The Delhi Sultanate

Answer: (b) 2 only

Only statement 2 is correct: in 1303 a Mongol army besieged Delhi itself during Ala-ud-din Khalji's reign. Mongol attacks on the Sultanate had begun in Iltutmish's time, long before Jalal-ud-din Khalji, and the sources do not record Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq losing north-western territory to them.

• ✗ 1. The Mongols under Genghis Khan reached the Sultanate's frontier in the 13th century, during Iltutmish's reign (1211-36). Jalal-ud-din Khalji (1290-96) came much later and is remembered for defeating a large Mongol force.
• ✓ 2. The Chagatai Mongols pushed beyond the Punjab and Delhi endured a two-month siege in 1303, after which Ala-ud-din fortified the capital and built up a large army.
• ✗ 3. NCERT notes that Mongol attacks continued in the early years of Muhammad Tughluq's rule, but none of the cited sources says he lost north-western territory to them.

Remember · Mongols first reached the Sultanate under Iltutmish; Delhi itself was besieged in 1303 under Ala-ud-din Khalji, who answered with a large standing army.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) Sayyids

UPSC's key is Sayyids, the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. We could not confirm the meaning of the term Kulah-Daran from an official source, so we do not explain it here.

• ✓ (d) UPSC's official key gives the Sayyids; we could not confirm the term from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
• ✗ (b) Qalandars were wandering Sufi mendicants who scorned the khanqah and defied the shari'a; they were known by that name.
• ✗ (a) Arab merchants were traders on the coasts and are not associated with this title.
• ✗ (c) Persian calligraphists were court scribes and artists; the term did not denote them.

Remember · Qalandars = wandering ascetic Sufis who defied the shari'a. UPSC's key for Kulah-Daran: Sayyids.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 2 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Only statement 1 is correct: Genghis (Chengiz) Khan chased the Khwarezm prince Jalal al-Din to the Indus during Iltutmish's rule (1211-36). Timur came in 1398, long after Muhammad bin Tughluq, and Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498, about half a century after Deva Raya II.

• ✓ 1. NCERT records that Genghis Khan's forces followed the Khwarezm prince Jalaluddin to the banks of the Indus, where Genghis Khan turned back. Iltutmish was then ruling Delhi (1211-1236).
• ✗ 2. Timur crossed the Indus in 1398, when the Delhi sultan was Mahmud Tughluq. Muhammad bin Tughluq had died in 1351.
• ✗ 3. Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut (Kozhikode) in 1498. Deva Raya II belonged to the Sangama dynasty, whose control ended in 1485, and the Saluvas ruled at the time of the visit.

Remember · Iltutmish (1211-36): Mongols at the Indus. Timur's invasion: 1398, under Mahmud Tughluq. Vasco da Gama at Calicut: 1498, Saluva rule in Vijayanagara.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Themes in World History, Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

The amil was the revenue-collecting official, a term that continued into Mughal times (the amil-guzar). The iqta, a transferable assignment of revenue to military officers, came in with the Turkish conquerors from Muhammad Ghuri onwards, so it was not an ancient Indian institution. The Mir Bakhshi was a Mughal office under Akbar, not a Khalji one.

• ✓ 1. Under the Delhi Sultanate the revenue collector at the pargana level was the amil (Barani uses the term), working with the karkun (accountant); the Mughals kept the term, calling the revenue collector the amil-guzar.
• ✗ 2. The Turkish rulers made revenue assignments (iqta) to their nobles after their early 13th-century conquests, and Muhammad Ghuri's more centralised system of temporary land assignments was developed by the Delhi Sultans; the iqta was an imported, not an indigenous, institution.
• ✗ 3. The Mir Bakhshi, in charge of military matters, belongs to Akbar's reorganised Mughal administration, not to the Khalji Sultans.

Remember · Sultanate: iqta/iqtadar (Turkish-introduced revenue assignment), amil (revenue collector). Mughal (Akbar): Diwan (finance), Mir Bakhshi (military), Khan-i-Saman, Sadr.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) traders

Banjaras were nomadic traders who moved grain and other goods by caravan on pack animals, especially bullocks. Sultan Alauddin Khalji used them to bring grain to city markets, and under the Mughals they supplied grain to armies on campaign.

• ✓ (d) NCERT calls the Banjaras the most important trader-nomads of the period. Alauddin Khalji used them to carry grain to city markets, and Jahangir's memoirs mention them selling grain from their bullocks in towns.
• ✗ (a) They were not settled farmers; they moved with their caravans from place to place.
• ✗ (b) They carried food grain for the Mughal army, but as suppliers and carriers, not as fighters.
• ✗ (c) Weaving was the work of other artisan communities; the Banjaras carried goods between regions.

Remember · Banjaras were the main trader-nomads of medieval India, moving grain and goods in caravans on pack animals such as bullocks.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Indian Society, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) waterwheel used in the irrigation of land

Araghatta is a waterwheel used to lift water so that fields can be irrigated: a Government of India water-sector publication lists water wheels (araghatta) among the means of lifting water for irrigation in Kashmir. It names a piece of irrigation technology, not a labour system, a land grant or a category of land.

• ✓ (c) A Government of India water-sector publication (Ministry of Jal Shakti) records that, in the elaborate irrigation system of Kashmir, water wheels (araghatta) were used to lift water from the Jhelum.
• ✗ (b) Grants of territory to military commanders describe systems such as the iqta of the Delhi Sultanate (territories assigned to nobles to collect taxes and maintain the army) and the amara-nayaka system of Vijayanagara (military commanders given territories to govern), as NCERT records, not the araghatta.
• ✗ (d) Araghatta does not mean reclaimed wasteland; it is a machine for lifting water, not a type of land.

Remember · Araghatta means a waterwheel used to lift water for irrigation (a Government of India publication records water wheels, araghatta, lifting water from the Jhelum).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 2 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error