Consider the following statements about sulh-i kul: 1. It means 'absolute peace' 2. It provided for freedom of expression to all religions and schools of thought 3. The ideal of sulh-i kul was implemented through state policies Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Correct — B, 1, 2 and 3. All three statements come from the standard account of Abu'l Fazl's writing on Akbar's ideal of governance. Statement 1 is right because sulh-i kul translates as absolute peace, and Abu'l Fazl presents it as the cornerstone of enlightened rule. Statement 2 is right because under sulh-i kul all religions and schools of thought were given freedom of expression, on the single condition that they did not undermine the authority of the state or fight one another. Statement 3 is right because the ideal was not left as court rhetoric: it was carried into policy — the nobility was recruited across Iranis, Turanis, Afghans, Rajputs and Deccanis, the pilgrimage tax went in 1563 and the jizya on non-Muslim subjects in 1564, and grants were made to shrines of several faiths. Since no statement fails, the answer is the option that accepts all three.

• (a)1 and 2 only — This rejects statement 3, which is the one most firmly attested. Sulh-i kul was implemented through state policy — the abolition of the jizya and the pilgrimage tax, and the deliberately mixed composition of the nobility, are the policies in question.
• (c)3 only — It throws out the translation and the freedom-of-expression clause, both of which are the core of Abu'l Fazl's description. There is no reading of the sources on which those two are wrong and the implementation claim alone survives.
• (d)2 and 3 only — The only statement this rejects is the meaning of the phrase. Sulh-i kul does mean absolute or universal peace, so there is nothing to reject.

Sulh-i kul is the political idea at the centre of Abu'l Fazl's Akbar Nama and its third volume, the Ain-i Akbari. It is not a doctrine of religious indifference but a theory of sovereignty: the ruler stands above every sect, holds them in balance, and is legitimate precisely because he does not belong to any one of them. The court debates in the Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri, opened in 1575 to scholars of many faiths, are where the idea was worked out in public.

The item looks like a three-statement trap but is not one — every statement is drawn from the same passage of the textbook account, so the honest reading accepts all three. Candidates lose this by over-thinking statement 3, assuming that an ideal described by a court chronicler must have stayed on the page. The check is to ask what policies would follow if the ideal were real, and then notice that those policies exist and are dated. Do note that this question carries the subject tag Science and Technology in the store, which is simply wrong; it is a medieval history item.

• Sulh-i kul means absolute peace and is presented by Abu'l Fazl as the cornerstone of enlightened rule.
• Under it all religions and schools of thought had freedom of expression, provided they did not undermine the authority of the state or fight among themselves.
• The pilgrimage tax was abolished in 1563 and the jizya on non-Muslim subjects in 1564.
• The Mughal nobility under Akbar was deliberately recruited from Iranis, Turanis, Afghans, Rajputs and Deccanis.
• The Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri, opened to scholars of many faiths in 1575, is where these discussions were held.

• Assuming an ideal described by a court chronicler was never turned into policy.
• Treating sulh-i kul as the same thing as Din-i Ilahi, which was a small circle of personal discipleship.
• Forgetting the condition attached to the freedom — that it not undermine the authority of the state.

Asked as a three-statement item where every statement is true, which is the shape examiners use when the topic has a single well-known textbook passage behind it.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Ibadat Khana, where Akbar held discussions with scholars of different faiths, was built at

  • (a)Agra
  • (b)Fatehpur Sikri
  • (c)Lahore
  • (d)Delhi

  Answer(b) Fatehpur Sikri — the hall of worship was opened to scholars of several faiths in 1575.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In which year did Akbar abolish the jizya levied on non-Muslim subjects?

  • (a)1556
  • (b)1562
  • (c)1564
  • (d)1579

  Answer(c) 1564 — the pilgrimage tax had already gone the previous year, in 1563.