Question

Who started Do-Aspa and Si-Aspa?
a)Babur
b)Jahangir
c)Shahjahan
d)Aurangzeb

Answer 1

Hint: The Do-Aspa and Si-Aspa were the ranks that were introduced by the son of Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar and the grandfather of Alamgir Aurangzeb.

Complete answer: The system of ranking of Do-Aspa and Si-Aspa was introduced by the emperor Jahangir. It was an honourable ranking given to Mansabdars who owned horses. Shahjahan was the emperor who used it extensively and formalised it after being established by his father.
a)Babur: Babur was the founder of the Mughal Empire in India in 1526. He spent all his years in India fighting wars with the Rajputs and the Afghans and had no time to administer his territory. So, it is an incorrect option.
b)Jahangir: Jahangir was the son of Akbar who established the institutions of Do-Aspa and Si-Aspa to reward the competent Mansabdars. So, it is the correct option.
c)Shahjahan: Since Shahjahan was busy in his ambitious engineering projects to make the new capital city of the Mughal Empire at Shahjahanabad and he was the father of Aurangzeb. So, it is an incorrect option.
d)Aurangzeb: As we know that the Do-Aspa and Si-Aspa were ranks started by the son of Akbar and Aurangzeb was not the son of Akbar. So, this option is out of bounds. So, it is an incorrect option.
Therefore, option b is correct.

Note: Just like the Do-Aspa and the Si-Aspa, there was a similar ranking called the Sawar Rank. This was an additional allowance that was given to the Mansabdars. With the introduction of Do-Aspa and Si-Aspa systems, a mansabdar’s sawar rank could be enhanced without promoting his troop capacity.