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Y211: The Rise and Decline of the Mughal Empire in India 1526–1739

Akbar the Great 1556–1605: religion, administration, expansion and culture

  • 2 things to know
  • Unit group 2

Overview

Recall questions on the Ibadat Khana, the decree of 1579, sulh-i-kul and the Din-i-Ilahi, the mansabdari system, Todar Mal’s revenue settlement, provincial government, expansion, economic change and court culture.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Describe Todar Mal's revenue settlement.

Key term

Why was the revenue settlement an advance on earlier practice?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Explain what the Ibadat Khana was.

    Model answer

    It was the house of worship Akbar built at Fatehpur Sikri in 1575, where he presided over debates first among Muslim theologians and then among Hindus, Jains, Zoroastrians and Jesuits, which convinced him that no one tradition held the whole truth.

  2. 2

    What did the decree of 1579 do?

    Model answer

    The mahzar signed by the leading Muslim jurists made Akbar the final arbiter where the doctors of law disagreed, freeing the emperor from the ulama's control over religious policy.

  3. 3

    Explain sulh-i-kul and the Din-i-Ilahi.

    Model answer

    Sulh-i-kul, universal peace or toleration, was the principle that the emperor stood above sectarian difference and protected all faiths; the Din-i-Ilahi introduced in 1582 was a small order of personal discipleship to Akbar rather than a religion for his subjects, and it never had more than a handful of members.

  4. 4

    Describe the mansabdari system.

    Model answer

    Every officer of the empire held a numerical rank, or mansab, with a zat figure fixing his personal status and pay and a sawar figure fixing the number of cavalry he had to maintain; ranks were granted and withdrawn by the emperor and were not hereditary, and holders were normally paid by the assignment of a jagir.

  5. 5

    Describe Todar Mal's revenue settlement.

    Model answer

    Under the zabt or dahsala system completed about 1580, cultivated land was measured and classified by quality, the state's share was set at about one third of the crop, and it was converted into a fixed cash demand using average yields and prices over the previous ten years.

  6. 6

    Why was the revenue settlement an advance on earlier practice?

    Model answer

    A peasant knew in advance what he owed in cash, assessment did not depend on a corrupt annual estimate, and the state gained a predictable income that could support a salaried and rank-based nobility.

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