Overview
Previous Year UPSC-CSE Questions By the end you will be able to draft model answers for the following UPSC questions. Each question carries a collapsible framework showing how to approach it in the exam.
- UPSC Prelims 2014 GS-IIbadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri was
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Recall the function of the Ibadat Khana: a hall of religious debate, opened in 1575 at Fatehpur Sikri, first for Muslim scholars and then for the learned of all faiths. Match this to the option naming discussions with scholars of various religions.
Trap to watch: It was NOT a mosque and NOT a private prayer chamber; the distractor about the nobles is close but wrong, for the debates were among scholars of various religions, not a meeting of the nobility.
Key facts to recall:
- Ibadat Khana = House of Worship, built 1575 at Fatehpur Sikri.
- It was a hall for religious debate among scholars of all faiths.
- Akbar presided over the debates himself.
Answer signal: The hall in which Akbar held discussions with scholars of various religions.
The religious policy of Akbar is among the most famous chapters of medieval Indian history, the high point of toleration in an age of faith. Its guiding idea was sulh-i-kul, 'peace with all', that the emperor should stand above the quarrels of the religions and rule in justice over men of every creed. Akbar abolished the jizya, the tax on non-Muslims, raised Hindus to the highest offices, and from 1575 gathered the scholars of every faith in the Ibadat Khana, the House of Worship at Fatehpur Sikri. The mahzar of 1579 made him the final judge in disputed religious questions, and in 1582 he set forth the Din-i-Ilahi, a small order of discipleship that drew ethical ideals from many faiths. This part covers sulh-i-kul, the Ibadat Khana, the mahzar and the Din-i-Ilahi, the orthodox reaction, and the exam focus.
Sulh-i-kul: the Policy of Toleration
Peace with All and the Removal of the Jizya
What is the significance of sulh-i-kul: it set the emperor above the quarrels of the faiths and made toleration the rule of the state, in an age when most rulers favoured one religion against the rest.
Sulh-i-kul was the heart of Akbar's policy. The phrase means 'peace with all', and it held that the emperor should be the father of all his subjects alike, of whatever creed, and should rule in justice without favour to any one faith. This idea, drawn from his own temperament, from the Sufis and the Bhakti saints, and from the breadth of his empire, was the foundation of all that followed.
Akbar gave sulh-i-kul effect in his acts. He abolished the jizya, the tax on non-Muslims, and the tax on Hindu pilgrims, early in his reign, so that no man was taxed for his religion. He raised Hindus, above all the Rajputs, to the highest offices of the state, on merit and not on creed. And he set himself to learn what was true in every faith. The figure below sets out the policy.
The Ibadat Khana and the Search for Truth
The House of Worship and the Debates of the Faiths
What is the significance of the Ibadat Khana: it was the place where Akbar gathered the learned of every religion to debate before him, and where his mind moved from the faith of his birth towards a wider view.
Akbar built the Ibadat Khana in 1575. The Ibadat Khana, or House of Worship, was raised at his new capital of Fatehpur Sikri. At first it was opened only to the learned of Islam, the ulama and the Sufis, who debated the questions of their own faith; but their bitter quarrels before the emperor disappointed him.
Soon the debates were opened to all faiths. Akbar threw open the Ibadat Khana to the scholars of every religion. Brahmin teachers and Jain monks, the Parsi followers of Zoroaster, and Jesuit fathers who came from Goa in 1580 all set out their beliefs before him. From these debates Akbar drew the conviction that wisdom and goodness were not the property of any one faith. The figure below sets out the gathering.
It is worth noting for the examination that the Ibadat Khana was a hall for religious debate, where Akbar held discussions with scholars of various religions; it was not a mosque, nor a private prayer chamber, and this exact point has been asked.
The Mahzar and the Din-i-Ilahi
The Mahzar of 1579 and the Authority of the Emperor
What is the significance of the mahzar: it gave Akbar, in matters of religious dispute, the last word, and freed him from the control of the orthodox doctors of the law.
The mahzar of 1579 made Akbar the final judge. The mahzar was a document, drawn up and signed by the chief doctors of the law, which declared that where the learned doctors differed on a question of religion, the emperor might choose among their opinions the one he thought best for the realm.
It did not make Akbar a prophet or a maker of new law; it made him the final arbiter where the existing authorities were in conflict, and so set the throne above the quarrels of the divines. This was a bold assertion of the power of the crown over the doctors of the faith.
The Din-i-Ilahi of 1582
What is the significance of the Din-i-Ilahi: it was Akbar's own attempt to gather the best of all faiths into one path, and the most-misunderstood act of his reign.
Akbar set forth the Din-i-Ilahi in 1582. The Din-i-Ilahi, the 'Divine Faith', also called the Tauhid-i-Ilahi, was an order of discipleship that drew its ethical ideals, its reverence and its rules of conduct from many religions, and was centred on the person of the emperor as its guide. Its members were bound by vows of loyalty and a simple ethical code, and they were very few.
The Din-i-Ilahi was a small order, not a mass religion. It was never preached to the people, won only a handful of followers, almost all of them courtiers, and forced no man to join. Of the Hindus at court, Birbal is the one of note said to have entered it.
It made little mark in Akbar's own lifetime and did not survive his death. To picture it as a new religion that spread across India is to mistake a tiny court order for a popular faith. The figure below sets out what the Din-i-Ilahi was and was not.
