Medieval Indian History MCQs

Notes:
Milk, Inam, waqf were abolished by Iltutmish.

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:
Mahmud Gawan was a Vakil-us-sultanate (Prime Minister) in the Bahamani Sultanate of Deccan. He was also a poet and a good prose writer and the collection of his letters is known as Riaz-ul-Insha.

Notes:
The Adil Shahi dynasty (a Shia Muslim dynasty) was founded by Yusuf Adil Shah in 1490 AD with its capital at Bijapur, Karnataka. The dynasty ruled over the sultanate of Bijapur till Mughal emperor Aurangzeb annexed it in 1686 AD.

Notes:
The book Maasri-i-Jahangiri was written by Mirza Kamgar Husaini. Kamgar Khan is also credited as the author of the book. Maasri-i-Jahangiri was written in 1714.

Notes:
The Sangama dynasty (1336 AD to 1485 AD) was the first dynasty to rule over Vijaynagar kingdom. When Tughlaqs lost their power in Deccan, Harihara- I and his brother Bukka I laid the foundation Vijaynagar empire in 1336 AD and named the first dynasty after their father Bhavana Sangama as Sangama dynasty .

Notes:
Deva Raya II, who ruled the Vijayanagara Empire from 1422–1446 CE, bore the title of Gajabentakara. The title, which translates to “Hunter of Elephants”, was a reference to his victories over enemies as strong as elephants.
Deva Raya II was also known as Gajabetekara, which means “the elephant hunter”. He was the greatest ruler of the Sangama family of the Vijayanagara empire. He was a scholar who wrote Sobagina Sone in Kannada and the dramas Sudhanidhi and Brahmasutra in Sanskrit. He also began the practice of employing Muslim cavalrymen and archers in the army.

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 head of the military department under the reorganized central machinery of administration during Akbar’s reign was Mir Bakshi. The head of the military was called the Mir Bakshi, appointed from among the leading nobles of the court. The Mir Bakshi was in charge of intelligence gathering, and also made recommendations to the emperor for military appointments and promotions.

Notes:
Muntakhab-ul-Lubab of Tarikh-i-Khafi Khan, by Muhammad Hashim Khafi Khan, is a voluminous history from the Muhammad conquest of India to the fourteenth year of the reign of Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (1719-18). The first of its three-volume is from the Muhammadan conquest to the end of the Lodi dynasty, the second provides a full account of the Mughals in India from the conquest of Babur to the reign of Muhammad Shah and the third contains an entire account of the reign of Aurangzeb. Khafi Khan’s history is more valuable for the reign of Shah Jahan as it is the work of a contemporary who was waqia-nawis at Agra and himself took part in the battle of Samugarh.