# The Mughal Empire I: Babur to Akbar — Conquest, Sher Shah's Interlude, Akbar's Polity, Mansabdari, Land Revenue and Religious Policy Source: https://tracknation.in/story/the-mughal-empire-i-babur-to-akbar-conquest-sher-shah-s-interlude-akbar-s-polity-mansabdari-land-revenue-and-religious-policy (TrackNation — free UPSC notes with PYQs) > A deep, exam-focused guide to the first phase of the Mughal Empire: Babur's conquest and the battles of Panipat, Khanwa and Ghaghra, Humayun's struggles, Sher Shah Sur's administration and reforms, Akbar's expansion and Rajput policy, the mansabdari and jagir system, land revenue (zabt, dahsala), central and provincial government, sulh-i-kul and the Ibadat Khana, Fatehpur Sikri and Akbar's court — with PYQs, the 2025 Mains question and what UPSC could ask next. ## Start Here — The First Mughal Century 🎯 **Exam priority: High-yield (T1).** *Prelims has asked about Mughal revenue officers and the difference between jagirdars and zamindars (2019), the administrative sequence pargana–sarkar–suba (2021), Tansen (2019), the Persian translation of the Yogavasistha under Akbar (2022) and the building materials at Fatehpur Sikri (2018). Mains 2025 asked: 'Examine the main aspects of Akbar's religious syncretism'.* The Mughal state is the single most examined polity in medieval India, and Akbar its centre of gravity. This article takes the story from Babur's arrival (1526) to the end of Akbar's reign (1605): the conquest and its military technology, the Sur interruption that supplied many of the Mughals' institutions, and then the classic Akbarian system — a centralised bureaucracy, the mansabdari-jagirdari structure, land revenue by measurement, the integration of Rajputs and the experiment of sulh-i-kul. The next article takes up Jahangir to Aurangzeb, the economy, culture and decline. | **Battle (year)** | **Between** | **Result and significance** | | Panipat I (1526) | Babur v Ibrahim Lodi | Babur's artillery (Ustad Ali Quli, Mustafa) and the tulughma flanking tactic win; end of the Delhi Sultanate; Mughal rule begins | | Khanwa (1527) | Babur v Rana Sanga of Mewar | Babur's artillery again; ends the Rajput challenge; Babur takes 'ghazi' | | Chanderi (1528) | Babur v Medini Rai | Malwa frontier | | Ghaghra (1529) | Babur v the Afghans and Nusrat Shah of Bengal | Babur's control over the east confirmed | | Chausa (1539) | Sher Shah v Humayun | Humayun defeated; Sher Khan becomes Sher Shah | | Kannauj / Bilgram (1540) | Sher Shah v Humayun | Humayun driven out of India; the Sur dynasty | | Panipat II (1556) | Akbar (Bairam Khan) v Hemu | Mughal restoration | | Haldighati (1576) | Akbar's army (Man Singh) v Maharana Pratap | Indecisive; Mewar resistance goes on | ## Sources of the Period | **Source** | **Author** | **What it gives** | | Baburnama | Babur | Memoir in Turki; plants, animals, people and politics of Hindustan | | Humayun-nama | Gulbadan Begum | A woman's account of the early Mughal household | | Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi / Tuhfa-i-Akbar Shahi | Abbas Sarwani | History of Sher Shah, written at Akbar's order | | Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari | Abul Fazl | Official history; the Ain describes administration, army, revenue rates, crafts, culture and statistics in five books | | Tabaqat-i-Akbari | Nizamuddin Ahmad | Multi-regional history | | Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh | Abdul Qadir Badauni | A critical, orthodox view of Akbar and the Din-i-Ilahi | | Foreign accounts | Jesuits (Monserrate, Aquaviva), Ralph Fitch | Fatehpur Sikri, court religion; Fitch found Agra and Fatehpur Sikri bigger than London | The *Ain-i-Akbari* is an unusual state document, with revenue rates, lists of mansabdars (the 1595 roll), crafts and prices; modern revisionist scholarship reads it carefully because it is an official, idealised portrait written by the emperor's adviser. ## Babur and Humayun ### Babur (1526–30) - A Timurid on his father's side and, through his mother, a descendant of Chengiz Khan, he lost Ferghana and Samarkand to the Uzbeks under Shaibani Khan, took Kabul (1504), and turned to India — drawn also by its