1. Akbar's court poet Faizi translated Bhaskaracharya's famous work on mathematics, Lilavati.
2. Despite the presence of Europeans, there was no influence of them on the Indian society during the Mughal period.
3. The method of water-lift based on pin-drum gearing known as Persian wheel had been introduced during Babur's time.
4. A complicated system of water lift by a series of gear-wheels had been installed in Fatehpur Sikri.
5. Akbar was also credited with popularizing the device of cooling water using saltpetre.
6. He is also the first known person in the world to have devised the 'ship's camel', a barge on which the ship is built to make it easier for the ship to be carried to the sea.
7. Some mechanical devices like the screw for tightening, manually driven belt-drill for cutting diamonds were in use.
8. Agricultural tools continued to be the same, made entirely of wood. In metallurgy, the inability to produce cast iron remained an obvious drawback.
9. As Irfan Habib observed, 'India's backwardness in technology was obvious when the matchlock remained the most common weapon in Indian armies. In Europe the flintlock had long come into use.
10. Indians continued to use the expensive bronze cannon, long after these had become obsolete in Europe. This was because of India's inability to make cast iron even in the seventeenth century. '

Rajput Policy
1. Akbar took earnest efforts to win the goodwill of the Hindus. He abolished the jizya (poll tax) on non-Muslims and the tax on Hindu pilgrims.
2. The practice of sati by Hindu widows was also abolished. The practice of making slaves of war prisoners was also discontinued.
3. His conciliatory Rajput policy included matrimonial alliances with Rajput princely families, and according Rajput nobles high positions in the Mughal court.
4. A tolerant religious policy ensured the cultural and emotional integration of the people.
5. Even before Akbar, many Muslim kings had married Rajput princesses.
6. But Akbar with his broadminded nature was instrumental in these matrimonial alliances becoming a synthesising force between two different cultures as he maintained close relations with the families.

Sher Shah's Reforms
1. When Sher Shah was pursuing Humayun, he had left Khizr Khan as the Governor of Bengal.
2. Khizr Khan married the daughter of the former ruler of Bengal, Sultan Mahmud, and started behaving like a king.
3. On his return Sher Shah ordered him to be put in chains.
4. As one familiar with the problem of provincial insubordination, he thought that the real solution to the problem would be to set up a strong administrative system.
5. So he made his government highly centralised. 
6. The local administrative structure of the Delhi Sultanate was followed with certain changes.
7. The village headmen who were made responsible for the goods stolen within the area under their control became vigilant.
8. The welfare of the peasants was a prime concern.
9. When the peasant is ruined, Sher Shah believed, the king is ruined.
10. Sher Shah took great care that the movements of the army did not damage crops.
11. He followed a flexible revenue system.
12. Land was surveyed and revenue settled according to the fertility of the soil.
13. In some areas, the jagirdari and zamindari systems were allowed to continue.

(a) Jagirdari
1. It is a land tenure system developed during the Delhi Sultanate.
2. Under the system the collection of the revenue of an estate and the power of governing it were bestowed upon an official of the state.
(b) Zamindari
1. The term refers to another land tenure system.
2. The word zamindar means landowner in Persian.
3. In Mughal times the zamindars were drawn from the class of nobles.
4. Akbar granted land to the nobles as well as to the descendents of old ruling families and allowed them to enjoy it hereditarily.
5. Zamindars collected revenue from the tenants and cultivators and remitted a fixed amount to the state.

1. Akbar began his life as an orthodox Muslim but adopted an accommodative approach under the influence of Sufism.
2. Akbar was interested to learn about the doctrines of all religions, and propagated a philosophy of Sulh-i-Kul (peace to all).
3. Badauni, a contemporary author, who did not like Akbar's inter-religious interests, accused him of forsaking Islam.
4. Akbar had established an Ibadat Khana, a hall of worship in which initially Muslim I clerics gathered to discuss spiritual issues.
5. Later he invited Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Jains and even atheists to discussions.
6. In 1582, he discontinued the debates in the Ibadat Khana as it led to bitterness among different religions.
7. However, he did not give up his attempt to know the Truth. Akbar discussed personally with the leading lights of different religions like Purushotam and Devi (Hinduism), Meherji Rana (Zorastrianism), the Portugese Aquaviva and Monserrate (Christianity) and Hira Vijaya Suri (Jainism) to ascertain the Truth. Because of the discussions he felt that behind the multiplicity of names there was but one God.
8. The exact word used by Akbar and Badauni to illustrate the philosophy of Akbar is Tauhid-i-Ilahi namely Din Ilahi. Tauhid-i-Ilahi literally meant divine monotheism.
9. It can be considered a sufistic order but not a new religion. He had become a Pir (Sufi Guru) who enrolled Murids (Sufi disciples) who would follow a set pattern of rules ascribed by the Guru.
10. Thousands of disciples enrolled as his disciples. Akbar's intention was to establish a state based on the concept of secular principles, equal toleration, and respect to all sections irrespective of their religious beliefs.
11. He set up a big translation department for translating works in Sanskrit, Arabic, Greek, etc, into Persian.
12. he Ramayana, Mahabharata, the Atharva Veda, the Bible and the Quran were translated into Persian. The Din Ilahi ceased to exist after Akbar.

1. Shah Jahan proceeded to the Deccan in person.
2. The newly appointed governor of the Deccan, Iradat Khan, who received the title Azam Khan led the imperial army and invaded the Balaghat.
3. Seeing the devastation caused by the imperial troops, Murtaza changed his attitude towards Khanjahan.
4. Khanjahan thereupon fled from Daulatabad into Malwa, but was pursued and finally slain.

1. This battle was won by Sher Khan due to his superior political and military skills.
2. Humayun suffered a defeat in which 7000 Mughal nobles and soldiers were killed and Humayun himself had to flee for his life by swimming across the Ganga.
3. Humayun who had arrived at Agra assembled his army with the support of his brothers Askari and Hindal to counter Sher Khan.
The final encounter took place at Kanauj.

1. This was the last battle Babar fought against the Afghans.
2. Sultan Ibrahim Lodi's brother Mahmud Lodi and Sultan Nusrat Shah, son-in-law of Ibrahim Lodi, conspired against Babur.
3. Realising the danger Babar marched against them. In the battle that ensued along the banks of Ghagra, a tributary of Ganges, Babur defeated the Afghans.
4. But he died on his way from Agra to Lahore in 1530

Battle of Chanderi, 1528
1. The next significant battle that ensured Babur's supremacy over the Malwa region was fought against Medini Rai at Chanderi.
2. Following this victory Babur turned towards the growing rebellious activities of Afghans.

1. The chief excellence of Hindustan is that it is a large country and has abundance of gold and silver.
2. Another convenience of Hindustan is that the workmen of every profession and trade are innumerable and without end.