Which of the following statement/s is/are correct ? 1. Akbar tried to fix the age of marriage for boys and girls. 2. Akbar gave freedom to girls to marry at their own will and not under parental pressure. Select the correct answer using the codes given below.
- (a)Only 1
- (b)Only 2
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Correct — C, Both 1 and 2. Among Akbar's liberal social regulations (recorded in Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari) was an attempt to fix a minimum marriageable age — commonly cited as about 16 for boys and 14 for girls — and to curb child marriage, then common among Hindus and Muslims alike; so statement 1 is correct. His rules also required the consent of the parties, discouraged forced/parental-pressure marriage and had marriages registered before the local kotwal, recognising a girl's own will in marrying; so statement 2 is correct. Both being true, the answer is (c).
- (a)Only 1 — Drops statement 2, but Akbar's insistence on the parties' consent and his discouragement of forced marriage make statement 2 correct as well — so 'Only 1' is incomplete.
- (b)Only 2 — Drops statement 1, yet his effort to fix a minimum marriage age and oppose child marriage is well attested, so statement 1 is also correct.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Both statements are historically supported, so rejecting both is wrong — this is the opposite of the correct 'Both' option.
Akbar's reign (1556-1605) is remembered for social reforms that went beyond religion. On marriage he tried to raise/fix a minimum age (commonly given as 16 for boys, 14 for girls), banned marriage between close blood relations, discouraged child marriage and sati, allowed widow remarriage, and required the consent of both parties, with marriages registered before the kotwal. These measures are documented in Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari.
Both statements describe the SAME reforming impulse — the state stepping into a private domain to set a minimum age AND to protect individual (especially the girl's) consent. Because Akbar's regulations cover both the age-fixing and the anti-coercion/consent points, treat the statements as complementary rather than mutually exclusive, and the 'Both' option follows.
- Akbar tried to fix/raise the minimum marriage age — commonly cited as 16 (boys) and 14 (girls).
- He opposed child marriage, then common among both Hindus and Muslims.
- His rules required consent of the parties and discouraged forced/parental-pressure marriage.
- Marriages were registered before the local kotwal; he also banned marriage between close relatives. Source: Abul Fazl, Ain-i-Akbari.
- Assuming a medieval ruler could not have tried to set a marriage age — and so wrongly rejecting statement 1.
- Treating statements 1 and 2 as contradictory when both flow from the same reform.
UPPSC and UPSC test Akbar's non-religious ('social') reforms as statement pairs or match items, often mixed with his religious measures (Din-i-Ilahi, Sulh-i-Kul).
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following social measures is correctly attributed to Akbar?
- (a)Reimposition of jizya on non-Muslims
- (b)A legal ban on widow remarriage
- (c)Discouraging child marriage and requiring consent for marriage
- (d)Making sati compulsory
Answer(c) Discouraging child marriage and requiring consent for marriage — Akbar sought to fix a minimum marriage age, discouraged child and forced marriages, and permitted widow remarriage.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Akbar's administrative and social regulations, including his rules on marriage, are chiefly known from which work?
- (a)Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi
- (b)Ain-i-Akbari by Abul Fazl
- (c)Tuzuk-i-Baburi
- (d)Padshahnama
Answer(b) Ain-i-Akbari by Abul Fazl — the administrative gazetteer that forms the third volume of the Akbar-nama.