wealth, the weakness of the Lodi sultanate and an invitation from **Daulat Khan Lodi** and **Alam Khan**. - **Panipat (21 April 1526):** his smaller army won through field artillery (matchlocks and cannon under Ustad Ali Quli and Mustafa, drawn up behind carts tied with ropes — the *araba* arrangement) and the *tulughma* (flanking) tactic of the Uzbeks; Ibrahim Lodi was killed. **Khanwa (1527):** he defeated Rana Sanga's Rajput confederacy, dealt with the Afghans at Ghaghra (1529), and took Chanderi (1528). - He wrote the **Baburnama** in Turki (translated into Persian by Abdur Rahim in Akbar's reign): a vivid memoir of events, plants, animals and people. He built mosques at Panipat and Sambhal and laid out Persian gardens (*charbagh*). - **Significance:** his control of Kabul and Qandahar gave the new empire a strategic frontier and ties with trade; he brought new methods of warfare; ended Lodi power; and his reputation for tolerance, generosity and refined tastes shaped the dynasty's court culture. Since his aim was a Timurid empire in Hindustan, the foundation was personal, and his sons had to consolidate it. ### Humayun (1530–40, 1555–56) - Divided the empire among his brothers (Kamran got Kabul and Qandahar) in line with Timurid custom — a weakness. He faced Bahadur Shah of Gujarat (took Mandu, Champaner, Chittor episode with Rani Karnavati) and Sher Khan in the east. Defeated at **Chausa** (1539) and **Kannauj** (1540), he fled to Persia, accepted Safavid aid, retook Kandahar and Kabul and returned in 1555, defeating the Surs. He died in 1556 after a fall from his library stairs at Din-panah (Purana Qila). His sister Gulbadan wrote the *Humayun-nama*. His tomb at Delhi (a UNESCO site) is the first major garden tomb in the Persian style and a prototype for the Taj. ## Sher Shah Sur — The Interlude That Shaped the Empire Farid Khan became Sher Khan in the service of the Bihar Afghans, took Bengal and Bihar, and after Kannauj (1540) became Sher Shah of Delhi (1540–45). He fought Rajputs (the Samel and Marwar campaigns against Maldeo) and died at Kalinjar in 1545 in an explosion. His son Islam Shah ruled till 1553, after which the Sur house fell to civil war, enabling Humayun's return. | **Area** | **Sher Shah's measures** | | Revenue | Land measured; classification into good, middling, bad; a schedule of rates (rai); the state's share one-third of the average produce; patta (title) and qabuliyat (deed) given to the cultivator; Todar Mal worked under him | | Administration | Provinces cut into sarkars (headed by a shiqdar-i-shiqdaran and a munsif-i-munsifan) and parganas (shiqdar, amin, munshi, qanungo, karkuns); regular transfers of officers | | Army | A centralised army paid directly; revived the dagh (branding of horses) and the descriptive roll (chehra); about 1.5 lakh cavalry in his personal force; forts to hold the north-west | | Roads and sarais | The Sadak-i-Azam (Grand Trunk Road) from Sonargaon to the Indus, with about 1,700 sarais and horse-post (dak chowkis); trade-friendly | | Currency and trade | The silver rupee (about 178 grains) and copper dam; duties on goods levied only at the border and on sale; wide commercial confidence | | Justice and religion | Strict public justice; regard for Hindu officials; but jizya continued; Rohtas fort and the tomb at Sasaram showed a Pathan–Indian style | - **Why it matters.** Akbar's revenue system (Todar Mal's), the roads and sarais, the rupee and the mansab-like control of the army all build on Sher Shah's practice; the Suri administration is a case of Afghan state-building that the Mughals refined. The Rohtas fort and the Purana Qila in Delhi and his tomb at Sasaram are architectural markers. Malik Muhammad Jayasi wrote the Awadhi epic *Padmavat* in his time. ## Akbar's Early Years and Expansion - Akbar (born 1542 at Amarkot) came to the throne at 13 under Bairam Khan's regency (1556–60). **Second Panipat (1556)**: Hemu, the Afghans' Hindu general, was beaten. In 1560 Akbar dismissed Bairam; the following period, called 'petticoat government' because of the influence of Maham Anga and her son Adham Khan, ended by 1562. Revolts of Uzbek nobles and his half-brother Hakim (Kabul) tested him. | **Year (c.)