since he had been defeated by Sher Shah
Suri and had lost his throne. 3. Akbar did not annex the
kingdoms of those Rajput rulers who accepted him as their
overlord and paid him regular tributes. 4. Aurangzeb came
to power by defeating his brothers and having his father
imprisoned in the Agra Fort. 5. Two functions of the mir
saman were: (i) He had to supervise the purchase of all
items for the royal household (ii) He was responsible for
the functioning of the court and the emperor''s
bodyguards.F. Give reasons for the following1. Abul Fazl
says that Akbar had Akbar was referred to as Shahenshah
Akbar-e-Azam or Akbar the Great because he had an
extremely forceful and commanding personality. Akbar’s
powers were absolute.2. The Mughal administration was
divided into various departments during Akbar’s reign to
ensure efficient governance and effective management of
the vast empire.G. Answer the following questions in four
or five sentences.1. In his brief reign of five years, Sher
Shah built an empire that stretched from the Jhelum in the
west to the Brahmaputra in the east and from the
Himalayas in the north to the Narmada in the south. He
improved the administrative system and maintained a
strong army. He took steps for the welfare of the people,
especially the peasants. He built an excellent network of
roads, now known as the Grand Trunk Road, and ensured
that roads and highways were safe. He encouraged trade
and commerce. He was a just ruler and a patron of
architecture. 2. Akbar’s religious policy is remarkable for
its liberal and broadminded nature. He treated people of
all religious faiths and social classes equally. He followed
a policy of religious tolerance and won the support of the
Hindus. He abolished the jaziya and the pilgrim tax which
all non-Muslims had to pay. He gave complete religious
freedom to his Hindu wives. He observed the religious
festivals of all communities. All communities were allowed
to construct buildings of worship and propagate their
religion peacefully. 3. Aurangzeb came to the throne in
1658 CE after defeating his brothers and imprisoning his
father at the Agra Fort. Under him, the Mughal empire
reached its largest extent. Though he was a capable
administrator, he had to face a number of rebellions by
the Jats, the Sikhs and the Marathas. His long military
campaign against the Deccan also depleted the treasury.
Aurangzeb did not follow the earlier policy of religious
tolerance. His reign had strict laws against the celebration
of festivals, singing and dancing.4. It was during Akbar’s
rule that a central administration came into being. Under
this system, the emperor had absolute powers. All the
nobles and officers owed their position to him. He was the
commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the supreme
judge on matters of justice. Various departments were
established to look after the different aspects of
governance. Each was placed under a different official.
The important officials were the wazir (head of the
bureaucracy), diwan-i-kul (head of finance), mir bakshi
(head of the military), mir saman (head of the karkhanas),
and the qazi (head of the judiciary). 5. The mansabdari
system was a system of organization of the nobility and
the army. Under this system, each officer was given a rank
called the mansab. The lowest rank was 10 while the
highest rank was 5,000. The higher ranks were reserved
for nobles and princes of the royal family. The mansab
rank had two elements—zat and sawar. While the zat rank
referred to the officer’s status and income, the sawar rank
fixed the number of cavalrymen he had to maintain.
