In which language were the Mughal court chronicles written?
- A.Sanskrit
- B.Hindi
- C.Urdu
- D.Persian
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is D, Persian. Persian was the language of the Mughal court and of its records, and Akbar made it the official language of administration in 1582. The chronicles written for the emperors were therefore in Persian: Abul Fazl's Akbarnama with its third volume the Ain-i-Akbari, Gulbadan Begum's Humayun-nama, Jahangir's own Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri and Abdul Hamid Lahori's Padshahnama for Shah Jahan. Babur wrote his memoirs, the Tuzuk-i-Baburi, in Chagatai Turkish, and Akbar had them translated into Persian as the Baburnama. Persian also borrowed freely from local speech at Delhi, and out of that mixing grew the language later called Urdu. Option A is wrong because Sanskrit works were translated into Persian at Akbar's Maktab Khana, not the other way round. Option B is wrong because Hindi was used in poetry and in the regions, not in court records. Option C is wrong because Urdu took shape later and never served as the Mughal chancery language. Exam tip: Akbarnama, Padshahnama and Ain-i-Akbari are all Persian; Baburnama began in Turkish.
Practice Questions
View allThe Ryotwari experiment in land revenue was started by
- A.Henry Dundas
- B.Alexander Reed
- C.David Ricardo
- D.Mountstuart Elphinstone
Show answer
Captain Alexander Read (the name is also spelt Reed) began the Ryotwari experiment in 1792 in the Baramahal region, which the Company had taken from Tipu Sultan, with Thomas Munro as one of his assistants.
Read the full explanation →Who deciphered the Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts?
- A.Piyadassi
- B.Colin Mackenzie
- C.Alexander Cunningham
- D.James Prinsep
Show answer
Prinsep, an official of the East India Company's mint and secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, deciphered the Brahmi script in 1837 and also made the key breakthrough in reading Kharoshthi.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the Justice Party is not correct?
- A.It clamoured for the same kind of separate communal representation for the Non-Brahmins as had been granted to the Muslims by the Morley-Minto Reforms.
- B.It was patronized mainly by richer landowning and urban middle class Non-Brahmins.
- C.It succeeded in getting the provision for 28 reserved seats for the Non-Brahmins in the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms.
- D.It supported the call given by the Congress to boycott elections in 1920.
Show answer
The Justice Party did not join the Congress boycott of the 1920 elections; it contested them, won a majority in the Madras Legislative Council and formed the first ministry under the new reforms.
Read the full explanation →Which organization was started at the Haridwar Kumbh Mela in 1915?
- A.Sanatan Dharma Sabha
- B.Dev Samaj
- C.Brahmin Sabha
- D.Hindu Mahasabha
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The All-India Hindu Mahasabha held its founding session at Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela of 1915, bringing together the provincial Hindu Sabhas that had grown up, first in Punjab, since 1909.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the All India Depressed Classes Association is not correct?
- A.The All India Depressed Classes Association was formed in Nagpur with M. C. Rajah as its first elected President.
- B.The All India Depressed Classes Association was not attended by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1926.
- C.Ambedkar resigned from the All India Depressed Classes Association and formed his own All India Depressed Classes Congress in 1930.
- D.The All India Depressed Classes Association favoured Ambedkar's demand for separate electorate for the depressed classes.
Show answer
The All India Depressed Classes Association did not back Ambedkar's demand for a separate electorate; under M. C. Rajah it supported joint electorates with seats reserved for the depressed classes.
Read the full explanation →