** | **Conquest or event** | **Notes** | | 1556–60 | Regency of Bairam Khan | Panipat II; Gwalior, Jaunpur | | 1561 | Malwa (Baz Bahadur) | Adham Khan and Pir Muhammad | | 1562 | Marriage with Bharmal of Amber's daughter | First Rajput matrimonial alliance | | 1563 / 1564 | Pilgrim tax and jizya abolished | Policy of sulh-i-kul begins | | 1564 | Garha-Katanga | Rani Durgavati died resisting Asaf Khan | | 1568–69 | Chittor, Ranthambhor, Kalinjar | Chittor: Jaimal and Patta resisted; Man Singh and Bhagwan Das rise | | 1572–73 | Gujarat | Buland Darwaza built at Fatehpur Sikri | | 1574–76 | Bengal and Bihar (Daud Khan) | Battles of Tukaroi and Rajmahal | | 1586–95 | Kashmir (1586), Sindh (1591), Orissa (1592), Baluchistan, Kandahar (1595) | Empire's natural frontiers | | 1595–1601 | Deccan: Khandesh, parts of Ahmadnagar, Asirgarh (1601) | Chand Bibi's defence of Ahmadnagar; Akbar assumes the Deccan | - **Rajput policy.** Akbar drew the Rajputs into the imperial system: marriage alliances (Bharmal of Amber, 1562, whose son Bhagwan Das and grandson Man Singh became top mansabdars), high mansabs and governorships, tolerance of their faith, autonomy in their homelands (*watan jagirs*); those who resisted (Mewar) were attacked. Chittor fell in 1568 after a siege marked by the heroism of Jaimal and Patta; Rana Pratap held out and fought at Haldighati (1576). The policy gave Akbar excellent soldiers and administrators (Man Singh, Todar Mal, Birbal) and gained the loyalty of the Hindu élite. ## Mansabdari, Jagirs and the Army Akbar's key institution (c. 1570–75): every officer, civil or military, was given a *mansab* (rank) which fixed his pay, status and military obligation. | **Term** | **Meaning** | | Mansab | A rank and status; from 10 to 5,000 (7,000 for those in the highest bracket, and princes held more) | | Zat | Personal rank and salary of the mansabdar | | Sawar | Number of cavalrymen the mansabdar had to maintain; no sawar rank could exceed the zat | | Three categories | Within each rank, according to whether the noble maintained all, half or fewer of his sawars | | Dagh and chehra | Branding of horses and the descriptive roll of soldiers to prevent fraud | | Jagir | A revenue assignment instead of a cash salary (non-heritable and transferable); mansabdars were also paid in cash | | Khalisa and inam | Crown lands paid straight to the treasury; grants to scholars and religious figures (suyurghal / madad-i-maash) | | 10–20 rule | Ten to twenty horses per ten sawars, for reserves and remounts | - Examples of monthly pay mentioned in the sources: Rs 500 for 100 zat, Rs 4,400 for 1,000, Rs 30,000 for 5,000 — among the highest in the world — out of which the noble had to maintain elephants, camels and carts. A sawar was paid about Rs 20 a month (more for Irani and Turani troopers). - Appointments, promotions and dismissals were made by the emperor; mansabs were not hereditary; the property of a dead noble reverted to the crown (the principle of *escheat*). Nobles were drawn from all groups — Turanis, Iranis, Afghans, Rajputs and Indian Muslims — to balance tribal loyalties. The emperor kept a personal cavalry, gentlemen troopers (*ahadis*) and a strong artillery. - **The 2019 PYQ** contrasted jagirdars and zamindars: jagirdars were assignees of revenue, not owners — their assignment was not hereditary and they were transferred, while zamindars had hereditary claims to a share of the produce but were not paid for duty. Both statements in the question were therefore wrong, and UPSC's key was 'neither'. ## Land Revenue and Administration | **System** | **How it worked** | | Zabt | Measurement of land and fixed rates in cash per bigha for crops (from the Todar Mal schedule); from the Lahore–Allahabad belt, Malwa, Gujarat | | Dahsala (Todar Mal's bandobast, 1580) | An assessment based on the average yield and prices of the previous ten years; not a ten-year or permanent settlement — the state could revise | | Batai / ghalla-bakhshi | Division of the crop between peasant and state, the oldest system | | Kankut / nasaq | Estimation from the village's past payment or an appraisal of