Mughal Empire in the Seventeenth Century: History Optional PYQs

Major administrative policies of Jahangir, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb;

The Empire and the Zamindars;

Religious policies of Jahangir, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb;

Nature of the Mughal State;

Late Seventeenth century crisis and the revolts;

The Ahom Kingdom;

Shivajl and the early Maratha Kingdom.

The Mughal Empire in the Seventeenth Century covers Jahangir to Aurangzeb, the jagirdari crisis and the rise of the Marathas. UPSC has set 33 questions on it between 1985 and 2026, and it has appeared in nine of the last ten papers. It is the unit where the examiner tests whether you can explain Mughal decline without reaching for Aurangzeb’s personality.

Every question the Commission has asked on this topic is listed below, newest first, with a written model answer linked against each one.

Questions asked (1985–2026)	33
Appeared in	9 of the last 10 papers
Paper	Paper I, Section B (Medieval India)
Usual mark value	10, 15 or 20 marks
Model answers available	31 of 33

PYQs: Mughal Empire in the Seventeenth Century [1985-2026]

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Year	Question	Answer
2025	Aurangzeb's religious policy was a reflection of the changed political realities of the Mughal Empire." Elucidate.	View answer
2024	Examine the causes and consequences of peasant uprisings during the reign of Aurangzeb.	View answer
2023	Discuss the role of Nur Jahan in the Mughal court politics during the reign of Jahangir.	View answer
2023	Discuss the nature of the Mughal State under Akbar.	View answer
2022	Aurangzeb’s Deccan policy was a major factor in Mughal decline. Discuss.	View answer
2021	The late seventeenth century Mughal India is considered to be a period of Jagirdari crisis. Discuss.	View answer
2018	Discuss the working of Zamindari System under the Mughal rulers. Also describe the role played by the Zamindars in the agrarian economy of Mughal India.	View answer
2016	Identify the broad contours of the Mughal foreign policy and their impact on the Mughal empire.	View answer
2014	How was Iqta system of the Sultans different from the Jagir system under the Mughals?	View answer
2009	The major causes of revolts against the Mughal Empire during the latter half of the 17th century were economic, rather than religious." Discuss.	View answer
2007	Akbar built the Mughal Empire by enlisting the support of the Rajputs, Aurangzeb destroyed it by alienating the Rajputs.” Discuss critically.	View answer
2006	Write brief essay on Dara Shikoh.	View answer
2004	In what ways were Aurangzeb's Rajput and religious policies different from those of his predecessors? What were the consequences of the changes made by him?	View answer
2003	‘Akbar built the Mughal Empire by enlisting the support of the Rajputs, Aurangzeb destroyed it by alienating the Rajputs.’ Do you agree?	View answer
2000	Describe the Rajput policy of the Mughal emperors. Do you agree with the view that the reversal of Akbar's Rajput policy by Aurangzeb was responsible for the disintegration of the Mughal empire?	View answer
1999	Write brief essay – Spanish ulcer ruined Napolean Bonaparte, the Deccan ulcer ruined Aurangzeb.	View answer
1998	Write brief essay on Nurjahan.	View answer
1995	Changes in the composition of nobility from Akbar to Aurangzeb. Comment.	View answer
1994	Aurangzeb is a much maligned monarch.” Argue the case for and against the proposition.	View answer
1991	What were the major features of the administrative system of the Mughal State? To what extent did other Indian powers model their administration on this system in the late medieval period?	View answer
1985	Analyse the religious policy of the Mughal emperors from Akbar to Aurangzeb. How did it affect the stability of the Mughal empire?	View answer

The Ahom Kingdom

Year	Question	Answer
2014	Give a brief account of resistance offered by Ahom State against the Mughal rule.	View answer
2008	Write short essay on The Ahom Kingdom in 200 words.	View answer

Shivaji and the early Maratha Kingdom

Year	Question	Answer
2026	Trace the formulation of the Mughal imperial authority from Akbar to Aurangzeb. Focus on the influence of Persian ideas of kingship in the construction of Mughal royalty.
2026	Trace the trajectory of Maratha polity from Shivaji to Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao. What was the impact of the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) on the Maratha State? Analyze.
2020	Examine the sources of the history of Chhatrapati Shivaji with special reference to Shivabharat and Sabhasad Bakhar. (in 150 words)	View answer
2019	Shivaji was not merely a military conqueror but also was an enlighened ruler. Discuss.	View answer
2012	Give social background to the rise of the Maratha movement during the seventeenth century.	View answer
2010	How did Shivaji organise his administration and finances to consolidate his power?	View answer
1999	Examine circumstances leading to rise of Shivaji. Throw light on his legacy.	View answer
1996	Shivaji’s rise to power cannot be treated as an isolated phenomenon in Maratha history. It was as much the result of his personal daring and heroism as of the peculiar geographical situation of the Deccan country and the unifying religious influences that were animating the people with new hopes and aspirations in the 15th and 16th centuries. Explain.	View answer
1992	Shivaji was a great organizer and builder of civil institutions, examine this statement in the light of the difficulties of administration and the extent of success achieved by him.	View answer
1985	Write short answer of not more than 200 words: Was Shivaji a nationalist leader?	View answer

What UPSC keeps asking about the Seventeenth-Century Mughal Empire

Thirty-three questions sort into five threads. The first two are really one question asked from different sides: why did the empire come apart?

