Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by choosing the correct/most appropriate options:
Initially, the Mughals tried to attack the fortress directly but the citadel was so sturdy that the only options available to the Mughals were to either starve out the occupants of the fort or to somehow reach the walls and sap beneath them. After initial aggressive attempts at reaching the wall failed, Akbar ordered a complement of 5,000 expert builders, stonemasons, and carpenters to construct sabats (approach trenches) and mines to reach the walls. Two mines and one sabat was constructed after significant casualties while three batteries bombarded the fort. A large siege cannon was also cast to breach the walls once the sabat reached the objective.
Fifty-eight days after the siege began, the imperial sappers finally reached the walls of Chittorgarh. The two mines exploded and the walls were breached at the cost of 200 of the assault force. But the defenders soon sealed the opening. Akbar then steadily brought his siege cannon closer to the walls under the cover of the sabat. Finally, on 22 February 1568, the Mughals were able to breach the walls at several locations simultaneously to begin a coordinated assault. While Jaimal was repairing the damage to the fort at night, Akbar killed Jaimal through a musket shot which shattered the morale of the defenders who considered the day lost.
On the night of 22 February 1568, several Rajput women at various places inside the fort committed Jauhar (self-immolation by fire) to protect their honor from the Mughals. Thus, on 23 February 1568 on the day of the Hindu festival of Holi, the Rajputs dressed in saffron garments opened the gates for the last stand (Sakha) under the leadership of Fateh Singh Sisodia (Patta) and eventually by night, the fort was captured by the Mughals after a gallant resistance. The siege also resulted in heavy casualties on the Mughal side, where two hundred of them were killed every day. The contemporaneous Persian accounts mentioned several instances during the siege where Akbar himself barely evaded death.
After capturing the fort on 23 February 1568, Akbar ordered a general massacre of the Chittors population in which 30,000 Hindu civilians inside the fort who were largely non-combatants were slaughtered. After the mass slaughter, many women and children were enslaved followed by the desecration of many Hindu and Jain temples on Akbar's order. Akbar who earlier gave a religious color to the conflict by declaring it as a Jihād subsequently proclaimed the conquest of the fort as the victory of Islam over infidels. The Mughal soldiers who died in the combat were hailed as Ghazis by Akbar. He also issued a victory letter on 9 March 1568 where he addressed his governors of Punjab about the campaign.
Akbar stayed at Chittorgarh for three days before leaving for the shrine of Moinuddin Chishti (barefooted), as part of his oath to visit the shrine after the conquest of Chittor. Akbar handed the charge of the fort to his trusted general Asaf Khan and returned to Agra. On returning to Agra, Akbar erected the statues of Jaimal and Patta outside his fort either to honor their doughty resistance or to humiliate them as his doorkeepers.