Medieval Indian History MCQs

Notes:
Rajashekhar, a great Sanskrit poet and dramatist, was the court poet of Mahendra pala (or Mahipala), Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty  ruler.
The works attributed to poet Rajshekhara viz. Viddhasalabhanjika, Balabharata, Karpuramanjari, Balaramayaṇa and Kavyamimamsa.

Notes:
Maasir-i-Alamgiri, a history of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, written by Iswar Das Nagar. He was a Nagar Brahman of Pattan and a Mughal civil officer in Jodhpur.

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 death of Aurangzeb in 1707 A.D. marked the end of the glory of the Mughal empire. The Mughal authority was challenged by several chiefs and Rajas at different places. The Marathas, the Rajputs and the Sikhs resisted the Mughal power simply to gain independence. The nobles took advantage of the weakness of the Empire by carving out independent kingdoms for themselves. The later Mughul monarchs were primarily responsible for the decay, disintegration and collapse of the Empire though, certainly, other factors also contributed towards it.

Notes:
Mahmud Gawan (1411, Iran – 1481) was a Prime Minister in the Bahamani Sultanate of Deccan.

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:
Akbar was the first Indian ruler to organize Haj pilgrimage at the expense of the state.

Notes:
When Ghoris established their reign in Lahore, they started the ‘Bull Hoarsemen’ type of coins. The ruler got the picture of Goddess Laxmi inscribed on one side and the other side imprinted his name. Some coins were patterned in a way that they bore horseman and some coins had the bull on the one side and an Arabic inscription on the other side.

Notes:
Despite being an independent ruler, Maḥmud preserving an ideological link to the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate. The caliph, in return, recognized him as the legitimate ruler of the lands he occupied and encouraged him in his conquests.

Notes:
Pilwans were the elephants troops and most of them were Hindus. Their commanders were called Muqaddam-i-Pilbanan. The reason for Hindu elephant troops was that most of the elephants in his army were actually looted from Indian Kings as ransom or booty.