Class 12 Peasants, Zamindars and the State: Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire Mock Test (CBSE)

Topics in Peasants, Zamindars and the State: Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire

• Peasants and agricultural production
• Sources: the Ain-i Akbari
• The village community
• Women in agrarian society
• Forests and tribes
• The zamindars
• Land revenue system
• The flow of silver
• The Ain-i Akbari of Abu'l Fazl

Peasants, Zamindars and the State: Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire practice questions with answers

1. Q1Multiple choice·1 mark
   Which of the following terms was used in Mughal administrative records to denote the assessed revenue, as distinguished from the actual amount collected?

   1. (a)Hasil
   2. (b)Pargana
   3. (c)Zabt
   4. (d)Jama
   Show answer and step marks

   1. Correct option: (d) Jama+1

   Answer: (d)
2. Q2Multiple choice·1 mark
   The massive expansion of India's trade and monetisation during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was largely fuelled by the import of vast amounts of silver bullion into Asia from which region?

   1. (a)Europe and Africa
   2. (b)Central Asia
   3. (c)The Americas
   4. (d)Southeast Asia
   Show answer and step marks

   1. Correct option: (c) The Americas+1

   Answer: (c)
3. Q3Short answer·2 marks
   Describe the structural composition of the *Ain-i Akbari* by outlining its division into books (*daftars*).
   Show answer and step marks

   1. The Ain has five books (daftars); the first, manzil-abadi, concerns the imperial household and its maintenance.+0.5
   2. The second, sipah-abadi, covers the military and civil administration and the establishment of servants, with sketches of mansabdars, learned men, poets and artists.+0.5
   3. The third, mulk-abadi, deals with the fiscal side of the empire: revenue rates and the 'Account of the Twelve Provinces'.+0.5
   4. The fourth and fifth books deal with the religious, literary and cultural traditions of the people of India and contain a collection of Akbar's 'auspicious sayings'.+0.5

   Answer: Five daftars: I manzil-abadi (imperial household); II sipah-abadi (military and civil administration, notices of mansabdars and scholars); III mulk-abadi (fiscal matters, revenue rates, the twelve provinces); IV and V (religious, literary and cultural traditions of the people, and Akbar's sayings).
4. Q4Short answer·3 marks
   Explain the nature of information provided by the 'Ain-i Akbari' as a major historical source for understanding the agrarian society of the Mughal Empire.
   Show answer and step marks

   1. The Ain-i Akbari, compiled by Abu'l Fazl and completed in 1598, is the third book of the Akbar Nama, organised as a compendium of imperial regulations and a gazetteer of the empire.+1
   2. For agrarian society it records land classification, revenue rates and methods of assessment, crops and cultivated area, prices, and the caste composition and troops of zamindars, province by province.+1
   3. Limits: it gives the official view from the top; it has errors in totalling and copying; and its data are uneven, e.g. caste details are missing for Bengal and Orissa and prices and wages come mainly from around Agra.+1

   Answer: It is the third book of Abu'l Fazl's Akbar Nama, a gazetteer recording land classification, revenue rates, crops, prices and zamindars' castes and troops; but it presents the official view and has arithmetic and copying errors and unevenly collected data.

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