Class 7 History Chapter 4 Question Answers - The Mughal Empire

Q1. What were the historically happenings during 16th to 17th century in the entire subcontinent?
Ans: From the latter half of the 16th century the Mughals expanded their kingdom from Agra and Delhi, until in the 17th century they controlled nearly the entire subcontinent.

Q2. What do you know about term ‘zamindar’?
Ans: To describe the intermediaries, whether they were local headmen of villages or powerful chieftains the term used was ‘zamindar’. Peasants paid taxes through this zamindar.

Q3. Write about ‘sulh-i-kul’?
Ans: ‘Sulh-i-kul’ is a Persian ward which means ‘universal peace’. As a strong administrative function, Akbar established ‘sulh-i kul’. It did not allowed discrimination between people of different religions in his realm. While, it was focused on a system of ethics-honesty, justice and peace that was universally applicable.

Q4. Why was it difficult to rule in a large territory as the Indian subcontinent?
Ans: Ruling as large a territory as the Indian subcontinent with such a diversity of people and cultures was an extremely difficult task for any ruler.

Q5. Who provided support to subadar?
Ans: The subadar was supported by other officers such as military paymaster (bakhshi), the minister in charge of religious and charitable patronage (sadr), military commanders (faujdars) and the town police commander (kotwal).

Q6. What efforts were undertaken by Mughal to make them stronger?
Ans: The Mughal rulers campaigned constantly against rulers who refused to accept their authority. Many rulers also joined them voluntarily. The Rajputs are a good example of this. Many of them married their daughters into Mughal families and received high positions.

Q7. What were the responsibilities of mansabdars?
Ans: The main responsibilities of a mansabdar were: to maintain the military and collect the taxes.
(i) The military responsibilities: It required him to maintain a specified number of sawar or cavalrymen. The mansabdar brought his cavalrymen for review, got them registered, and their horses branded and then received money to pay them as salary.
(ii) Mansabdars received their salaries from the revenue collected under their mansab.
In Akbar’s reign these jagirs were carefully assessed so that the revenues were roughly equal to the salary of the mansabdar.
By Aurangzeb’s reign this was no longer the case and the actual revenue collected was often less than the granted sum.

Q8. Describe about “Akbar Nama” and its volume?
Ans: Abul Fazl wrote a three-volume history of Akbar’s reign, titled “Akbar Nama”. The first volume dealt with Akbar’s ancestors and the second volume recorded the events of Akbar’s reign. The third volume is the Ain-i-Akbari, it deals with Akbar’s administration, household, army, the revenues and the geography of his empire.

Q9. Who were ‘mansabdars’ and how was ‘Zat’ important for them?
Ans: The Mughals recruited diverse bodies of people. Those who joined Mughal service were enrolled as mansabdars. These mansabdars held a mansab. Rank, salary and military responsibilities of the mansabdars were determined by grading system.
Rank and salary were determined by a numerical value called zat. The higher the zat, the more prestigious was the noble’s position in court and the larger his salary.

Q10. Describe the work of Todar Mai undertaken for lands and taxes.
Ans: Todar Mai carried out a careful survey of crop yields, price and areas cultivated for a 10-years period, 1570-1580. On the basis of this data, tax was fixed on each crop in cash. Each province was divided into revenue circles with its own schedule of revenue rates for individual crops. This revenue system was called ‘zabt’. It was prevalent in those areas where Mughal administrators could survey the land and keep very careful accounts.