The Reaction and the Legacy
The Orthodox Reaction and the Legacy of Toleration
What is the significance of the reaction: Akbar's policy did not please everyone, and the orthodox opposition to it shaped the way later ages judged his reign.
The orthodox doctors opposed Akbar's course. Many of the ulama were angered by the loss of their power and by the emperor's interest in other faiths. The chief witness to their anger is the historian Badauni, who served at the court but wrote a bitter, hostile account of Akbar's religious experiments, and whose work has coloured the harsher judgements of the reign ever since.
The lasting work was the policy of toleration. The Din-i-Ilahi died with its founder, but sulh-i-kul did not. The principle that the state should hold the balance even between the faiths, and tax and employ men without regard to creed, outlasted Akbar and gave the empire much of its strength. A century later the emperor Aurangzeb reversed this course and re-imposed the jizya, and the contrast is one of the great themes of Mughal history.
UPSC Relevance and Exam Focus
Where Akbar's Religion Fits in the UPSC-CSE Syllabus
This topic belongs to General Studies Paper I: medieval Indian history and culture, and Akbar's religious policy is among the most heavily examined of all medieval subjects.
The questions most often test the Ibadat Khana, the meaning of sulh-i-kul, the Din-i-Ilahi and its few followers, and the dates of the mahzar and the Divine Faith.
Several linked points recur and are worth holding in working memory:
- Sulh-i-kul: ‘peace with all’, the policy of toleration above the faiths.
- The Ibadat Khana: built 1575 at Fatehpur Sikri; a hall for debate among scholars of all religions.
- The mahzar: 1579; made Akbar the final judge in disputed religious questions.
- The Din-i-Ilahi: 1582; a small order of discipleship, very few followers, did not survive Akbar.
- Birbal: the one notable Hindu said to have joined the Din-i-Ilahi.
| Measure | What it was |
|---|---|
| Sulh-i-kul | The policy of 'peace with all', toleration above the faiths. |
| Jizya abolished | The tax on non-Muslims removed early in the reign. |
| Ibadat Khana, 1575 | The House of Worship at Fatehpur Sikri, for debate among all faiths. |
| Mahzar, 1579 | Made Akbar the final judge in disputed religious questions. |
| Din-i-Ilahi, 1582 | A small order of discipleship; very few followers; did not survive Akbar. |
A 2014 question asked what the Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri was, and the answer was that it was the hall in which Akbar held discussions with scholars of various religions: not a mosque, not a private prayer chamber, and not merely a meeting room for the nobles, but the place of the great religious debates.
A reader who knows that the Ibadat Khana was the hall of debate among the scholars of every faith, and that sulh-i-kul was the policy of peace with all, can answer the questions on Akbar's religion with confidence.
Prelims MCQ practice
Each question below tests one specific concept on the topic. Click to reveal the answer and a full option-wise explanation.
Q1. Akbar's policy of 'sulh-i-kul' is best described as which one of the following?
- A new tax on non-Muslims
- Universal toleration, or peace with all the faiths
- A system of revenue assessment
- The branding of the cavalry horses
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Universal toleration, or peace with all the faiths
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. Sulh-i-kul means 'peace with all', the policy of universal toleration under which the emperor stood above the quarrels of the faiths. Hence option (b).
Q2. The Ibadat Khana, the House of Worship where Akbar held religious debates, was built at which one of the following places?
- Agra
- Delhi
- Fatehpur Sikri
- Lahore
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Fatehpur Sikri
Explanation.
Option (c) is correct. The Ibadat Khana was built in 1575 at Akbar's new capital of Fatehpur Sikri. Hence option (c).
Q3. The Din-i-Ilahi, the order of discipleship set forth by Akbar, was proclaimed in which one of the following years?
- 1556
- 1571
- 1582
- 1605
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 1582
Explanation.
Option (c) is correct. Akbar set forth the Din-i-Ilahi, the Divine Faith, in 1582. Hence option (c).
Q4. Of the following Hindus at Akbar's court, who is the one of note said to have joined the Din-i-Ilahi?
- Raja Todar Mal
- Raja Man Singh
- Birbal
- Tansen
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Birbal
Explanation.
Option (c) is correct. Birbal is the one notable Hindu of Akbar's court said to have entered the Din-i-Ilahi; its followers were in any case very few. Hence option (c).
Q5. With reference to Akbar's religious policy, consider the following statements:
- The mahzar of 1579 made the emperor the final judge in disputed religious questions.
- The Din-i-Ilahi won a large following among the common people of the empire.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 1 only
Explanation.
Only statement 1 is correct. The mahzar of 1579 did make Akbar the final arbiter where the doctors of the law differed. The Din-i-Ilahi, however, never won a large following; it had only a handful of members and did not survive Akbar, so statement 2 is wrong. Hence option (a).
Q6. The historian of Akbar's reign who served at the court but wrote a bitter, hostile account of the emperor's religious experiments was which one of the following?
- Abul Fazl
- Badauni
- Faizi
- Firishta
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Badauni
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. Abdul Qadir Badauni served at Akbar's court but wrote a hostile account of his religious policy, in contrast to the admiring Abul Fazl. Hence option (b).
Sources and Further Reading
Editorial Disclaimer
This article is for UPSC preparation. The account of Akbar's religious policy rests on the Akbarnama of Abul Fazl, the hostile chronicle of Badauni, and the standard scholarship on the Mughal Empire.
