NOTES CH 1
4 marks questions
WHAT WAS MANSABDARI SYSTEM:
"Mansab" is an Arabic word which means a post, an officer a rank, or status.
Therefore, Mansebdar means an officer or the holder of the rank, status, and
post. Akbar Íntroduced a new systamm for regulating imperial services which
was called Mansabdari system, It was Introduced in 1570 A. D. All the
Imperial officers of the state were styled as Mansabdars. They were classified
into (66) grades, from the rank of (10) to ten thousands (10,000) constituted.
The (10) was the lowest rank and the ten thousand (10,000) was the highest.
The Mansabdars belonged to both Civil and Military department.
WHAT WAS AURANGZEB'S DECCAN POLICY: Aurangzeb spent the
last 25 years of his life (1682-1707) in the Deccan. During allthis long
period, he had practically no rest. The object of his Deccan wars was to
conquer the states of Bijapur & Golconda & crush the power of Marathas.
But the Marathas did not submit themselves and continued their struggle till
the end. Thus his 25 years of campaign in Deccan resulted in nothing. The
wars in the Deccan drained his resources & loosened his grip in the north.
This led to his tragic end in 1707 at Ahamadnagar and slowly led to downfall
of Mughal Empire.
WHAT WAS SUBSIDIARY ALLIANCE: The doctrine of subsidiary
alliance was introduced by Lord Wellesley, (1798-1805).According to this the
Indian rulers were not allowed to have their own armed forces. They were
protected by the company's forces but had to pay for them. If any ruler failed
to make the payment, a part of his territory would be taken away.
WHAT WAS PARAMOUNTCY: Under Warren Hasting (1774-85), a new
policy of paramount was initiated. The company claimed its authority was
paramount or supreme as its power was greater than the Indian rulers. So they
decided that they could annex or threaten to annex any state of India. It was
applied by Lord Dalhousie in [Link] a ruler didn't govern his state the
British would annex his land. (Oudh, Nagpur)
WHO WERE ZAMINDARS: A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was a
lord. The term means "land owner nPersian. Typically hereditary, zamindars
held enormous territories of land and control over their peasants, from whom
they reserved the right to collect tax on behalf of imperial courts or for
military purposes. In the 19th and 20th centuries, with the advent of Batish
imperialism, many wealthy and influential zamindars were granted with
princely and royal titles such as Maharaja (Great King), Raja (King) and
Nawab. During the Mughal Empire, zamindars belonged to the nobility and
formed the ruling class. Emperor Akbar granted them mansabs and their
ancestraPdomains were treated as jagirs. Under British colonial rule in India,
the permanent settlement consolidated what became known as the zamindari
system. The British rewarded supportive zamindars by recognizing them as
princes
WHO WAS Nadir Shah: Emperor Nader Shah, the Shah of Persia (1736-47)
and the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia, invaded the Mughal
Empire, eventually attacking Delhi in March 1739. His army had easily
defeated the Mughals at the battle at Karnal and would eventually capture the
Mughal capital in the aftermath of the battle. Nadir Shah's victory against the
weak and crumbling Mughal Empire meant that he could afford to turn back
and resume war against Persians and the neighbouring Ottoman Empire and
Central Asia.
WHO WAS Ahmad Shah Durrani: (Successor of Nadir shah) (1722-1772)
also known as Ahmad shah Abdali was the founder of the Durrani Empire
and is regarded as the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan. He began
his career by enlisting as a young soldier in the military of the Afsharid
kingdom and quickly rose to become a commander of the Abdali Regiment, a
cavalry of four thousand Abdali Pashtun soldiers. After the death of Nader
Shah in 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani was chosen as King of Afghanistan.
Rallying his Afghan tribes and allies, he defeated Mughal and the Maratha
empires of India and Afsharid Empire of Persia. Within a few years, he
extended his control from Khorasan to Kashmir and to the Arabian Sea.
Durrani's mausoleum is located at Kandahar, Afghanistan.
What was Koh-i-Noor: The Koh-i-Noor is one of the largest cut diamonds
in the world is a part of the British Crown [Link] diamond was originally
owned by the Kakatiya dynasty. Mined in Golconda, India, there is no record
of its original weight, but the earliest well-attested weight is 186 carats. Koh-
i-Noor is Persian for "Mountain of Light"; it has been known by this name
since the 18th century. It changed hands between various factions in modern-
day India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, until being ceded to Queen
Victoria after the British conquest of the Punjab in 1849.
Successors of Aurangzeb: Bahadur Shah 1707-1712 Jahandar shah 1712-
1713 Farruksiyar 1713-1719 Mohammad Shah 1719-1748 Ahmed Shah
1748-1754 Alamgir I| 1754-1759 Shah Alam I| 1759-1806 Akbar 1806-1837
Bahadur Shah 1837-1857