Read the passage and answer the questions:
Classification of Land under Akbar
The following is a listing of criteria of classification excerpted from the Ain: The Emperor Akbar in his profound sagacity classified the lands and fixed a different revenue to be paid by each. Polaj is land which is annually cultivated for each crop in succession and is never allowed to lie fallow. Parauti is land left out of cultivation for a time that it may recover its strength. Chachar is land that has lain fallow for three or four years. Banjar is land uncultivated for five years and more. Of the first two kinds of land, there are three classes, good, middling, and bad. They add together the produce of each sort, and the third of this represents the medium produce, one-third part of which is exacted as the Royal dues. Revenue from the land was the economic mainstay of the Mughal Empire. It was therefore vital for the state to create an administrative apparatus to ensure control over agricultural production, and to fix and collect revenue from across the length and breadth of the rapidly expanding empire. This apparatus included the office (daftar)…, responsible for supervising the fiscal system of the empire. Thus revenue officials and record keepers penetrated the agricultural domain and became a decisive agent in shaping agrarian relations.
Who wrote the Ain-i Akbari?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Abu’l Fazl
The Ain-i Akbari (the Ain for short) was written by Abu’l Fazl, the court historian of Akbar. It is one of the most important chronicles of the Mughal court. It recorded in detail the arrangements made by the state to ensure cultivation, to collect revenue, and to regulate the relationship between the state and the zamindars.
Note: A same/similar question was asked in CUET (UG) in the papers below.
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| 13-05 S1* 20-05 S1 | – | – | – | – |
* A similar question.
NCERT (2025-26): “1.1 Looking for sources … One of the most important chronicles was the Ain-i Akbari (in short the Ain, see also Section 8) authored by Akbar’s court historian Abu’l Fazl. This text meticulously recorded the arrangements made by the state to ensure cultivation, to enable the collection of revenue by the agencies of the state and to regulate the relationship between the state and rural magnates, the zamindars.…” |