Medieval India: Sultanate, Vijayanagara, Mughals, Marathas; Bhakti and Sufi: previous-year questions
31 real UPSC Prelims questions (2011–2026) with the official answer and a clear explanation. 15 of them came in the last five papers.
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The irrigation device called ‘Araghatta’ was
Answer (b) & explanation
Araghatta was a wheel with pots tied to it (b). The araghatta, or rahat, was a large wheel fitted with a chain of earthen pots. As animals turned it, the pots dipped into a well and lifted water up. Early medieval texts and inscriptions mention it. Option (a) is wrong: a leather bag pulled over a pulley is the charas or mot, a different device. Option (c) is wrong: it was not a single large pot. Option (d) is wrong: a bucket pulled by hand is the simplest lift, not the araghatta.
Notice the later Persian wheel, with gears, which spread under the Delhi Sultanate and Babur describes in his memoirs. Water-lifting helped farmers grow crops in dry seasons in north India.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following fruits :
- I. Papaya
- II. Pineapple
- III. Guava
How many of the above were introduced in India by the Portuguese in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?
Answer (c) & explanation
All three fruits came with the Portuguese (c). The Portuguese brought many New World crops to India in the 16th and 17th centuries. Item I is right: papaya came from Central America. Item II is right: pineapple came from South America. Item III is right: guava came from tropical America. All three came through the Columbian exchange, the swap of plants and animals after 1492. So options (a), (b) and (d) fail.
Notice the other Portuguese imports: tobacco, chilli, potato, tomato, cashew, maize and groundnut. Today India is the largest producer of papaya and guava. Allahabad (Prayagraj) guava is famous, and Meghalaya and Tripura grow sweet pineapples.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Who of the following rulers of medieval India gave permission to the Portuguese to build a fort at Bhatkal ?
Answer (a) & explanation
Krishnadevaraya let the Portuguese build a fort at Bhatkal (a). Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara (1509–29) was friendly with the Portuguese. They were enemies of Bijapur, his rival, and they supplied the Arabian and Persian war horses his cavalry needed. He let them build a fort at Bhatkal, a port on the Karnataka coast. Option (b) is wrong: Narasimha Saluva ruled before the Portuguese arrived in strength. Option (c) is wrong: Muhammad Shah III was a Bahmani sultan. Option (d) is wrong: Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur was their enemy; he lost Goa to Albuquerque in 1510.
Notice the visitors who described Vijayanagara's wealth: the Portuguese Domingo Paes and Fernao Nuniz. Krishnadevaraya also wrote the Telugu poem Amuktamalyada.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following dynasties :
- 1. Hoysala
- 2. Gahadavala
- 3. Kakatiya
- 4. Yadava
How many of the above dynasties established their kingdoms in early eighth century AD?
Answer (d) & explanation
None of them was founded in the early eighth century (d). All four are later dynasties. The Hoysalas of Karnataka rose in the 11th century, with capitals at Belur and Halebidu. The Gahadavalas took Kanauj around 1090. The Kakatiyas of Warangal and the Yadavas of Devagiri became independent in the 12th century, after the Western Chalukya power fell. So options (a), (b) and (c) are wrong.
Notice who did rise in the eighth century: the Rashtrakutas (Dantidurga, about 753), the Gurjara-Pratiharas and the Palas of Bengal. These three later fought the tripartite struggle for Kanauj. The Hoysalas are famous for star-shaped temples, now a UNESCO World Heritage site (2023).
"How many" with an option "None": dynasties of the 11th–13th centuries are put here to look as if they rose earlier.
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Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Who among the following rulers of Vijayanagara Empire constructed a large dam across Tungabhadra River and a canal-cum-aqueduct several kilometres long from the river to the capital city?
Answer (a) & explanation
Devaraya I built the Tungabhadra dam and canal (a). Devaraya I (1406–22) of the Sangama dynasty built a dam across the Tungabhadra and a long canal-cum-aqueduct that brought water to the capital, Vijayanagara (Hampi). This boosted farming and the state's revenue. The Portuguese visitor Nuniz described such works. Mallikarjuna (b), Vira Vijaya (c) and Virupaksha (d) were later Sangama rulers of a weaker period; none built this dam.
Notice the Italian traveller Nicolo de Conti, who visited under Devaraya I. The Hampi ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage site, still show tanks and channels, such as the stepped tank and the Kamalapura tank. The modern Tungabhadra dam came up in 1953.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Who among the following rulers of medieval Gujarat surrendered Diu to Portuguese?
