Early medieval kingdoms (c. 700–1200)

Answer: (b) a large wheel with earthen pots tied to the outer ends of its spokes

The answer is the pot-wheel of Indian irrigation: a large wheel carrying a ring of pots that dip into a well, fill, rise and empty into a channel as the wheel turns. NCERT reproduces Babur's description of it, a wheel with pitchers fastened to ropes and wooden strips, turned by a bullock through geared wheels, and calls the same device the Persian wheel (Rehat).

• ✓ (b) Babur describes a wheel-well device with pitchers fastened between two circles of rope, turned by a bullock through toothed wheels, with a trough where the pitchers empty. NCERT's figure calls it a Persian wheel. UPSC's key treats this option as correct; we could not confirm the option's name from an official source, so we do not explain that detail.
• ✗ (a) Babur also describes a different device: a large bucket on a rope passed over a roller at the well-edge and tied to a bullock. NCERT lists the Charas as a separate well-irrigation device, distinct from the Rehat (Persian wheel). Neither is a wheel of pots.
• ✗ (d) A bucket on a rope is the other kind of lift Babur describes; it is not a wheel carrying a ring of pots.

Remember · Wheel with a ring of pots lifting well water = the Persian wheel (Rehat); Babur describes one turned by a bullock through gears. A bucket-and-rope lift (charas type) is a different device.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part II, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Understanding Society, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Rajendra I (Chola)

Only the Cholas had a navy able to strike across the Bay of Bengal. Rajendra Chola I, son of Rajaraja I, sent a naval expedition in the 1020s that defeated Srivijaya's forces and took its capital, a punitive raid rather than a lasting occupation.

• ✓ (c) Rajendra I's fleet defeated the Shrivijaya forces and captured their capital; he also took the title Gangaikondachola after campaigns reaching Odisha and Bengal.
• ✗ (a) Amoghavarsha I was a ninth-century Rashtrakuta king of the Deccan, remembered as Nripatunga and a patron of scholars, not for any overseas war.
• ✗ (d) Vishnuvardhana freed the Hoysalas of Karnataka from Chalukya overlordship in the twelfth century and challenged the Cholas on land; he led no naval campaign.

Remember · Rajendra Chola I (c. 1014–1044): naval raid on Srivijaya (Malay Peninsula–Sumatra), title Gangaikondachola, new capital Gangaikondacholapuram.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 7 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 2), Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error