Read the passage and answer the questions:
The Ain-i Akbari of Abu’l Fazl Allami
The Ain-i Akbari is made up about five books, about which the first three describe the administration. The first book, called manzil-abadi, concerns the imperial household and its maintenance. The second book, sipah-abadi, covers the military and civil administration, and the establishment about servants. This book includes notices and short biographical sketches about imperial officials (mansabdars), learned men, poets, and artists. The third book, mulk-abadi, is the one which provides rich quantitative information on revenue, rates, followed by the “Account about the Twelve Provinces.” This section has detailed statistical information, which includes the geographic, topographic, and economic profile about all subas and their administrative and fiscal divisions (sarkars, parganas, and mahals), total measured area, and assessed revenue (jama). The fourth and fifth (daftars) deal with the religious, literary, and cultural, traditions about the people about India and also contain a collection about Akbar’s “auspicious sayings.”
Which book deals with the fiscal side of the Mughal empire?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Mulk-abadi
The Ain-i Akbari of Abu’l Fazl is made up of five books, and the first three describe the administration. The third book, the mulk-abadi, deals with the fiscal side of the empire: it gives rich quantitative information on revenue rates, followed by the ‘Account of the Twelve Provinces’, with the measured area and the assessed revenue (jama) of every province. The Babur Nama is a different work, the memoirs of the first Mughal emperor Babur.
Note 1: This passage is a reworded version of the NCERT section on the Ain-i Akbari in the chapter ‘Peasants, Zamindars and the State’. The case passages of the paper come straight out of NCERT, so read the whole chapter, sources and boxes included.
Note 2: A same/similar question was asked in CUET (UG) in the papers below.
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| 21-05 S2 | 19-05 S1* 22-05 S1* | – | – | – |
* A similar question.
NCERT (2025-26): “8. The Ain-i Akbari of Abu’l Fazl Allami … The Ain is made up of five books (daftars), of which the first three books describe the administration. The first book, called manzil-abadi, concerns the imperial household and its maintenance. The second book, sipah-abadi, covers the military and civil administration and the establishment of servants. This book includes notices and short biographical sketches of imperial officials (mansabdars), learned men, poets and artists. The third book, mulk-abadi, is the one which deals with the fiscal side of the empire and provides rich quantitative information on revenue rates, followed by the ‘Account of the Twelve Provinces’. This section has detailed statistical information, which includes the geographic, topographic and economic profile of all subas and their administrative and fiscal divisions (sarkars, parganas and mahals), total measured area, and assessed revenue…” |