History Test - 7

The correct answer is option 1 i.e Akbarnama

• Ain-i Akbari is a detailed document recording the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian, Abu'l Fazl in the Persian language.
• The Ain-i-Akbari is the third volume of the Akbarnama containing information regarding Akbar's reign in the form of, what would be called in modern times, administration reports, statistical compilations, or gazetteers.
• The Ain-i-Akbari is itself divided into five books.
  • The first book deals with the imperial household.
  • The second with the servants of the emperor, the military and civil services.
  • The third book deals with the imperial administration, containing the regulations for the judicial and executive departments.
  • The fourth book contains information about Hindu philosophy, science, social customs and literature.
  • The fifth book contains sayings of Akbar.
• Tabakat-i-Akbari was written by Nizam-ud-Din Ahmad.
• Bhaktamal is a poem in the Braj language that gives short biographies of more than two-hundred Bhaktas. It was written by Guru Nabha Das.
• Takmila-i-Akbarnama was written by Nizamuddin.

The correct answer is Muqaddam.

Key Points

• The panchayat was headed by a headman known as muqaddam or mandal.
• Some sources suggest that the headman was chosen through the consensus of the village elders and that this choice had to be ratified by the zamindar.
• The chief function of the headman was to supervise the preparation of village accounts, assisted by the accountant or patwari of the panchayat.

Additional Information

• Mansabdari System was introduced by Akbar as a new administrative machinery and revenue system in 1571 AD.
• The term ‘Mansab’ denotes the rank (position) of a Mughal military officer. Higher the Mansab, higher the salary, status, and position of the officer.
• The mansab or rank was designated by dual representation - one by personal rank (called zat/jaat) and the other by cavalry rank (called sawar).
• Every Mansabdar was given the rank of both zat and sawar.

The Correct Answer is Non-resident cultivators.

• Seventeenth-century sources refer to two forms of farmers: khud-kashta and pahi-kashta.
• The former were non-resident farmers who belonged to some other village but were otherwise contractually farming lands.
• People became pahi-kashta either out of the choice-for instance, when income terms in a distant village became more favorable-or out of necessity-compelled, for example, by economic hardship following a famine.
• Cultivation was based on the individual ownership theory. Peasant lands were acquired and sold in the same manner as other owners' properties.

The correct answer is Personal lands of Zamindars.

Key Points

• Milkiyat:
  • The Zamindars owned vast personal lands and Properties called Milkiyat. Hence. option 3 is correct.
  • Milkiyat Fields were cultivated for the private use of Zamindars.
  • It was cultivated often with the help of servile or hired labour.
  • These lands may be sold or given to Zamindars at will.
  • These lands can be leased, bequeathed or mortgaged by Zamindars of their own will.
• Some Important terms under Mughals were:
  • Khalisa- income went directly to the royal exchequer
  • Inam- lands allowed to learned and religious men.
  • Barids- intelligence officers
  • Waqia-navis- news reporters
  • Muhtasibs- censors of public morals
  • Subedar- provincial governor
  • Amalguzar or Amil - revenue collector
  • Shiqdar-  executive officer.
  • Kotwals- in charge of law and order.
  • Khudkasht: peasants who owned the land they tilled

The correct answer is The zamindars were the people who directly participated in the processes of agricultural production. Key Points

• The role played by zamindars in Mughal India:
  • The zamindars were the people who did not directly participate in the processes of agricultural production, but they enjoyed high status in society. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
  • The zamindars considered their land as their property (milkiyat).
  • They had control to sell, give and mortgage their property.
  • They enjoyed many social and economic privileges because of their superior status in society.
  • The zamindars belonged to the upper caste which added to their exalted status in society.
  • The zamindars rendered certain services (khidmat) for the state.
  • As a result of their service they received and attained a higher position in the state.
  • The zamindars had the right to collect revenue on behalf of the state and also received financial compensation for this work.
  • The zamindars had kept strict control over the military resources of the state.
  • They kept a fortress and a well-knit armed unit comprising cavalry, artillery, and infantry.
  • The zamindars also played a significant role in developing the agricultural land.
  • They helped in the settlements of farmers by lending them money and agricultural instruments.
  • It resulted in an increase in agricultural production and the sale and purchase of land by the zamindars.
  • There is also evidences that the zamindars held bazaars.
  • The farmers came to these bazaars to sell their crops.
  • If we observe the social relation of the village of the Mughal age as a pyramid then zamindars were at the top.
  • They occupied the highest position in society.
  • No doubt the zamindars exploited the people but their relations with the farmers depended on their mutual togetherness and hereditary part on age. So, they were able to get peasants in case of a revolt against the state.

The correct answer is 1, 2, and 3 only.

Key Points

• Peasants and their lands
  • The term which Indo-Persian sources of the Mughal period most frequently used to denote a peasant was raiyat (plural, riaya) or muzarian. 
  • In addition, we also encounter the terms Kisan or Asami. Hence, Option 3 is correct.
  • Sources of the seventeenth century refer to two kinds of peasants – khud-kashta and pahi-kashta.
  • The former were residents of the village in which they held their lands.
  • The latter were non-resident cultivators who belonged to some other village but cultivated lands elsewhere on a contractual basis.
  • People became pahi-kashta either out of choice
  • for example when terms of revenue in a distant village were more favourable – or out of compulsion – for example, forced by economic distress after a famine.
  • Peasant lands were bought and sold in the same way as the lands of other property owners.
  • This nineteenth-century description of peasant holdings in the Delhi-Agra region would apply equally to the seventeenth century.
  • The cultivating peasants (asamis), who plough up the fields, mark the limits of each field, for identification and demarcation, with borders of (raised) earth, brick and thorn so that thousands of such fields may be counted in a village.

