Delhi Sultanate MCQs for UPSC Prelims

Correct answer: D - traders

The Banjaras were nomadic trading and transport communities who moved goods, especially grain and salt, in bullock caravans across long distances during the medieval period, making them traders. They were not settled cultivators, so option (a) is wrong. They were a commercial and carrier community, not a martial or warrior group, ruling out option (b). Weaving was the occupation of communities such as the Julahas, not the Banjaras, eliminating option (c).

Correct answer: A - 1 only

Chingiz Khan did reach the Indus around 1221 chasing the Khwarezmian prince Jalaluddin Mangabarni while Iltutmish (1211-1236) ruled Delhi, so statement 1 is correct. Taimur's invasion of Multan and India occurred in 1398 during the reign of Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah Tughluq, not Muhammad bin Tughluq (died 1351), so statement 2 is wrong. Vasco da Gama landed near Calicut in 1498, well after Deva Raya II had died in 1446, so statement 3 is also wrong, leaving only statement 1 valid.

Correct answer: D - Sayyids

In the Delhi Sultanate chronicles, notably in Afif's account, the Sayyids were referred to as kulah-daran, literally the wearers of the pointed cap, the kulah being a mark of their distinguished religious lineage. Arab merchants and Persian calligraphists carried no such specific title in the sources. Qalandars were wandering antinomian dervishes known by their own name rather than this term. The expression therefore points to the Sayyids, and the question demanded an obscure detail that few aspirants would know, making it hard.

Correct answer: B - 2 only

The first Mongol incursion came in 1221 during Iltutmish's reign, when Chinggis Khan pursued the Khwarazmian prince Jalal-ud-din Mangbarni to the Indus, decades before Jalal-ud-din Khalji, so statement 1 is incorrect. Under Ala-ud-din Khalji the Mongols under Targhi reached and besieged Delhi itself in 1303, forcing the Sultan to take shelter in Siri, so statement 2 is correct. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq faced a Mongol raid by Tarmashirin but did not lose north-western territories to the Mongols, so statement 3 is incorrect. The answer is 2 only.

Correct answer: A - 1 only

In Sultanate revenue administration, the amil was the official responsible for collecting land revenue at the local level, so statement 1 is correct. Statement 2 is wrong because the iqta was an institution of West and Central Asian origin, developed under the Abbasids and Seljuks and brought to India by the Turks; it was neither ancient nor indigenous. Statement 3 is also wrong since the Mir Bakshi, head of the military department, was a Mughal-era office; the comparable Sultanate official was the Ariz-i-Mumalik. Therefore only statement 1 stands.

Correct answer: A - Kharaj (fixed at half the produce)

Alauddin Khalji raised the land revenue (kharaj) to half of the produce in the doab and measured land to assess it directly, removing intermediaries. Zakat was a religious tax on Muslims, khams was the state's one-fifth share of war booty and mines, and jizya was a poll tax on non-Muslims. His harsh agrarian and market measures were aimed at maintaining a large standing army cheaply.

Correct answer: A - An assignment of the revenue of a territory to an officer in lieu of salary, with obligations of maintaining troops and remitting surplus

The Iqta was a revenue assignment granted to a noble (muqti/wali) in place of cash salary; the holder collected revenue, maintained a contingent of troops, and remitted surplus (fawazil) to the centre, with the system tightened under rulers like Alauddin Khalji and Balban. A tax-free religious grant is closer to inam/waqf, not iqta.

Correct answer: A - Alauddin Khalji

Alauddin Khalji instituted the dagh (branding of horses) and the huliya (descriptive roll of each soldier) to ensure that paid troops were genuine and to curb fraud in muster. Iltutmish is associated with the iqta system and the Chahalgani; Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq with revenue moderation; and Firuz Shah Tughlaq with public works and making iqtas hereditary. Hence Alauddin Khalji is correct.