Medieval Indian History Questions (MCQs) for UPSC, SSC and States PCS Examinations

Notes:
The Vijaynagar and the Brahmini kingdoms are always at war for various reasons. The delta region between Krishna and Tungabhadra along with Krishna Godavari delta is a major issue. It is a Marathawada country.

Notes:
The order of coming of Europeans in India is Portuguese-Dutch-English-French. French Company was the last amongst the European Trading powers to reach India. (Hence Statement 1. is correct) The “cartazes” licensing system was created in 1502 to control and enforce the Portuguese trade monopoly over a wide area in the Indian Ocean, taking advantage of local commerce. Officially, no vessel was permitted to sail in the Indian coast without this document, risking losing their cargo, being attacked and even sunk by the Portuguese – mainly Muslim, Hindu and Malay merchant ships. Every year, during the monsoon, Portuguese fleets patrolled the coasts requiring this document. (Hence Statement 2. is correct)

Notes:
The silver coin introduced during the reign of Sultan Mohammad-bin Tughlaq was called Adl.

Notes:
Kindly read Shershah as forerunner of Akbar at page 190 of the below book for simple explanation.

Notes:
• The first statement is correct. The French East India Company was a state undertaking company whose directors were appointed by the crown. The lethargy and bureaucratic control of this company was one of the reasons of its failure. On the other hand, the English East India Company was a private undertaking.
• The second statement is incorrect. The British East India Company was at an advantage over its French counterpart because its headquarters was at Calcutta and Bengal was richest region of India at that time. The Dutch and the French were present in Bengal only through their subordinate factories, like Chinsura of Dutch and Chandernagar of the French.

Notes:
The first statement is correct. The second statement is NOT correct, because Bengal had not well established local commercial institutions and that was one of the reasons that the market was gradually captured by those Europeans. The third statement is incorrect and has some political reasons such as confrontation with the Nawabs. First Governor General Warren Hastings had moved all important offices from Murshidabad to Calcutta.

Notes:
Sir Josiah Child’s war with the Mughal Empire began when he captured Mughal ships and ended when the English were obliged to conclude peace with the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1689. This was first conflict of British with a Mughal emperor.

Notes:
Humayun-Nama, Ain-i-Akbari and Akbarnama were written in the 16th century. Tuzk-e-Jahangiri was written in the 17th century.

• Akbar asked his aunt to write whatever she remembered about her brother’s life. Gulbadan Begum took the challenge and produced a document titled Ahwal Humayun Padshah Jamah Kardom Gulbadan Begum bint Babur Padshah amma Akbar Padshah. It came to be known as Humayun-Nama.
• The Ain-i-Akbari or the “Administration of Akbar”, is a 16th-century detailed document recording the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian, Abu’l Fazl in the Persian language.
• The Akbarnama which translates to Book of Akbar, is the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor, commissioned by Akbar himself by his court historian and biographer, Abu’l-Fazl ibn Mubarak who was one of the nine jewels in Akbar’s court.

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:
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.