the standing crop | | Land classes | Polaj (cultivated every year), parauti (fallow), chachar (fallow 2–3 years), banjar (more than 5 years) — assessed at concessional rates to bring waste into tillage | | Karoris | Officers appointed in 1574 to collect one crore dams of revenue, checked by qanungos' figures | - The state's share was about one-third of the average produce, in cash for most crops (cash crops invariably in cash), with the peasant's hereditary right to cultivate guaranteed while he paid; zamindars had a hereditary claim to a share (about 10 per cent). The amalguzar supervised all types of holdings (jagir, khalisa and inam); *taccavi* loans helped peasants. Remissions followed crop failure. - **Central government.** The emperor with: the *wakil* (prime minister, later reduced), the *diwan* (finance), the *mir bakshi* (head of the military department — the office of the Mir Bakshi was a Mughal one), the *sadr-us-sudur* (religious grants and charity), the *qazi-ul-quzat* (justice), the *mir saman* (royal household) and the *muhtasib*. - **Provinces.** Akbar's empire was divided into *subas* (twelve from 1580, fifteen by his death), each under a *subedar* (sipahsalar / nazim) with a *diwan*, *bakhshi*, *qazi* and *kotwal*; each suba into *sarkars* and *parganas*. Correct sequence in ascending size is pargana → sarkar → suba, as the 2021 PYQ tested. A pargana had a *shiqdar*, *amil*, *qanungo* and *karkun*. ## Religion, Sulh-i-Kul and the Court — Akbar's Syncretism (Mains 2025) Mains 2025 (10 marks, 150 words): *Examine the main aspects of Akbar's religious syncretism.* The aspects, in order of development: - **Early policy (1562–64):** abolition of enslavement of war captives (1562); the tax on pilgrims (1563) and then **jizya** (1564) abolished — measures of equality for non-Muslims. - **Ibadat Khana (1575)** at Fatehpur Sikri, a hall for debates among Sunni and Shia ulema, then Sufis, Brahmanas, Jain monks (Hiravijaya Suri), Zoroastrians (Dastur Meherjee Rana), Jesuits from Goa (Aquaviva, Monserrate). The bitter quarrels of the ulema disillusioned Akbar. - **Mahzar (1579):** a declaration drafted by Shaikh Mubarak (and his sons Faizi and Abul Fazl) making the emperor the final arbiter in disputed religious questions (*Imam-i-Adil*) when jurists differ — it curbed ulema power. - **Sulh-i-kul** ('universal peace') — the central principle: harmony among all religions, treating the state as above sect; not a religion but a policy. - **Din-i-Ilahi / Tauhid-i-Ilahi (1582):** a spiritual brotherhood of a few select nobles (the best known, Birbal) who took the emperor as guide, with an emphasis on one God, ethical conduct, avoidance of pride and a rite of initiation; it did not seek mass conversion and died with him. - **Cultural expressions:** translations of the *Mahabharata* (*Razmnama*), *Ramayana*, *Atharva Veda*, *Rajatarangini* and *Lilavati* into Persian (Nizamuddin Panipati's Persian translation of the *Yogavasistha* is an example in the 2022 PYQ); a Maktab-khana (translation bureau); Hindu festivals at court; the *jharokha-darshan*; Persian–Indian painting; the architecture of Fatehpur Sikri (Buland Darwaza, Panch Mahal, Jodha Bai's palace, Diwan-i-Khas and the tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti). - **Critics:** the orthodox historian Badauni, and later the Naqshbandi saint Ahmad Sirhindi; the Mahdavi movement; Rajput and Brahmin support was strong. **Abul Fazl** (*Akbarnama*, *Ain-i-Akbari*) provided the ideological defence (the emperor as the 'light of God'; kingship as divinely illumined). - **Evaluation.