Medieval Indian History MCQs

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The Bahamani kingdom (1347-1527 CE) had a structured administration divided into four provinces (tarafs): Gulbarga, Daulatabad, Bidar, and Berar, each led by a tarafdar. It featured a complex revenue system and promoted Persian culture. The kingdom blended Persian, Turkish, and Indian influences, evident in its architecture, like the Gol Gumbaz. It also set the stage for later Deccan Sultanates.

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Ibrahim Adil Shah II, or Jagadguru Badshah, was a Sunni patron known for religious tolerance. He employed Brahmins and Marathas, composed “Kitab-e-Navras” in Persian and Kannada, and promoted Hindustani classical music. His court attracted artists and scholars, and he built the Ibrahim Rauza in Bijapur.

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After the death of the Sultan of Bijapur, Muhammad Adil Shah in 1656 CE due to prolonged illness, he was buried in the Gol Gumbaz, near the tomb of his spiritual teacher Hashimpeer Dastageer.

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Golconda Fort, built in stone and lime by Ibrahim Qutb Shah, replaced an earlier mud and brick fort from the 13th-century Kakatiya dynasty. It features remarkable acoustics, allowing a hand clap at the entrance to be heard at the Bala Hissar pavilion, nearly a kilometer away. The fort was also a major diamond trade center and housed the Koh-i-Noor diamond.

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A spiritual way of life was adopted by individual Sufis in the ninth and tenth centuries, it came to be known as the tariqah. The first stage of mystic concepts appeared as a reaction to the worldliness of the early Umayyad period.

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Jalauddin Rumi who was a great Sufi mystic and poet, founded the Order of the Whirling Dervishes in the thirteenth century. He was born in Afghanistan in 1207 CE.

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Ramananda was originally a follower of Ramanuja. He was born in Allahabad, and is believed to have lived in the first half of the 15th century. He worshiped Ram and Sita.

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Sher Khan offered to surrender Bihar and pay 10 lakh dinars annually for Bengal, but Humayun declined. Sher Khan, later Sher Shah Suri, defeated Humayun at the Battle of Chausa (1539) and the Battle of Kannauj (1540). He introduced the Rupiya and built the Grand Trunk Road.

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The rule of Sher Shah Suri lasted for only five years but he organised a brilliant administrative system which served as inspiration to not only the Mughal administration but to the British too. The empire of Sher Shah Suri was divided into forty seven sarkars.

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During the Mughal administration, the head of the revenue department was wazir, but he was no longer the principal adviser to the ruler. He was an expert in revenue affairs having the title of diwan or diwan-i-ala.