Medieval Indian History MCQs

Notes:
Kharaj was land revenue. It was distinct from zakat, a levy on eligible Muslim wealth; jizya, a personal levy on specified non-Muslim subjects; and khums, the state’s share of war booty.

Notes:
Mahmud Gawan was appointed as the vakil-us-sultanate under Humayun Shah as well as the tarafdar of the Bijapur division. He also served in the dual capacity of both amir-i-jumla (finance minister) and wazir-i-kull (external affairs minister) of the province.

Notes:
Chimaji Appa, the brother of Peshwa Baji Rao I, commanded the Maratha campaign against Portuguese possessions in the northern Konkan. Maratha forces secured Salsette and, after a prolonged siege, captured Bassein in 1739. The victory expanded Maratha control along the western coast. Baji Rao I supported the campaign as Peshwa, while Chimaji Appa led the military operations.

Notes:
Qutbuddin Aibak began Qutb Minar and Iltutmish added three storeys. Firoz Shah Tughlaq later repaired it and replaced the damaged upper storey with two storeys. Iltutmish is the intended answer among these options.

Notes:
The Battle of Haldighati was a battle fought on 18 June 1576 between cavalry and archers supporting the Rana of Mewar, Maharana Pratap; and the Mughal emperor Akbar’s forces, led by Man Singh I of Amber.

Notes:
• Ab’ul Hasan Yamin ud-Din Khusrau is better known as Amir Khusrow was a Sufi musician, poet and scholar from India.
• The Din-I Idaho was a syncretism religion propounded by the Munhall emperor Akbar in 1582 CE, intending to merge some of the elements of the religions of his empire, and thereby reconcile the differences that divided his subjects.
• The Nqutu Miner is a towering 73 meter high tower built by Nqutu-us-Din aback in 1193. The tower was built to celebrate Muslim dominance in Delhi after the defeat of Delhi’s last Hindu ruler. This tower is the highest tower in India, complete with five storey’s and projecting balconies.
• Chan Bandai was a court poet of the king. The earliest extant copy of the text dates back to the 13th century.

Notes:
Al-Biruni’s Tahqiq-i-Hind, also known as Kitab-ul-Hind, describes Indian religion, learning and social practices in the early eleventh century. Written in Arabic, it is associated with the period of Mahmud of Ghazni.

Notes:
Jahangir showed the legend in a couplet in the coins. In some of his coins, he added the name of his beloved wife Noorjahan. The most famous of his coins had images of Zodiac signs.

Notes:
The term Falus was used for coins of some other dynasties including Bijapur sultanate, Jaunpur sultanate etc. The other three terms are used for coins of Vijayanagara empire. The earlier Vijayanagara coinage were produced in different mints and were called by different names such as Barkur gadyanas, Bhatkal gadyanas, etc. The inscriptions were in Kannada or Sanskrit. Images found are a double-headed eagle holding an elephant in each beak and claw, a bull, an elephant and various Hindu deities. The gold varahan coin issued by Krishna Deva Raya (1509–1529) had a seated Vishnu on one side and a three-line legend Shri Pratap Krishna Raya in Sanskrit on the other side.

Notes:
Bayhaqi, Firdausi and Al-Biruni lived during Mahmud’s time. Firishta lived much later, in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and compiled a Persian history of India.