Mughal Empire and Early Modern India
What the domain covers
This domain covers the Mughal Empire and early modern India from 1526 to the eighteenth century. Code 128 tests imperial expansion, administration, revenue, culture, religious policy and the transition to regional powers.
Core rules and concepts
- Babur won the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 against Ibrahim Lodi; Humayun lost and regained the empire; Akbar ruled 1556-1605.
- Mansabdari: a rank system with zat, personal status, and sawar, cavalry obligation; mansabdars received jagirs, revenue assignments, rather than land ownership.
- Revenue: Todar Mal's zabti system measured land and fixed cash demand; peasants could pay in cash, linking them to markets.
- Akbar's policies: Rajput alliances, abolition of jizya, sulh-i kul or universal peace, and the Din-i Ilahi, a courtly discipleship rather than a new mass religion.
- Shah Jahan: architecture, including the Taj Mahal; Aurangzeb: Deccan wars, reimposition of jizya, and conflict with Marathas and Sikhs.
- Early modern economy: commercialisation, textile exports, silver inflows, urban growth, and powerful bankers and merchants.
Worked example
A question asks whether a mansabdar owned his jagir. Reasoning: the mansab was a rank, and the jagir was a revenue assignment conditional on service. The holder collected revenue but did not own the land, and assignments were transferable. Conclusion: mansabdari was a service system, not a private landed aristocracy, although in practice jagirs tended to become hereditary.
Traps
Do not call the Din-i Ilahi a new religion or a mass conversion. Do not explain Mughal decline by Aurangzeb alone; agrarian crisis, noble factions, regional rebellion and European commercial pressure all mattered. Do not confuse mansab with jagir.