Q40. In Mughal revenue terminology, what was the “hasil”?
(A) Assessed demand entered in registers
(B) Revenue actually realized
(C) A troop inspection
(D) A salary rank
Answer: (B) Revenue actually realized
Explanation: Hasil denoted revenue actually collected, in contrast with jama, the nominal assessment recorded in state accounts. Large gaps between these sums exposed weaknesses in fiscal administration and could undermine the real income available from assigned jagirs.
Q39. Which pair correctly distinguishes zat and sawar under the Mughal mansabdari system?
(A) Zat—personal rank; sawar—cavalry obligation
(B) Zat—land grant; sawar—treasury
(C) Zat—judge; sawar—village clerk
(D) Zat—crop share; sawar—customs tax
Answer: (A) Zat—personal rank; sawar—cavalry obligation
Explanation: Zat expressed an officer’s individual rank, prestige and often basic pay. Sawar indicated the mounted contingent connected with his service obligations. Keeping the two elements distinct allowed imperial authorities to grade status and military contribution separately.
Q38. Which official maintained local revenue records and customary rates at the pargana level?
(A) Kanungo
(B) Mir Saman
(C) Mir Bakshi
(D) Qazi-ul-Quzat
Answer: (A) Kanungo
Explanation: The kanungo preserved records of landholding, cultivated area and local revenue practices. These officials provided administrative continuity because their familiarity with customary assessments was valuable to both central revenue servants and those responsible for collection.
Q37. Which land category under Akbar denoted fields cultivated regularly without a fallow interval?
(A) Banjar
(B) Chachar
(C) Polaj
(D) Parauti
Answer: (C) Polaj
Explanation: Polaj was regularly cultivated land that usually remained in annual production. Its predictable yield made it easier to assess. Parauti referred to land temporarily left fallow, while chachar and banjar indicated increasingly longer periods without cultivation.
Q36. Land left uncultivated for approximately three or four years was generally classified as what?
(A) Polaj
(B) Chachar
(C) Parauti
(D) Khalisa
Answer: (B) Chachar
Explanation: Chachar was land that had remained uncultivated for roughly three or four years. Akbar’s revenue classifications also distinguished polaj, parauti and banjar. Such categories aided decisions about productivity and demand when abandoned fields returned to cultivation.
Q35. What did “banjar” generally mean in Mughal land-revenue classification?
(A) Land left uncultivated for five years or longer
(B) A crown workshop
(C) Cultivated land yielding two crops
(D) A hereditary noble title
Answer: (A) Land left uncultivated for five years or longer
Explanation: Banjar referred to land uncultivated for a prolonged period, commonly five years or more. This status mattered in revenue administration because newly restored cultivation could require a different assessment from land producing harvests regularly.
Q34. In Mughal government, what did the word “suba” mean?
(A) Village
(B) District court
(C) Province
(D) Imperial workshop
Answer: (C) Province
Explanation: Suba was the provincial division of the Mughal Empire, particularly in the mature Akbari arrangement. It contained smaller districts called sarkars, which in turn comprised parganas. A subedar served as the emperor’s provincial governor.
Q33. What was the normal administrative sequence from smaller to larger Mughal territorial units?
(A) Pargana → Sarkar → Suba
(B) Suba → Pargana → Sarkar
(C) Sarkar → Village → Suba
(D) Suba → Sarkar → Pargana
Answer: (A) Pargana → Sarkar → Suba
Explanation: A pargana generally comprised a group of villages; several parganas formed a sarkar, and multiple sarkars belonged to a suba. This hierarchy helped organize provincial supervision, local revenue administration and the transmission of orders.
Q32. Which official was chiefly responsible for security and policing in a Mughal town?
(A) Kotwal
(B) Waqia-navis
(C) Kanungo
(D) Mir Saman
Answer: (A) Kotwal
Explanation: The kotwal supervised urban police functions and public order, with duties that could include market oversight, identifying offenders and aspects of municipal regulation. The precise extent of authority varied by location, time and imperial instructions.
Q31. Which provincial official was mainly associated with military order and executive authority?
(A) Provincial diwan
(B) Subedar
(C) Kanungo
(D) Muhtasib
Answer: (B) Subedar
Explanation: The subedar governed a Mughal province as the emperor’s representative and held important executive and military authority. Revenue accounts were supervised separately by the provincial diwan, helping limit the concentration of fiscal and military control.
