What is the name of the award given to meritorious men in the Mughal Court in the form of a robe of honour that was once worn by the Emperor ?
- (a)Sarapa
- (b)Patka
- (c)Padma murassa
- (d)Khilat
Correct — D, Khilat. The khilat was the robe of honour a Mughal emperor bestowed on a noble he wished to single out, and the whole point of it was that the garment had been worn by the emperor himself. The Arabic root carries that meaning — khil'a names the act of taking off one's own garment in order to give it away — and Muslim tradition traces the practice to the Prophet, who removed his cloak and presented it to the poet Ka'b ibn Zuhayr. Because the cloth had touched the ruler's body it was held to carry something of his person and his blessing, which is why receiving one counted as the highest mark of court favour rather than merely an expensive present. Jahangir recorded giving out at least three hundred robes of honour, and a robe presented to Raja Rai Singh of Bikaner in 1597 survives as the only garment securely linked to the early Mughal court.
- (a)Sarapa — Sarapa is Persian for 'head to foot', and it named the complete outfit given to a favoured courtier — a tunic, a turban and a sash together. It is the full ensemble of gifts, not the single robe defined by the emperor having worn it, which is the detail this stem turns on.
- (b)Patka — The patka was the sash, and it was one of the three pieces that made up a sarapa. A sash by itself was never the award; it was a component of a larger gift.
- (c)Padma murassa — The padma murassa was a lotus blossom set with jewels, given only on exceptional occasions. It is a jewelled ornament rather than a garment, so it cannot answer a stem that specifies a robe of honour.
The Mughal court ran on a graded economy of honour. Rank was fixed by the mansab, but favour was shown through gifts, and each gift had a name and a place in the hierarchy. The robe of honour or khilat stood at the top because it had been worn by the emperor. Below it came the sarapa, the head-to-foot outfit of tunic, turban and sash; jewelled turban ornaments called sarpech and jigha; and, on rare occasions, the jewelled lotus known as the padma murassa. A courtier never approached the emperor empty-handed either, so the exchange ran both ways and was a language of loyalty as much as of wealth.
The examiner has built this item so that three of the four options are real Mughal court terms and only one of them fits the exact definition in the stem. Read the stem's qualifier before scanning the options — 'a robe of honour that was once worn by the Emperor' rules out the jewelled lotus at once, rules out the sash because a sash is a part and not a robe, and rules out the sarapa because that word covers the whole outfit rather than the emperor's own garment. This family of vocabulary is set out in the NCERT Class 12 chapter on the Mughal courts, and the safest way to hold it is as a short list of four terms with one distinguishing phrase attached to each, since NDA has repeatedly asked for the title or honour rather than the ruler.
- Khil'a, the Arabic root of khilat, means removing one's own garment in order to give it to another.
- The khilat's value lay in the emperor having worn it, which was taken to transfer his benediction.
- Sarapa means 'head to foot' and denoted the complete set of tunic, turban and sash (patka).
- Padma murassa was a jewelled lotus given only on exceptional occasions; sarpech and jigha were jewelled turban ornaments.
- Jahangir's own record mentions handing out at least three hundred robes of honour.
Only one of the four is a garment the emperor had worn, and the stem says so explicitly.
- Choosing sarapa because it sounds grander, when the stem specifically defines a single robe worn by the emperor.
- Treating patka as a stand-alone award when it is one piece of the sarapa.
- Assuming any unfamiliar Persian or Arabic term in the option list must be the wrong one — here three of the four are genuine court vocabulary.
NDA sets this family by giving the definition of one honour and asking for its name, or by naming a courtier and asking for the title he was given.
In medieval India, Mansabdari system was introduced mainly for
- (a) making recruitment to the army
- (b) facilitating revenue collection
- (c) ensuring religious harmony
- (d) effecting clean administration
Answer(a) making recruitment to the army
The other half of the same machinery. The mansab fixed a noble's rank and obligation; the khilat and the sarapa were how the emperor marked favour on top of that rank.
Name the calligrapher in Akbar’s court who was honoured with the title “Zarrin Kalam” or Golden Pen
- (a) Abul Fazl
- (b) Tansen
- (c) Muhammad Husayn
- (d) Muhammad Kasim
Answer(c) Muhammad Husayn
The same examiner habit one year earlier — a Mughal court honour is named and the candidate has to place it. There the honour was a title, here it is a robe.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In the Mughal court, the term 'sarapa' referred to
- (a)a jewelled turban ornament
- (b)a complete outfit of tunic, turban and sash
- (c)a grant of revenue-free land
- (d)a ceremonial sword presented by the emperor
Answer(b) a complete outfit of tunic, turban and sash — the word literally means 'head to foot'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following Mughal court gifts was a jewelled ornament rather than a garment?
- (a)Khilat
- (b)Patka
- (c)Padma murassa
- (d)Sarapa
Answer(c) Padma murassa — a lotus blossom set with jewels, reserved for exceptional occasions.