Additional Information

• Majur
  • Deep inequities on the basis of caste and other castelike distinctions meant that the cultivators were a highly heterogeneous group.
  • Among those who tilled the land, there was a sizeable number who worked as menials or agricultural labourers (majur).

The correct answer is ​Ain-i-Akbari.

Key Points

• The Mughals found on arrival in India that indigenous Indian art was as decorative as the arts of China, Iran, and Central Asia.
• Since the number of foreign craftspeople coming to India was small, they depended largely on the skills of local people, and the products that emerged from their work were neither imitations of foreign forms nor a mere continuation of Indian ideals.
• The Indian factor, however, became fairly strong in Mughal art and Emperor Akbar was a particularly keen patron.
• The Ain-i-Akbari tells us that the Emperor maintained skilled craftsmen from all over India.
• Akbar personally inspected the work of his men and honored the best with bonuses and increased salaries.
• Special types of armor, gilded and decorated weapons, royal insignia, and a vast range of woven and embroidered textiles were commissioned for the royal household as well as for gifts.
• The shawls of Kashmir received a new lease of life, while the artisans of Rajasthan and Delhi made the finest court jewelry.
• Fine handicrafts were the most sought-after objects of the high Mughal society.
• The emperor, his family, and the nobility were its principal patrons and it was the indigenous artisan working in Mughal workshops who contributed substantially to the aesthetic character of the designs, bringing to his art a tradition of ideas and attitudes.

The Correct Answer is "annually cultivated land".​Key Points

• During the Mughal Period, the land was divided into four categories namely
  • Polaj.
  • Parati.
  • Chachar.
  • Banjar.
• Polaj was the land that is annually cultivated for each crop in succession and is never allowed to lie fallow.
• Polaj was the ideal and best type of land throughout the empire.
• This land was cultivated always and was never allowed to lie fallow. 

Important Points

• There was no Mughal land revenue system before Akbar.
• His father Humayun and grandfather Babur did not introduce any changes because they were the first conquerors of their dynasty and remained pre-occupied with subduing rebellions, consolidating empires, and maintaining order.
• A proper land revenue system was founded by Akbar.
• However, the system of Akbar was itself based on what Shershah Suri implemented during his short tenure.
• Thus, the land revenue system of Akbar was neither innovation nor an invention.
• His indebtedness to the earlier rulers is immense but this has not diminished his fame as far as the land revenue system is concerned.
• He followed the policy of Shershah with greater precision and correctness and then extended it to various subah or provinces of his empire.
• But this correction or precision did not come overnight.
• Initially was tortuous enough to turn peasants into beggars, and forcing them to sell their wives and children.
• But it was revised several times.

The corrections done by the Akbar inland revenue system can be mainly divided into three heads as follows:

• Standardization of measurement of land
• Ascertaining the produce per Bigha of Land
• Fixation of state’s share in that produce

The correct answer is Craft.

Key Points

• THE JAJMANI SYSTEM
  • In many parts of India, the jajmani system defined most of the transactions in the craft sector. Hence, Option 1 is correct.
  • The jajmani system is a reciprocal arrangement between craft-producing castes and the wider village community, for the supply of goods and services.
  • The caste system did not permit the upper castes to practice certain occupations.
  • As a result, the patrons or jajman were dependent on purjans
  • (cultivators, craftsmen, barbers, washermen, cobblers, sweepers, etc.) to provide essential goods and services for the village/urban economy.
  • In return, a fixed payment in kind was assured. This could be rent-free land, residence sites, credit facilities, food, or even dung.
  • Since most upper-caste people owned land, the jajmani system provided them with a stable supply of labor.
  • Today this system still holds sway over several parts of the country, though colonialism, competition, better communications, and improved civil laws have all transformed it in their own ways.
  • In the Sultanate and Mughal empires of North India karakhanas (factories) were maintained by the State.
  • This practice was followed by several other Indian rulers of the same period.
  • The slow decline of the Mughal empire meant a loss of patronage for the highly specialized crafts of shawl making, stone-carving, jewelry, meenakari, luxury textiles, and miniature painting.
  • In search of royal clients, craftsmen moved away from the Mughal court to find employment all over the kingdoms of Rajasthan (Jaipur, Udaipur, and Jodhpur in particular), in the Deccan and Bengal.
  • But much of this was to change with the advent of colonialism.

The correct answer is the district.

• The Mughal empire was divided into "Subas" which were further subdivided into "Sarkar", "Pargana", and "Gram".
  • The term 'Gram' in the Mughal administration stands for the village.
  • The term 'Sarkar' in the Mughal administration stands for the district.
  • The term 'Pargana' in the Mughal administration stands for the group of villages.

Key Points

• There were 15 Subas (provinces) during Akbar's reigns, which later increased to 20 under Aurangzeb's reign.
• The Akbar introduced the Mansabdari system. The term "Mansab" indicates the rank of the holder.
• Mansabdari was both civil and military.
• During the Mughal administration, there were 3 methods of revenue collection i.e. Kankut, Rai, and Zabti.

Additional Information

• Local Administration:
  • At the village level, the subas were divided into Sarkars which were further subdivided into Parganas.
    • Faujdar (chief executive head of a Sarkar) was responsible for maintaining law and order in his jurisdiction and executed the royal decrees and regulations.
      • He also kept the powerful Zamindars under check.
    • Amalguzar or the revenue collector was the next important officer.
      • Shiqdar maintained the general administration and law and order of Pargana assisted by Amil (revenue collector), Amin (assessor of revenue), Patadar (treasurer), Qanungo (keeper of land record), and Bitikchis (clerks).
    • Village head or the Muqaddam (sarpanch) dealt with functions locally.
      • The Patwari assisted him by taking care of village revenue records.