Answer (c) & explanation
Bahadur Shah gave Diu to the Portuguese (c). Under pressure from the Mughal Humayun, Bahadur Shah of Gujarat signed the Treaty of Bassein (1534) and let the Portuguese build a fort at Diu in 1535. He was killed in 1537 during a meeting on a Portuguese ship. Option (b) is wrong: Mahmud Begarha fought the Portuguese at sea with Egyptian help, winning at Chaul (1508) but losing at Diu (1509). Option (a) is wrong: Ahmad Shah founded Ahmedabad in 1411. Option (d) is wrong: Muhammad Shah was a 15th-century ruler.
Notice that Diu stayed Portuguese until 1961, when India took Goa, Daman and Diu. Today Diu is part of the merged UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to Indian history, consider the following statements :
- 1. The first Mongol invasion of India happened during the reign of Jalal-ud-din Khalji.
- 2. During the reign of Ala-ud-din Khalji, one Mongol assault marched up to Delhi and besieged the city.
- 3. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq temporarily lost portions of north-west of his kingdom to Mongols.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Only statement 2 is correct (b). Statement 2 is right: under Alauddin Khalji, the Mongol leader Targhi camped outside Delhi and besieged it in 1303, while the Sultan's army was away; earlier, Qutlugh Khwaja had also reached Delhi in 1299. Statement 1 is wrong: the Mongols first reached India's frontier in 1221, under Iltutmish, when Chingiz Khan chased Jalal-ud-din Mangbarni to the Indus. Statement 3 is treated as wrong: Tarmashirin's raid in about 1327 reached near Delhi under Muhammad bin Tughlaq, but he went back without holding territory.
Notice that the Mongol threat shaped Alauddin's reforms: a large standing army, market control to pay it cheaply, and the branding of horses (dagh) and descriptive rolls of soldiers (huliya).
The name Jalal-ud-din is a double trap. It points to the Khalji sultan, but the Jalal-ud-din in the 1221 story is the prince Chingiz was chasing.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to Indian history, who of the following were known as “Kulah-Daran” ?
Answer (d) & explanation
The Sayyids were the Kulah-Daran (d). In the Delhi Sultanate, the Sayyids, who claimed descent from the Prophet through his daughter Fatima, were called kulah-daran, or "cap-wearers", after the pointed cap they wore as a mark of their status. They got respect, land grants and stipends at court. Option (b) is wrong: Qalandars were wandering dervishes who shaved their heads and rejected such marks of rank. Arab merchants (a) and Persian calligraphists (c) had no such title.
Notice how social rank worked in the Sultanate. Nobles were the ashraf, the commoners ajlaf, and religious men the ulama. Do not confuse these Sayyids with the Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451) of Khizr Khan, which ruled Delhi after Timur's invasion.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
“Yogavasistha” was translated into Persian by Nizamuddin Panipati during the reign of :
Answer (a) & explanation
It was translated under Akbar (a). Nizamuddin Panipati made a Persian version of the Yogavasishtha in 1597, during Akbar's reign, for Prince Salim. Akbar's translation bureau (Maktab Khana) at Fatehpur Sikri put many Sanskrit works into Persian: the Mahabharata as the Razmnama, the Ramayana, the Atharvaveda and the mathematics text Lilavati. Humayun (b) ruled before this work. Shahjahan (c) is wrong, though his son Dara Shukoh translated the Upanishads as Sirr-i-Akbar. Aurangzeb (d) did not sponsor such translations.
Notice the idea behind it: Akbar's sulh-i-kul (peace with all) pushed dialogue between faiths. The Yogavasishtha itself teaches, through a talk between sage Vasishtha and Rama, that the world is like a dream.
Dara Shukoh's translation work tempts you towards Shahjahan. The Yogavasishtha is an Akbar-period work.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The world’s second tallest statue in sitting pose of Ramanuja was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India at Hyderabad recently. Which one of the following statements correctly represents the teachings of Ramanuja ?
Answer (a) & explanation
Ramanuja taught that devotion is the best way to salvation (a). Ramanuja (11th–12th century) taught Vishishtadvaita, or qualified non-dualism: the soul is real but depends on a personal God, Vishnu. The way to moksha is bhakti and prapatti, complete surrender to God. Option (b) is the Mimamsa view of the Vedas as eternal and self-existent. Option (c) fits the Nyaya school, which stressed logic. Option (d) fits Yoga, or Shankara's path of knowledge and meditation.
