Medieval Indian History MCQs

Notes:
Calicut is a metropolitan city in the state of Kerala in southern India on the Malabar Coast. Kamal-ud-Din Abd-ur-Razzaq ibn Ishaq Samarqandi visited Calicut in early 1440s. He wrote a narrative of what he saw in Calicut which is valuable as information on Calicut’s society and culture.

Notes:
Abul Fazal was the author of Akbarnama which is written in Persian. It is the official history of Akbar’s reign in 3 volumes. This book gives the history of Akbar’s forefathers from Timur to Humayun and Akbar’s reign till 1602.

Notes:
Ashta Pradhan Pantpradhan or Peshwa – Prime Minister, general administration of the Empire. Amatya – Finance Minister, managing accounts of the Empire. Sacheev – Secretary, preparing royal edicts. Mantri – Interior Minister, managing internal affairs especially intelligence and espionage. Senapati – Commander-in-Chief, managing the forces and defense of the Empire. Sumant – Foreign Minister, to manage relationships with other sovereigns. Nyayadhish – Chief Justice, dispensing justice on civil and criminal matters. Panditrao – High Priest, managing internal religious matters.

Notes:
His original name was “Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan. Most of us know that “Ghalib” was his pen name. But before Ghalib, he wrote with a pen name “Asad“: which means a Lion. He was honored with title of Dabeer-ul-Mulk by Bahadur Shah Zafar II. When another title Mirza Nosha was given to him, he came to be known as Mirza Ghalib.

Notes:
Amir Khusrau was an influential poet who embraced Sufism under the guidance of Nizamuddin Auliya in 1310 during reign of Alauddin Khilji. In his prolific career, he wrote several significant works. One of them was Nuh Sipihr, a masnavi about the reign of Sultan Qutb ud-Din Mubarak Shah Khalji. Another noteworthy work was Duval Rani – Khizr Khan, a love saga about the alliance between Vaghela princess Duval Rani and Khizr Khan, the progeny of Sultan Ala ud-Din Khalji.

Notes:
Abul Fazal encouraged Akbar for debates on doctrinal and philosophical enquiries. Akbar displayed a curiosity in these discussions. The debate took place in the Ibadat Khana or Hall of Worship. The Ibadat Khana is now recognized to be the Diwan-i-Khas, which was founded in 1574 at the City of Fatehpur Sikri. It was opened for Sunni Muslims initially and was opened to all religions viz. Sufis, Shias, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus and Jains.

Notes:
Silhara dynasty ruled the region around present-day Mumbai between 9th and 13th century. They were vassals of Rastrakutas. Kapardin is considered to be the founder of this dynasty and the princes of this dynasty held the title Tagara-puradhishvara. Tagara was an ancient place near Osmanabad.

Notes:
Mughal Empress Nur Jahan ( Noor Jahan) was the wife of Mughal emperor Jahangir, her real name was Mehr-un-nisa (Nur Jahan). She was one of the most powerful personalities in the Mughal empire that the coins were struck in her name and on all farmans her name was attached to the imperial signature.

Notes:
Shams-ud-din Iltutmish belonged to the Ilbari tribe of Turkestan .

Notes:
In the reign of Firoz Shah Tughlaq, as per Quran, only four kind of taxes were imposed on public viz.
a) Kharaj was the land tax that was equal to 1 /10 of the produce of the land.
b) Zakat was 2 % tax on property.
c) Jaziya levied on non-Muslims ( or religious tax on the Hindus).
d) Khams was 1 / 5 of the booty captured during the war.