Civil Services (Prelims) Examination Special
Quick Revision Notes

Mughal Empire - IV : Indian History

1. In 1577 Akbar undertook the reform of the currency and appointed Khwaja Abdus Samad Shirazi, a noted painter and calligraphist, to be the superintendent of the imperial mint at Delhi.

2. Besides Delhi, provinical mints were located at Lahore, Jaunpur, Ahmedabad, Patna and Tanda (in Bengal).

3. The silver coin issued during Akbar’s reign was round in shape, like its modern successor, and was known as rupee. It weighed 172 grains.

4. Akbar also introduced a square rupee called Jalali, but it was not as popular as the round rupee.

5. The chief copper coin was the dam or paisa or fulus. It weighed 323.5 grains or almost 21 grams.

6. The ratio between the dam and the rupee was 40 to 1. 7. The lowest copper coin was jital. 25 jitals made one paisa.

8. The most common gold coin was the Ilahi, which was equal to 10 rupees in value.

9. The biggest gold coin was the shahanshah. It weighed a little over 101 tolas and was used mostly in high value business transactions.

10. The coins bore calligraphic inscriptions containing name and titles of the emperor and the place and year of mintage. Very few coins had figures inscribed on them.

11. The judicial system of Mughals was based on Islamic law. As it was not possible in practice to enforce Islamic law on Hindus, a compromise was effected. While criminal cases continued to be decided according to the Islamic law in all cases, Hindu law was administered in deciding civil and religious disputes in which the parties were Hindus.

12. Although Akbar had rejected the Islamic theory of kingship, he made no fundamental change in the judicial system.

13. One important change introduced by Akbar in the judicial system was to restrict the scope of Islamic law and to extend that of general or customary law of the land so as to make it include as many causes as possible.

14. Akbar did not apply Islamic law of capital punishment for apostasy from Islam or for propagating Hinduism or Christianity.

15. Akbar appointed Hindu judges to decide the causes of Hindus.

16. The king was the highest judge in the Mughal empire. The next judicial authority was the qazi, who was appointed by the emperor and worked during his pleasure.

17. Originally, the chief qazi’s main qualifications used to be his knowledge of Islamic theology and his narrow secretarian views. Akbar, however, appointed to this post men of liberal religious outlook and broad sympathies towards all sections of the society.

18. Chief qazi was paid his salary in cash, as also was given an assignment of land entitled Madad-i-Mash or subsistence allowance.

19. Qazis were assisted by muftis, whose main duty was to interpret the law and issue a fatwa.

20. Akbar’s police administration was divided into three categories of urban, district and village police.

21. In all cities and towns kotwal headed the local police. His main duty was to see that the life of the city continued undisturbed. Besides, he had to examine weights and measures, keep an eye on the currency and enforce Akbar’s social legislation.

22. Kotwal was personally held responsible for the value of property stolen in case he failed to discover the thief.

23. The kotwal was authorised to inflict punishment on offenders. However, he was not empowered to inflict capital punishment.

24. In the district the law and order was maintained by the faujdar. His main duties were the policing of the roads of the district and suppressing of disorders of all kinds.

25. The village headman was responsible for policing at the village level.

Next >>