NCERT 7th Class (CBSE) Social Studies: The Great Mughals

Question: Name the British visitors sent by King James I to the court of Jahangir.

Answer: The British visitors sent by King James I to the court of Jahangir were:

1. Captain William Hawkins (1608 CE)
2. Sir Thomas Roe (1614 CE)

Question: What is mansabdari system?

Answer: Turkish Nobles, Inidan Muslims, Afghans and Rajputs joined the Mughal services as mansabdars. A mansabdar refers to an individual who holds a mansab, meaning a rank or a position used by the Mughal to fix rank, salary and military responsibility of the individual. His military responsibility required him to maintain a specific number of sawar or cavalrymen. His salary was determined by the numerical value of zat. The higher the numerical value of zat, the higher was his salary and position in court. Mansabdar received their salaries as revenue assignments called Jagirs. They did not actually reside in theri Jagirs but appointed servants to collect revenues from the people. They even got paid on the quantity of horses that they maintained.

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To bring about greater order in the system of military administration, Akbar introduced the mansabdari system, i.e. a system which consisted of a hierarchy of ranks or offices, in 1574 CE. Mansab in Arabic means ‘rank’. Every civil or military official was given a Jagir or piece of land according to his zat or rank. The mansabdars drew their salaries from the revenue of the land. The mansabdars had to maintain a certain number of horses for emperor’s use. A new gradation called savar was introduced to define how many cavalry a military commander was expected to maintain. Hence the size of the jagir depended on the zat and the savar.

Question: Which act of Aurangzeb antagonized the Sikhs?

Answer: The execution of the ninth Sikh guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur (1664-1675 CE) by Aurangzeb made the peace-loving Sikh take up arms. Under the 10th guru, Guru Gobind Singh, the Sikhs fought bitterly against Aurangzeb.