Indian History

The Mughal Empire

60 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 60 questions

  1. Which battle, fought on 21 April 1526, saw Babur defeat Ibrahim Lodi and mark the beginning of Mughal rule in India?
  2. In which work did Babur record his memoirs, written in Chagatai Turkic and later translated into Persian under Akbar?
  3. Which Afghan ruler defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun at the Battle of Chausa?
  4. Which Safavid shah provided Humayun with 12,000 cavalry and 300 veterans of his personal guard so that he could recover his lost domains?
  5. In which battle of 5 November 1556 was Hemu struck in the eye by a chance Mughal arrow and collapsed unconscious?
  6. Which rank system, associated with Akbar, gave each officer a numerical rank with two numbers, zat (personal rank) and sawar (cavalry to be maintained)?
  7. Which finance minister under Akbar introduced the zabt and dahsala systems of revenue, based on a survey of crop yields and prices over 10 years (1570-1580)?
  8. What was the name of the syncretic path promulgated by Akbar in 1582?
  9. Which gateway at Fatehpur Sikri, begun in 1573 by Akbar to commemorate his victory over Gujarat, forms the southern entrance to the city?
  10. Who wrote the Akbarnama, whose third volume is the Ain-i-Akbari?
  11. Which English ambassador to the court of Jahangir resided at Agra for three years, until 1619?
  12. Nur Jahan (born Mehr-un-Nissa), who had coinage struck in her name, was the chief consort of which Mughal emperor?
  13. Which tomb in Agra, built between 1622 and 1628 by Nur Jahan for her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg, is also called the Baby Taj?
  14. Which Mughal emperor built the walled city of Shahjahanabad, built between 1638 and 1649 and named in 1648?
  15. Which throne, commissioned by Shah Jahan and kept in the Diwan-i-Khas of the Red Fort, was taken by Nader Shah in 1739?
  16. Which court architect led the board of architects that guided the construction of the Taj Mahal?
  17. In which battle of 29 May 1658, fought about 16 km east of Agra, did Aurangzeb and Murad Bakhsh defeat Dara Shikoh?
  18. Which Mughal prince, eldest son of Shah Jahan, completed a Persian translation of fifty Upanishads in 1657, often called Sirr-i-Akbar (The Greatest Mystery), and wrote Majma-ul-Bahrain?
  19. Which tax on non-Muslim subjects was abolished by Akbar in 1564 and re-imposed by Aurangzeb in 1679?
  20. Which Sikh Guru was publicly beheaded on 11 November 1675 in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, on Aurangzeb's orders?
  21. Which compilation of Hanafi-based Islamic jurisprudence did Aurangzeb commission, gathering 500 experts?
  22. Which Maratha ruler, defeated by Jai Singh I at the Battle of Purandar, escaped from Agra on 17 August 1666 by hiding in a basket?
  23. Which Deccan sultanate's siege did Aurangzeb himself command after arriving on 4 September 1686?
  24. What Persian title, meaning 'Conqueror of the World', was chosen by Muhi al-Din Muhammad, the sixth Mughal emperor?
  25. Which mosque in Lahore, commissioned in 1671 by Emperor Aurangzeb and constructed between 1671 and 1673, remained the largest in the world for over three hundred years?
  26. Where was Aurangzeb buried after he died on 3 March 1707 at Bhingar?
  27. Which ruler crushed the Mughal army at the Battle of Karnal on 13 February 1739?
  28. Who was the twentieth and last Mughal emperor, declared emperor by rebel forces during the Indian Rebellion of 1857?
  29. In which battle on 22-23 October 1764 were Shah Alam II, Shuja-ud-Daula and Mir Qasim defeated by the British East India Company?
  30. Under the Treaty of Allahabad of 16 August 1765, the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II granted the East India Company the diwani of which provinces?
  31. Who was Akbar's ataliq (guardian) and regent, serving at the time of Humayun's death, under whom Akbar was crowned on 14 February 1556?
  32. Which queen, regent of Gondwana and a Chandel by birth, killed herself on 24 June 1564 after fighting Akbar's general Asaf Khan?
  33. In which battle of 18 June 1576 did Mughal forces led by Man Singh I of Amber fight Mewar forces led by Maharana Pratap?
  34. What is the name of the horse that, in traditional literature, Maharana Pratap rode at the Battle of Haldighati?
  35. Whose khanqah was the site where Akbar built Fatehpur Sikri, near where his son Jahangir was born in 1569?
  36. By what name was the musician Tansen, one of Akbar's Navaratnas, known as a child?
  37. In the Mughal classification of agricultural land, which category was continuously cultivated every year?
  38. Which official headed the finance and revenue ministry of the Mughal central government and typically acted as the wazir?
  39. In Mughal administration, what office did the Mir Bakhshi hold?
  40. What were the provinces into which Akbar divided the Mughal Empire in his reforms of 1572-1580 called, each governed by a subahdar?
  41. Which Mughal emperor ordered a chain so that subjects could appeal to him if denied justice, and wrote the Tuzk-e-Jahangiri?
  42. Which Mughal court painter was given the title Nadir-al-Asr (Unequalled of the age) by Jahangir for his masterpieces, and is known for natural history studies of animals, birds and plants?
  43. Which mausoleum in Delhi, commissioned by Empress Bega Begum and designed by the Persian architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyas, is the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent?
  44. Which four-tiered mausoleum, completed in 1613 by Jahangir about 8 km west-northwest of the centre of Agra, is the tomb of Akbar?
  45. Which white marble mosque, known as the 'Pearl Mosque', stands inside Agra Fort and was built by Shah Jahan?
  46. Which daughter of Shah Jahan sided with Dara Shikoh in the war of succession, joined her father in Agra Fort and is credited with Chandni Chowk?
  47. Which tower in Agra Fort offers a view of the Taj Mahal and is where Shah Jahan spent 1658 to 1666 imprisoned?
  48. Which Mughal emperor issued a farman in 1717 allowing the British East India Company to reside and trade in the empire, with duty-free trade in Bengal?
  49. Which noble brothers acted as kingmakers after Aurangzeb's death, seating and unseating Mughal emperors, including Farrukhsiyar (from 1713) and Muhammad Shah (1719)?
  50. Who defeated Mubariz Khan, the governor of Hyderabad, and founded the Hyderabad state on 11 October 1724?
  51. Which Persian-derived term for landowners, with hereditary holdings and the right to collect taxes, was used for the land-owning nobility of the Mughal Empire?
  52. What was the land grant called whose holder, the jagirdar, collected taxes that paid his salary in Mughal times?
  53. Which Mughal garden in Srinagar was built by Emperor Jahangir in 1619?
  54. At the First Battle of Panipat, how did Babur defend his position against Ibrahim Lodi's army?
  55. Which city did Akbar found as the Mughal capital in 1571, with structures such as the Diwan-i-Aam, Diwan-i-Khas and Panch Mahal, before leaving it around 1585?
  56. Which five-storeyed palace in Fatehpur Sikri, with tiers diminishing in size and 176 carved columns, is the Panch Mahal?
  57. Which French physician and traveller spent nearly twelve years in India, from 1658 to 1670, and wrote Travels in the Mogul Empire?
  58. What inlay technique, called parchin kari in the Indian subcontinent, is seen in Mughal monuments such as the Taj Mahal?
  59. Which Krishna devotee and poet-saint was the daughter-in-law of Rana Sanga?
  60. Which Mughal emperor, the second son of Aurangzeb, ascended the throne in 1707 at the age of 64 and was the eighth Mughal emperor?

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