Medieval Indian History MCQs

Notes:
All these coins were issued during the reign of Samudragupta. Archer, Standard, Battle-axe, Kacha, and Tiger-slayer all types of coins.

Notes:
Qutb-ud-din Aibak started the construction of Qutb Minar. But he died without completing it, and the next ruler, Iltutmish, completed the work.

Notes:
The literal meaning of word Mansab is “official appointment of rank and emoluments”. Every important officer of Akbar held a Mansab or a rank in the imperial cadre and his rank was measured on how many horsemen he commanded. Thus, it was a military rank also. These Mansabdars were paid in Zat and Sawar. Zat was a fixed personal salary while sawar was paid as per their rank or number of horsemen to be controlled by them.
Akbar classified the office holders into total 33 grades ranging from mansabs of 10 to 10 thousand. However, these all were broadly categorized into three types as follows:

• Those who commanded 10 to 400 horsemen were commonly called mansabdars(officers).
• Those who commanded 500 to 2500 horsemen were amirs (nobles)
• Those in higher ranks belonged to the category of umara-i-kabiror umara-i-azim (grandees).

The highest amir in the third category was honored with the title of amir-ul-umara.

Notes:
The Mansabdari system was the administrative system of the Mughal Empire introduced by Akbar. The word mansab is of Arabic origin meaning rank or position. The system, hence, determined the rank of a government official.

Notes:
Futuhat-i-Firozshahi is a small brochure of thirty-two pages composed by Sultan Firuz Shah himself. The title of the book literally means victories of Firuz Shah. We know about Firuz Shah due to this brochure. He was 45 when he became the Sultan of Delhi in 1351. He ruled until 1388.

Notes:
Waqi-at-i-Mushtaqi is the work of Shaikh Rizq Ullah Mushtaqui.

Abdul Qadir Badauni has composed the following –

1. Tarikh-i-Alfi – a general history compiled at the order of emperor Akbar by Abdul Qadir Badaui and others.
2. Muntakhab-ul-Tawarikh also called Tarikh-i-Badauni – his most celebrated work. It is a general history of India, from the time of the Ghaznavis down to the fortieth year of Akbar’s reign.

Notes:
Isar Das Nagar was a Mughal officer who held the charge of the Sarkar of Jodhpur for many years during the reign of Aurangzeb. His chronicle called Futuhat-i-Alamgiri describes important events of Aurangzeb’s reign up to 1698 and is a first-hand authority for much of what happened in Rajputana and Malwa between 1657 and 1698.

Notes:
The earliest attacks on India by Arabs happened around 636 AD [four years after death of Prophet Mohammadin 632AD] when two naval expeditions against Thana on the coast of Maharashtra and Broach (Bharuch) on the coast of Gujarat, had been repulsed by Indian rulers in the reign of Caliph Umar (AD 634-644). The attack on Thane was repulsed by forces of Chalukya king Pulkeshin-II.

Notes:
Kingdom of Kapisa was an ancient Hindu / Buddhist Kingdom in Afghanistan region. It included modern Hindukush mountains, Bamiyan, Kandhar, Begram, Kabul and other areas. Chinese Monk Huen Tsang had visited this kingdom and described that there were over 6000 Mahayana monks in Kapisa.

Notes:
Ghaznavid dynasty was a dynasty founded by Sabuktigin, after death of his father in law Alp Tigin. This dynasty had Persian and Turkic Mamluk origin and had ruled from 977 AD to 1186 AD on Iran, Afghanistan and much of north-western Indian subcontinent. Sabuktigin or Subuktigin was father of Mahmud of Ghazni. Mamluk was an Arabic term for slaves and generally used to non-Muslim slave soldiers and Muslim rulers of slave origin.