** Syncretism was driven by Akbar's temperament (a Sufi streak, the Timurid, Persian tolerance) and by politics: the need to rule a majority non-Muslim population and to bind the Rajputs. It created an inclusive state ideology that later emperors (Aurangzeb) partly reversed. Compare with Ashoka's Dhamma in the Mauryan article. ### The court, arts and the city - **Fatehpur Sikri** (built 1571–85, capital until 1585): the Buland Darwaza (built after the Gujarat victory), the Jama Masjid, Panch Mahal, Jodha Bai's palace, Birbal's house, the Diwan-i-Khas with its central pillar. The 2018 PYQ's statement on the Buland Darwaza and Khankah of the Sikri was false: red sandstone was the principal material, with white marble used only for details such as the tomb of Salim Chishti. - **Music:** Tansen (originally Ramtanu of Gwalior; tradition makes him a pupil of Swami Haridas and Muhammad Ghaus; he composed dhrupads on Hindu gods and on patrons and is credited with ragas such as Mian ki Todi and Darbari Kanhada; the title 'Tansen' was not conferred by Akbar — he came to Akbar's court already bearing it from a ruler of the Rewa–Gwalior region — hence the 2019 PYQ's 'not correct' statement). **Painting:** the Hamzanama, Razmnama and Akbarnama illustrations by Basawan, Daswanth and others — a fusion of Persian and Indian styles. ## How UPSC Has Asked It — And What Could Come Next - **Seen:** Mughal revenue terms and officials (2019, 2021), religious texts (2022), monuments and materials (2018), music (2019), Mains on Akbar's religious syncretism (2025). - **Likely next:** mansabdari terms (zat, sawar, dagh, chehra), jagirdari versus khalisa, land-revenue systems (zabt, dahsala, ghalla-bakhshi, nasaq) and Todar Mal; Sher Shah's reforms (rupee, Grand Trunk Road, sarais, patta); Akbar's conquests in order; Rajput policy; the Ibadat Khana, Mahzar and Din-i-Ilahi; Abul Fazl's works; Akbar's translations; Fatehpur Sikri buildings; battles in sequence (Panipat I, Khanwa, Ghaghra, Chausa, Kannauj, Panipat II, Haldighati); Humayun's tomb as a UNESCO site. - **Traps:** Din-i-Ilahi was not a new religion for the masses; Sulh-i-kul is a policy; the dahsala was not a permanent settlement; Humayun's tomb is not the Taj; jagirs were not hereditary; the Mir Bakshi is a Mughal office; Tansen's title did not come from Akbar; Haldighati was not decisive; Man Singh, not Akbar, led at Haldighati. ## Further Reading - Standard NCERT-level texts and reference books on ancient, medieval and cultural Indian history (any UPSC reading list). ## Test Yourself: Practice Questions & PYQs For Akbar's polity: say rank, pay, obligation; revenue, assessment, collector; religion, hall, declaration, brotherhood. ## Practice Questions **Q1.** Babur's artillery in the First Battle of Panipat was led by: - (a) Mir Jumla - (b) Ustad Ali Quli - (c) Todar Mal - (d) Bairam Khan **Answer: (b)** — Ustad Ali Quli (with Mustafa) handled the matchlocks and cannon, arranged behind carts. **Q2.** The Baburnama was originally written in: - (a) Urdu - (b) Arabic - (c) Persian - (d) Turki **Answer: (d)** — Babur wrote in Chagatai Turki; Abdur Rahim translated it into Persian in 1589. **Q3.** Sher Shah's revenue officers worked on which principle? - (a) Fixed ten-year assessment - (b) Revenue farming only - (c) Measurement of land and a schedule of rates with a state share of one-third - (d) Permanent settlement with zamindars **Answer: (c)** — Land was measured and a rai (schedule) fixed; the state took one-third of the produce; patta and qabuliyat were issued. **Q4.** 'Zat' in the Mughal mansabdari system denoted: - (a) The military branch - (b) The number of horsemen - (c) Personal rank and salary - (d) The jagir's revenue **Answer: (c)** — Zat fixed status and pay; sawar fixed the cavalry obligation. **Q5.** Which system associated with Todar Mal assessed revenue on the average of the last ten years' yield and prices? - (a) Zabt - (b) Ghalla-bakhshi - (c) Nasaq - (d) Dahsala **Answer: (d)** — The dahsala (1580) averaged the previous ten years' data; it was not a ten-year settlement. **Q6.** The tax on pilgrims and the jizya were abolished by Akbar in: - (a) 1582 and 1586 - (b) 1563 and 1564 - (c) 1575 and 1579 - (d) 1556 and 1560 **Answer: (b)** — Pilgrim tax in 1563 and jizya in 1564. **Q7.** The 'Mahzar' of 1579 declared that: - (a) Hindus were barred from office - (b) Jizya was reinstated - (c) The emperor was the final authority in disputed religious matters - (d) Din-i-Ilahi was compulsory **Answer: (c)** — It named the emperor Imam-i-Adil, final arbiter among conflicting interpretations. **Q8.** Which of the following was a follower of Akbar's Din-i-Ilahi? - (a) Birbal - (b) Abul Fazl - (c) Man Singh - (d) Todar Mal **Answer: (a)** — Birbal is generally named as its one prominent Hindu follower; Man Singh and Todar Mal declined. **Q9.