Ans: D

Exp:

Alauddin Khalji, the ruler of the Delhi Sultanate from 1296 to 1316, oversaw a number of significant agrarian, fiscal, and land reforms in northern India. Through the confiscation of private holdings and the cancellation of land concessions, he redeclared vast tracts of land as crown territory. By eliminating the middleman village leaders, he levied a 50% kharaj tax on agricultural produce and directed his ministry to collect the money from the peasants directly.

Ans: D

Exp:

The Arab ruler Junaid launched the initial assault on the shrine of Somnath.He took the lives of everyone in his path. His primary goal was to kidnap the women and steal, rob, and misappropriate Somnath’s valuables and fortune.  After that, Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked the temple. Being at Ghaznavi’s side during all of his looting and destruction, Albruni has not only detailed all of Ghaznavi’s attacks but also his tactics at the time. Albruni said that Mahmud Ghaznavi had sent some of his agents into the temple, where they were disguising their identities and eloping. They made their living as traders, travellers, and priests. Ghaznavi attacked Somnath, where about fifty thousand devotees had gathered for special celebrations and worshipping, men, women and children. According to Albruni, Somnath was attacked by five thousand soldiers of Ghaznavi. In this manner, the temple at Somnath was later assaulted by Aurangzeb in 1665 and 1706, Alauddin Khilji in 1297, and Muzaffar Shah in 1397. After Independence in 1947, the temple was reconstructed in spite of all the attacks.

Ans: A

Exp:

The early Delhi Sultans, particularly Iltutmish, preferred to name their privileged slaves—known as bandagan in Persian—purchased for military service as governors rather than nobles and landed chieftains. To staff some of the most significant political positions in the kingdom, they underwent extensive training. The Sultan could rely on them because they were entirely devoted to his master. The Khaljis and Tughluqs continued to use bandagan and also raised people of humble birth, who were often their clients, to high political positions. They were appointed as generals and governors.  However, this also introduced an element of political instability.

Ans: C

Exp:

Purana Qila (Old Fort) is one of the oldest forts in Delhi. The present citadel at Purana Qila was believed to have been built under Humayun and Afghan Sher Shah Suri (‘The Lion King’). The fort was the inner citadel of the city of Din Panah during Humayun’s rule who renovated it in 1533 and completed five years later. The founder of the Suri Dynasty, Sher Shah Suri, defeated Humayun in 1540, naming the fort Shergarh; he added several more structures in the complex during his five-year reign. Purana Qila and its environs flourished as the “sixth city of Delhi”.

Ans: A

Exp: 

The polity that Prophet Muhammad created was based on the twin concepts of Ummah (the Muslim community of believers) and jihad. It had a religious foundation, and all its members had to be Muslims. The Prophet’s subsequent treaties with the Jews and Christians became the basis of the dhimmi system and reflected the eternal frontier between believers and non-believers.

• Islam incorporated the most revered symbols of the Arabs and distanced itself from Judaism and Christianity. As part of this process, Friday was substituted for Sabbath, azaan (call to prayer) for trumpets and gongs, Ramzan designated the holy month, and the qibla (direction to be faced during prayer) changed from Jerusalem to Mecca.