Medieval Indian History MCQs

Notes:
Mashrut Jagirs under the Jagirdari system of Mughals were the lands which were given on certain conditions. Tankha Jagirs were those which were given in lieu of salaries and they were transferable every three to four years.

Notes:
Robert Sewell was a civil servant of Madras presidency. He was Keeper of the Record Office of Madras. He authored ‘A Forgotten Empire- Vijayanagar’, a contribution to the History of India.

Notes:
Shivaji’s empire was divided into sixteen parts for the purpose of collecting the revenue. These sixteen parts were further divided into tarfs and each tarf was further subdivided into mauzs / mauzas. The revenue officer of a province was called the subedar while the officer in a tarf was called the karkun. Thus, during the rule of Shivaji the Mauzas or villages were the lowest unit of administration. The police officer in rural area was known as Faujdar and in urban area was called Kotwal. The Maratha Kingdom was also known as Swarajya or Mulk-e-Kadim.

Notes:
The head of the department of diwan-i-insha was Davir-i-Khas (Amir-Munshi). All formal or confidential correspondence between the sultan and the rulers of other states or subordinate chiefs, governors, and officials was conducted by his department. He was assisted in his work by a large number of dabirs (writers).

Notes:
The Sena Dynasty supplanted the Palas in Bengal towards the close of the 11th century AD. Hemantasena, the founder of the dynasty, was originally a tributary of the Pala dynasty. In the mid-eleventh century he declared his independence and set himself up as king. His successor, Vijayasena, built an empire on the ruins of that of the Palas, gaining control of all Bengal and northern Bihar.

Notes:
Alauddin Khilji established a permanent standing army in the Delhi Sultanate, introduced horse branding (Dagh) and biometric records (Chehra), implemented regular army musters, and organized a spy network. He reformed the revenue system for army funding and controlled market prices for provisions. His military innovations included war elephants and fort construction.

Notes:
Sikhism is the fifth-largest religion in the world. It promotes the idea of equality, brotherhood, devotion and love. Guru Hargobind, revered as the sixth Nanak, was the sixth of ten Gurus of the Sikh religion. He had become Guru at the young age of eleven, after the execution of his father, Guru Arjan, by the Mughal emperor Jahangir. He began Sachcha Badshah.

Notes:
Jahangir, the Mughal Emperor, valued the arts, especially painting and music. He composed Hindi songs and patronized musicians like Muhammad Salih. His reign saw the rise of the Khayal genre in Indian classical music, and he owned a collection of musical instruments.

Notes:
Baji Rao I is acknowledged as the most influential of the nine Peshwas. He conquered Central India (Malwa) and Rajputana and extended his dominions into Gujarat in the northwest and Deccan in the south. He raided Mughal Delhi in 1738.

Notes:
Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh built five observatories at Delhi, Mathura, Varanasi, Ujjain and Jaipur. Relying primarily on Indian astronomy, these buildings were used to accurately predict eclipses and other astronomical events. Only the one at Jaipur is still operational.