** Which building at Fatehpur Sikri was built to mark the conquest of Gujarat? - (a) Diwan-i-Khas - (b) Panch Mahal - (c) Buland Darwaza - (d) Ibadat Khana **Answer: (c)** — The Buland Darwaza commemorates the Gujarat victory of 1572–73. **Q10.** The correct ascending order of Mughal administrative units is: - (a) Pargana–Sarkar–Suba - (b) Sarkar–Pargana–Suba - (c) Suba–Sarkar–Pargana - (d) Pargana–Suba–Sarkar **Answer: (a)** — A pargana belongs to a sarkar and a sarkar to a suba. ### UPSC Previous Year Questions (PYQs) *Real UPSC Prelims questions on the early Mughals (2018–2022), answers matched to UPSC's official key. Explanations in our own words.* **Q11.** (UPSC Prelims 2019) With reference to Mughal India, what is/are the difference/differences between Jagirdar and Zamindar? 1. Jagirdars were holders of land assignments in lieu of judicial and police duties, whereas Zamindars were holders of revenue rights without obligation to perform any duty other than revenue collection. 2. Land assignments to Jagirdars were hereditary and revenue rights of Zamindars were not hereditary. Select the correct answer using the code given below. - (a) 1 only - (b) 2 only - (c) Both 1 and 2 - (d) Neither 1 nor 2 **Answer: (d)** — Jagirdars held assignments of revenue, which were not hereditary, in lieu of their salary and military duties — not of judicial and police duties as the question stated — and zamindars had hereditary claims. Both statements were wrong, so the key is (d). **Q12.** (UPSC Prelims 2021) With reference to medieval India, which one of the following is the correct sequence in ascending order in terms of size? - (a) Paragana–Suba–Sarkar - (b) Suba–Sarkar–Paragana - (c) Paragana–Sarkar–Suba - (d) Sarkar–Paragana–Suba **Answer: (c)** — Ascending order of size in the Mughal administration is pargana (a group of villages), sarkar (a group of parganas) and suba (a province). **Q13.** (UPSC Prelims 2019) With reference to Mian Tansen, which one of the following statements is not correct? - (a) Tansen composed songs on his patrons. - (b) Tansen was the title given to him by Emperor Akbar. - (c) Tansen composed Dhrupads on Hindu gods and goddesses. - (d) Tansen invented many Ragas. **Answer: (b)** — Statement (b) is the one that is not correct: Tansen did not receive his title from Akbar. He composed dhrupads on Hindu gods and on patrons and created ragas. **Q14.** (UPSC Prelims 2022) "Yogavasistha" was translated into Persian by Nizamuddin Panipati during the reign of: - (a) Shahjahan - (b) Akbar - (c) Aurangzeb - (d) Humayun **Answer: (b)** — Nizamuddin Panipati translated the Yogavasistha into Persian in Akbar's reign, one of the many Sanskrit translations sponsored by the emperor. **Q15.** (UPSC Prelims 2018) With reference to the cultural history of India, consider the following statements: 1. White marble was used in making Buland Darwaza and Khankah at Fatehpur Sikri. 2. Red sandstone and marble were used in making Bara Imambara and Rumi Darwaza at Lucknow. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? - (a) Both 1 and 2 - (b) 2 only - (c) 1 only - (d) Neither 1 nor 2 **Answer: (d)** — Neither statement is correct: red sandstone (not white marble) is the main material of the Buland Darwaza and the Sikri buildings, and the Bara Imambara and Rumi Darwaza at Lucknow (18th-century Awadh) were built in brick with lime plaster. ### Mains Practice Questions Use these to frame full-length answers. You don't have to answer one exactly — they show the angles UPSC tests, so let them guide which points you cover. - Examine the main aspects of Akbar's religious syncretism. - Discuss the mansabdari system and its role in the Mughal state. - Compare the land revenue systems of Sher Shah and Akbar. - Evaluate Akbar's Rajput policy. - Why did Babur succeed at Panipat and Khanwa? ### Mains PYQs — Last 10 Years (UPSC GS-I) *The exact questions UPSC has actually asked on this topic over the last decade. Practise writing full-length answers to these.* - Examine the main aspects of Akbar's religious syncretism. **(UPSC GS-I, 2025)**