1. Aurangzeb — religious policy, Rajputs and the Deccan (1985, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2022, 2025)

The largest thread. The old form pitted Akbar’s Rajput alliance against Aurangzeb’s alienation of it (2003, 2007); the newer form reads his religious policy as a response to changed political realities (2025).
The Deccan ulcer (1999) returned in 2022 as a major factor in decline.
Aurangzeb as “much maligned” (1994) is the question to prepare for: Satish Chandra and Athar Ali on political necessity against the older communal reading.

2. Jagirdari crisis, nobility and revolt (1995, 2009, 2014, 2018, 2021, 2024)

The structural explanation of decline. 2021 asked directly about the jagirdari crisis of the late seventeenth century.
Changes in the nobility from Akbar to Aurangzeb (1995), zamindars (2018), peasant uprisings (2024), revolts against the empire (2009).
Satish Chandra’s jagirdari crisis, Irfan Habib’s agrarian crisis and Athar Ali’s nobility studies form the core. Muzaffar Alam and Chetan Singh on regional revisions give you the counter-view.

3. The Mughal state and imperial authority (1991, 2016, 2023, 2026)

The nature of the Mughal state under Akbar (2023), administrative features (1991), foreign policy (2016).
2026 asked you to trace imperial authority from Akbar to Aurangzeb — the long-arc framing now appearing across Mughal units.

4. Shivaji and the Marathas (1985, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2010, 2012, 2019, 2020, 2026)

Nine questions, and asked in three of the last eight papers.
Shivaji as administrator and builder of institutions (1992, 2010, 2019), the social background of the Maratha movement (2012), the sources (2020), and whether he was a nationalist (1985).
2026 traced Maratha polity from Shivaji to Balaji Baji Rao — prepare the Peshwa transition, not only Shivaji.

5. The court and the frontiers (1998, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2023)

Nur Jahan (1998, 2023) and Dara Shikoh (2006) — both prepared best as short answers.
The Ahom resistance (2008, 2014) is the frontier question most candidates skip.

The model answers to this unit, in one place

Knowing the questions is half the work. The other half is seeing what a full-mark answer to each one looks like — not a hint or a bullet outline, but a complete answer at the mark and the word limit, with the historians named inside the argument.

The History Optional PYQ Master Pack carries the same for every question the Commission has set since 1985, across the whole syllabus.

PYQs 1985–2025, arranged topic-wise — revise a theme and see every way it has been asked
Model answers with historiography — the debate cited where it belongs, not bolted on
Map sections solved — the full 50-mark section, every year
PDF plus online access — any device, permanently, no subscription

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See the model answers

How to use this topic list

Reading a question list feels like preparation and is not. Three sittings turn it into marks.

Sitting 1 — sort before you read (30 minutes)

Copy the questions above into the threads identified in the previous section.
Note which thread has gone longest without being asked — that is your priority, not the one you find most interesting.

Sitting 2 — write three answers cold (45 minutes)

Pick the most recent question from three different threads.
Seven minutes for a 10-marker, fifteen for a 20-marker. Stop when the time is up, even mid-sentence.
Mark every place you wanted a historian’s name and could not produce one.

Sitting 3 — compare, then rewrite (45 minutes)

Put your script beside the model answer for the same question.
Compare structure first: opening claim, evidence, counter-view, judgement.
Rewrite your weakest answer using that structure and no new content. Most candidates gain four to six marks from structure alone.

Two ways to prepare this optional

Two routes, depending on what is actually missing.

	PYQ Master Pack	Mains Master Kit 2027
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What you get	Model answers to every question since 1985, topic-wise, map sections included	4,500+ pages of notes, full mapping coverage, 12 months of article access
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Frequently asked questions

Thirty-three times between 1985 and 2026, appearing in nine of the last ten papers.

The examiner expects a structural answer. Set his religious and Deccan policies against the jagirdari crisis, the shortage of productive jagirs, the growth of the nobility and agrarian distress. Satish Chandra, Irfan Habib and Athar Ali are the historians to cite.

The mismatch between the number of mansabdars and the revenue available to assign them, which led to shorter assignments, harsher extraction and agrarian revolt. It was asked directly in 2021.

As questions about state-building. Recent papers focus on his administration, revenue system and institutions, and the 2026 question extended it to the Peshwas, so prepare the whole arc of Maratha polity.

Yes. Thirty-one of the thirty-three questions listed above link to a written model answer on this site.