Question

The Mughals imported fruits from ______.
a. Samarkand
b. Arabia
c. Kabul
d. Portugal

Answer 1

Hint:
In the markets of Samarkand, a city in modern-day Uzbekistan, one could purchase lush melons, sweet apples, and a bounty of many fruits from the region's orchards.

Complete solution:
Fruit occupied a special place on the court’s table as well as in court’s culture throughout the reign of the Mughals. Fruit served as a global statement of who the Mughals were and how they viewed their relationship with their Indian subjects. To grow or import exquisite fruits, Mughal elites famously spent lavishly. Gifts of fruit were a matter of protocol and formed an unspoken language of diplomacy. The varieties consumed and status ascribed to them tell how a dynasty became Indian that emerged in Central Asia. The first Mughal emperor, Babur, was raised on a Central Asian diet. It placed tremendous emphasis on fruits that passed through the region. The Mughals imported dried fruits like small nuts, raisins, and apricots and fresh fruits like melon, pears, apple, and grapes from Samarkand. The melon was most prized above all other fruit by Babur’s people, for whom the fruit was synonymous with home. Babur lamented the paucity of the fruit available in his new kingdom while he was conquering northern India. He had melons of Central Asia rapidly transplanted in India, but these had limited horizontal success during Babur’s lifetime. The fruit was a means of connecting with his long-lost homeland to the homesick Babur.

Hence, the correct answer is option A.

Note:
Jahangir may have been a descendant of Babur, but when he ascended to the Mughal throne, Central Asia was only a homeland for him to which he was a stranger. India was his home and his fruit of choice was mango, not the melon.