Question

Direction: Answer the following questions by selecting the correct / most appropriate options.

Statement A): Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan followed the idea of Sulh-i-Kul (universal peace) as principles of governance.

Statement B): Akbar's interactions with people connected with faiths, made him realise that religious scholars who emphasised rituals and dogmas were often bigots.

1. Both A) and B) are true and B) is the reason for A)
2. Both A) and B) are true but B) is not the reason for A)
3. A) is true, but B) is false
4. A) is false, but B) is true

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 1 : Both A) and B) are true and B) is the reason for A)

Sulh-i-Kul:

• While Akbar was at Fatehpur Sikri during the 1570s he started discussions on religion with the ulama, Brahmanas, Jesuit priests who were Roman Catholics, and Zoroastrians.
• These discussions took place in the ibadat khana.
• He was interested in the religion and social customs of different people.
• Akbar’s interaction with people of different faiths made him realize that religious scholars who emphasized ritual and dogma were often bigots.
• Their teachings created divisions and disharmony amongst his subjects.
• This eventually led Akbar to the idea of sulh-i kul or “universal peace”.
• Both Jahangir and Shahjahan followed the idea of Sulh-i-Kul.

Hence, we can conclude that both the statement A) and B) are true and B) is the reason for A).

    

Jahangir, Akbar’s son, described his father’s policy of sulh-i kul in the following words: 

• 'As in the wide expanse of the divine compassion there is room for all classes and the followers of all creeds, so … in his Imperial dominions, which on all sides were limited only by the sea, there was room for the professors of opposite religions, and for beliefs, good and bad, and the road to intolerance was closed. Sunnis and Shias met in one mosque and Christians and Jews in one church to pray. He consistently followed the principle of “universal peace” (sulh-i kul).'