Notice the Statue of Equality, a 216-foot seated statue at Muchintal near Hyderabad, unveiled in 2022. It marks his 1000th birth anniversary and his teaching that all people, of any caste, can reach God through devotion.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
In medieval India, the term “Fanam” referred to:
Answer (b) & explanation
Fanam was a coin (b). The fanam (Tamil and Malayalam panam) was a small gold coin of South India. It was struck by Vijayanagara, the Malabar rulers and later by the European companies at Madras and Pondicherry. Foreign visitors such as Abdur Razzaq and the Portuguese described it as the common small unit; bigger values were the pagoda or varaha (hun). It was not a cloth (a), an ornament (c) or a weapon (d), though its tiny size sometimes made it look like a bead.
Notice that the word lives on: panam still means money in Tamil and Malayalam. UPSC likes such coin terms: the tanka and jital of the Delhi Sultanate, the dam and rupiya of Sher Shah, and the dinara of the Guptas.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
According to Portuguese writer Nuniz, the women in Vijayanagara Empire were expert in which of the following areas?
- 1. Wrestling
- 2. Astrology
- 3. Accounting
- 4. Soothsaying
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (d) & explanation
Nuniz described women in all four roles (d). Fernão Nuniz, a Portuguese horse trader in Vijayanagara around 1535, wrote that the palace women included wrestlers (item 1), astrologers (item 2), and soothsayers (item 4). He also wrote that women kept the accounts of expenses inside the palace (item 3), and that some served as clerks and even judges. So all four appear in his chronicle.
Notice the other foreign visitors to Vijayanagara: Domingo Paes (Portuguese, under Krishnadeva Raya), Abdur Razzaq (Persian, under Deva Raya II), and Niccolò de' Conti (Italian). The capital, Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The empire fell after the Battle of Talikota (1565).
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements :
- 1. It was during the reign of Iltutmish that Chengiz Khan reached the Indus in pursuit of the fugitive Khwarezm prince.
- 2. It was during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq that Taimur occupied Multan and crossed the Indus.
- 3. It was during the reign of Deva Raya II of Vijayanagara Empire that Vasco da Gama reached the coast of Kerala.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (a) & explanation
Only statement 1 is correct (a). Statement 1 is right: Chingiz Khan reached the Indus in 1221, during the reign of Iltutmish, chasing the Khwarezm prince Jalal-ud-din Mangbarni. Iltutmish wisely refused the prince shelter, saving Delhi from attack. Statement 2 is wrong: Timur invaded in 1398, in the reign of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Tughluq, not Muhammad bin Tughluq, who died in 1351. Statement 3 is wrong: Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498, long after Deva Raya II died in 1446; Vijayanagara was then under the Saluva dynasty.
Notice that Timur's sack of Delhi weakened the Sultanate, and the Sayyids followed. The Zamorin ruled Calicut when da Gama arrived.
Each statement gets the event right and puts the wrong ruler with it. Date each one.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to medieval India, which one of the following is the correct sequence in ascending order in terms of size?
Answer (a) & explanation
Pargana, sarkar, suba is the ascending order (a). In Akbar's administration, the empire was divided into subas (provinces), each suba into sarkars (districts), and each sarkar into parganas, which were groups of villages. So from smallest to largest the order is pargana, sarkar, suba. Options (b), (c) and (d) mix up this order. The suba was run by the subedar (governor) with a diwan for revenue; the sarkar by the faujdar; and the pargana by the shiqdar and the amil.
Notice that Akbar had 12 subas at first, which rose to 15 by the end of his reign. The revenue system was the zabt or dahsala system of Raja Todar Mal.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to Indian history, which of the following statements is/are correct?
- 1. The Nizamat of Arcot emerged out of Hyderabad State.
- 2. The Mysore Kingdom emerged out of Vijayanagara Empire.
- 3. Rohilkhand Kingdom was formed out of the territories occupied by Ahmad Shah Durrani.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (b) & explanation
Only statement 2 is correct (b). Statement 1 is wrong: Arcot was the seat of the Nawabs of the Carnatic, a Mughal province; it was not a Nizamat carved out of Hyderabad, though the Nizam claimed overlordship. Statement 2 is right: the Wodeyars of Mysore began as Vijayanagara feudatories and became independent after 1565. Statement 3 is wrong: Rohilkhand was built by Ali Muhammad Khan Rohilla from Mughal lands in the 1740s, before Ahmad Shah Durrani's invasions; the Rohillas later allied with Durrani.
Notice that Haidar Ali took power in Mysore from the Wodeyars in 1761. The Third Battle of Panipat (1761) saw Durrani defeat the Marathas.
