UGC NET History Practice Question

The term Hundi in medieval Indian commercial operations represented:

A credit bill of exchange used for safe money transfer and trade transactions ✓

Import license issued by sea ports

Tax token given to itinerant peddlers

Mortgage deed for agricultural lands

A Hundi was a negotiable credit instrument (similar to a bill of exchange) that let merchants transfer money safely across long distances without physically carrying cash — evidence of a sophisticated indigenous banking/credit system (operated largely by Sarrafs) well before European banking arrived.

What was the revenue assessment method called Kankut (or Danabandi)?

Rough estimation of crop yield based on visual inspection or standing crop appraisal ✓

Physical measurement of land using a standard measuring chain

Division of harvested grain on the threshing floor

Auctioning village taxes to highest bidder

Kankut estimated revenue by visually appraising the standing crop rather than precise measurement — faster and less labor-intensive than Masahat (measurement-based assessment) but also less accurate and more open to dispute.

In Vijayanagara administration, the Ayagar system referred to:

A body of 12 village functionaries who managed village administration and held tax-free land assignments ✓

Guild of foreign horse traders

Committee overseeing coastal shipping ports

Royal intelligence officers

The Ayagar system comprised twelve hereditary village functionaries (accountant, watchman, priest, etc.) who managed local village administration in exchange for tax-free land (Manya) — a structural parallel to North Indian village-level offices like the Patwari and Muqaddam.

Which Mughal emperor introduced the Du-Aspa Sih-Aspa rank modification within the Mansabdari System?

Akbar

Jahangir ✓

Shah Jahan

Aurangzeb

Jahangir introduced the Du-Aspa Sih-Aspa ("two-horse three-horse") modification, allowing a mansabdar to maintain a higher effective Sawar rank without a proportional Zat increase — a refinement addressing earlier inconsistencies in the system's original Akbar-era design.

What did the term Hasil signify in Mughal fiscal records?

Actual revenue collected ✓

Assessment of land revenue (Jama)

Peasant loan for buying seeds

Remission granted due to natural disaster

Hasil meant the actual revenue realized/collected, as distinct from Jama, the assessed or estimated revenue — the gap between the two (Hasil often falling short of Jama) is itself a useful indicator historians use to gauge administrative efficiency or agrarian distress in a given region.

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This question is part of our free Unit-Wise mock test series, drawn from the same real question bank used across every UGC NET History mock test on this site. For structured, chapter-by-chapter notes covering everything these questions test, see our UGC NET History Notes, or try the History Glossary Flashcard Quiz for daily term-by-term practice.