Q10. Which Mughal emperor developed the city of Shahjahanabad, now associated with Old Delhi?
[2019 — RPF Constable 2018 cycle — held 17 February 2019]
(A) Humayun
(B) Babur
(C) Aurangzeb
(D) Shah Jahan
Answer: (D) Shah Jahan
Explanation: Shah Jahan laid out Shahjahanabad as a new imperial capital. Its principal landmarks included the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, markets and planned streets linking court and city.
Q9. Which ruler commissioned the Jama Masjid of Delhi?
[2019 — RPF Constable 2018 cycle — held 10 February 2019, Shift 2]
(A) Babur
(B) Humayun
(C) Shah Jahan
(D) Aurangzeb
Answer: (C) Shah Jahan
Explanation: The Jama Masjid in Delhi was built on Shah Jahan’s orders and completed in the 1650s. It remains a major surviving monument of his imperial urban programme.
Q8. Construction of which monument began in 1632 and was substantially completed by the late 1640s?
[2018 — RRB Group D — 6 December 2018, Shift 2]
(A) Taj Mahal
(B) Qutub Minar
(C) Red Fort, Delhi
(D) Moti Mahal
Answer: (A) Taj Mahal
Explanation: Work on Shah Jahan’s Taj Mahal commenced around 1632 following Mumtaz Mahal’s death. The principal tomb was finished earlier than the full complex, whose works continued afterwards.
Q7. Which Mughal emperor introduced one-third and one-fourth service rules within the mansabdari system?
[2018 — RPSC Senior Teacher Grade II (Social Science) — 29 October 2018]
(A) Akbar
(B) Jahangir
(C) Shah Jahan
(D) Aurangzeb
Answer: (C) Shah Jahan
Explanation: Shah Jahan revised aspects of mansabdari obligations, including reducing prescribed troop contingents under certain conditions. Such adjustments connected nobles’ military commitments to their rank and assignments.
Q6. Which traveller criticised Mughal peasant conditions by observing that even dry bread was barely left to them?
[2018 — UPSC CDS (I), General Knowledge — 4 February 2018]
(A) Francisco Pelsaert
(B) François Bernier
(C) Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
(D) Niccolao Manucci
Answer: (A) Francisco Pelsaert
Explanation: The Dutch merchant Francisco Pelsaert observed agrarian hardship in early seventeenth-century Mughal India. His description highlights heavy extraction from rural producers around the opening years of Shah Jahan’s era.
Q5. Who authored the Badshah Nama, an official chronicle of Shah Jahan’s reign?
[2017 — UPSC NDA & NA (I), General Ability Test — April 2017]
(A) Abdul Hamid Lahori
(B) Abul Fazl
(C) Shah Jahan
(D) Saadullah Khan
Answer: (A) Abdul Hamid Lahori
Explanation: Abdul Hamid Lahori wrote a major portion of the Padshahnama, the official record of Shah Jahan’s reign. This richly documented Persian history describes court life, campaigns and imperial ceremonies.
Q4. Which European jeweller and traveller left a detailed description of Shah Jahan’s Peacock Throne?
[2017 — MPPSC Assistant Professor, History — 2017]
(A) François Bernier
(B) Niccolao Manucci
(C) Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
(D) None of these
Answer: (C) Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
Explanation: French jeweller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier described the spectacular Peacock Throne and Mughal luxury. Commissioned by Shah Jahan, the throne displayed exquisite craftsmanship and precious stones as symbols of sovereignty.
Q3. Which European traveller visited India during Shah Jahan’s reign?
[2011 — Chhattisgarh PSC Preliminary — 2011]
(A) William Hawkins
(B) Sir Thomas Roe
(C) Antonio Monserrate
(D) Peter Mundy
Answer: (D) Peter Mundy
Explanation: Peter Mundy, an English merchant and traveller, journeyed in Mughal India during Shah Jahan’s rule. Hawkins and Roe visited Jahangir’s court, while Monserrate was associated with Akbar.
Q2. What was the main objective of Shah Jahan’s Balkh campaign?
[2002 — UPSC CSE Preliminary, General Studies — 2002]
(A) Secure a friendly ruler in Balkh and Badakhshan, near Kabul
(B) Conquer Samarqand and Ferghana, the ancestral Mughal homelands
(C) Fix the frontier permanently at the Amu Darya
(D) Expand Mughal dominion throughout territories beyond South Asia
Answer: (A) Secure a friendly ruler in Balkh and Badakhshan, near Kabul
Explanation: The 1646–47 Balkh expedition sought a friendly government in Balkh and Badakhshan to shield Kabul and stabilize the northwestern frontier. The costly venture ultimately failed to establish lasting control.
Q1. Who led a deputation of Banaras pandits requesting abolition of the pilgrim tax at Banaras and Allahabad?
[2000 — UPPSC/UPPCS Preliminary — 2000]
(A) Haranth
(B) Jagannath
(C) Kavindracharya
(D) Kavi Hariram
Answer: (C) Kavindracharya
Explanation: Kavindracharya Saraswati led a scholarly delegation to petition the Mughal emperor over pilgrimage taxation. His intervention reflects the political influence sometimes exercised by leading Sanskrit scholars at Shah Jahan’s court.