The Carnatic nawab was nominally under the Nizam, so 1 looks right. UPSC's key treats it as wrong.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to Mughal India, what is/are the difference / differences between Jagirdar and Zamindar?
- 1. Jagirdars were holders of land assignments in lieu of judicial and police duties, whereas Zamindars were holders of revenue rights without obligation to perform any duty other than revenue collection.
- 2. Land assignments to Jagirdars were hereditary and revenue rights of Zamindars were not hereditary.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (d) & explanation
Neither statement is correct (d). Statement 1 is wrong because a jagir was an assignment of the revenue of an area, given to a mansabdar in place of a cash salary. In return he kept troops and served the emperor, mainly with military duties, not judicial and police duties. A zamindar did more than collect revenue: he kept law and order in his area and supplied troops when called. Statement 2 is wrong because it reverses the truth. Jagirs were transferable every few years and not hereditary, so that nobles did not build local power. Zamindari rights were hereditary and could even be sold.
Notice the link: the jagirdari crisis, a shortage of good jagirs under Aurangzeb, is often cited as a cause of Mughal decline.
Statement 2 swaps the two. The zamindar's right was the hereditary one.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements :
- 1. In the revenue administration of Delhi Sultanate, the in-charge of revenue collection was known as ‘Amil’.
- 2. The Iqta system of Sultans of Delhi was an ancient indigenous institution.
- 3. The office of ‘Mir Bakshi’ came into existence during the reign of Khalji Sultans of Delhi.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (a) & explanation
Only statement 1 is correct (a). Statement 1 is right because, in the Delhi Sultanate, the amil was the official who collected revenue at the local level. Statement 2 is wrong because the iqta system was not indigenous. It came from West Asian Islamic practice, and Iltutmish set it up in India by giving iqtas to his officers, the muqtis, in place of salaries. Statement 3 is wrong because the Mir Bakhshi, head of the military pay and record office, was a Mughal post. The Sultanate's military office was the Diwan-i-Arz, set up by Balban.
Notice the Sultanate's key reforms: Alauddin Khalji's market control and land measurement, and Muhammad bin Tughlaq's token currency and Diwan-i-Kohi for farming.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements :
- 1. Saint Nimbarka was a contemporary of Akbar.
- 2. Saint Kabir was greatly influenced by Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (d) & explanation
Neither statement is correct (d). Statement 1 is wrong because Nimbarka, the Vaishnava philosopher of Dvaitadvaita (dualistic non-dualism) and Radha-Krishna worship, lived around the 12th–13th century. Akbar ruled from 1556 to 1605, centuries later. Statement 2 is wrong because Kabir lived in the 15th century, while Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (1564–1624), the Naqshbandi Sufi who opposed Akbar's liberal policies, came about a century later. He could not have influenced Kabir. Kabir drew on the Nirguna Bhakti tradition, Ramananda, and the Nath and Sufi ideas around him.
Notice the timeline of Bhakti saints: Ramanuja (11th–12th century), Ramananda (14th–15th), Kabir and Guru Nanak (15th–16th), and Tulsidas (16th, under Akbar).
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which one of the following foreign travellers elaborately discussed about diamonds and diamond mines of India ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier wrote about diamonds (b). Tavernier was a French jewel merchant who made six trips to India between 1640 and 1667. In his Travels, he described the Golconda diamond mines, such as Kollur on the Krishna, along with how they were mined and traded. He sold the large blue "Tavernier Blue" to Louis XIV; it was later recut into the Hope Diamond. Bernier (a) was a doctor who wrote on Mughal politics and argued there was no private land ownership. Thevenot (c) wrote about western and southern India. Carré (d) wrote on politics and French trade.
Notice the famous Golconda diamonds: the Koh-i-Noor and the Daria-i-Noor.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which one of the following was a very important seaport in the Kakatiya kingdom ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Motupalli was the main Kakatiya port (b). Motupalli, in present-day Prakasam/Bapatla district, Andhra Pradesh, was the leading seaport of the Kakatiyas of Warangal. Ganapatideva left an abhaya-shasana (assurance inscription) there in 1244–45. It promised foreign merchants fair customs duties and protection from the old custom of seizing shipwrecked goods. Marco Polo came during Rudramadevi's reign and praised the region's diamonds and fine cloth. Kakinada (a) and Machilipatnam (c) became important later, Machilipatnam under the Golconda Qutb Shahis and European companies. Nellore (d) was not the Kakatiya port.
Notice the Kakatiya legacy: tank irrigation such as Ramappa and Pakhal lakes, and the Ramappa Temple, a UNESCO site since 2021.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.