Test: Kings And Chronicles- 1 - UPSC MCQ

Jalaludin Akbar's reign was from 1556-1605 AD.

Gulbadan Begum was a princess who knew both Persian and Turkish. She was the daughter of Emperor Zahir-ud-Din Babur. She is best known as the author of Humayun Nama, the acount of the life of her brother, Humayun.

Akbar was fond of his aunt Gulbadan Begum and knew of her storytelling skills. He commissioned her aunt to chronicle the story of his father Humayun. Akbar asked his aunt to write whatever she remembered about her brother’s life - Humayun’s glory days of victories and agonies of his defeats, his joys and trepidations.

Some historians believe that Akbar had to attend to the north-west area of his empire and simply moved his capital for political reasons . In 1585 AD, the capital was relocated to Lahore and, in 1599 AD, to Agra.

The term 'Mughal' was first used by Europeans for the Timurid rulers of India.

Waqia nawis were the court writers. They recorded all applications and documents presented to the court, and all imperial orders (farman).

Shihabuddin Suhrawardi was a famous Iranian Sufi. Abu’l Fazl was inspired by his philosophy. Suhrawardi composed most of his treatises over a very short span of time, most probably during the course of about ten years .

The Mughals were Chaghtai Turks and thus, their mother tongue was Turkish. Babur wrote poetry and his memoirs in this language.

The first Jesuit mission stayed at Fatehpur Sikri from 1580 AD, for about two years. The Jesuits spoke to Akbar about Christianity and debated its virtues with the ulama.

After 1707, after the death of Aurangzeb, the power of the Mughal dynasty got diminished. Now, different regional powers acquired greater autonomy. Finally in 1857, the last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar II, was overthrown by the British.