Delhi Sultanate: Administration & Architecture Quiz — 7 Free Questions

Question 1

Which pious Slave-dynasty Sultan is said to have lived simply and copied the Quran for a living, while Balban, as his Naib, actually ran the government?

Question 2

Which office, when it was filled, ranked even above the Wazir and made its holder the deputy of the Sultan over the whole administration?

Question 3

What new charge did Firuz Shah Tughlaq introduce on land watered by his new canals?

Question 4

Which officer headed the department of intelligence and the state news-and-postal service?

Question 5

To which Sufi silsila did Nizamuddin Auliya and Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar belong, an order that kept its distance from the state and permitted 'sama', devotional music?

Question 6

Whose invasion in 1398 sacked Delhi and hastened the collapse of the Tughlaq dynasty?

Question 7

After the death of Alauddin Khalji, which of his military controls did his successors, and especially Firuz Shah Tughlaq, allow to lapse?

📚 All Quizzes

Browse every category and see the full list of quizzes on BriskQuiz

→

About Delhi Sultanate: Administration & Architecture

This quiz is meant for students preparing for the IAS examination and other competitive tests, and for anyone who wants a clear picture of the Delhi Sultanate, its government and its buildings. It covers the five dynasties -- the Slave or Mamluk line, the Khaljis, the Tughlaqs, the Sayyids and the Lodis -- from Qutb-ud-din Aibak in 1206 to the defeat of Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat in 1526. The heart of the quiz is administration: the Sultan and the central departments such as the Diwan-i-Wizarat, the Diwan-i-Arz and the Diwan-i-Insha; the nobility and the court; the iqta system and provincial and local government; land revenue, taxes such as kharaj, zakat and jizya, and the coinage; the army with its branding of horses and descriptive rolls; and the market-control system of Alauddin Khalji and the canals, towns and welfare departments of Firuz Shah Tughlaq. The other half is architecture: the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque and the Qutb Minar, the true arch and dome of the Alai Darwaza, the sloping walls of the Tughlaqs, the octagonal and square tombs and the double dome of the Sayyids and Lodis, and the provincial styles of Jaunpur, Bengal, Gujarat, Malwa and the Bahmani Deccan. It also covers the sources, Sufism and the Bhakti movement, and the culture of the age. When complete it will have one hundred and twenty carefully checked questions, arranged in five packs of twenty-four.

Every question has four options, and the correct option can be in any position. After each question there is a detailed explanation of more than five lines, in simple Indian English that a school student can follow, giving the important dates, names, technical terms and the points that examiners like to test.

Every fact has been checked against standard reference books on medieval Indian history and against the accounts of the contemporary chroniclers.