WBPSC Clerkship History Previous Year Questions with Answers

Correct Answer: (D) Kumargupta I

Nalanda Mahavihara in present-day Bihar was founded in the 5th century CE by the Gupta ruler Kumaragupta I (c. 415-455 CE), identified with Shakraditya named by Hiuen Tsang as its founder. It grew into the most famous Buddhist centre of learning in ancient Asia.

Exam Facts

• Kumaragupta I took the title Mahendraditya and performed the Ashvamedha sacrifice.
• Later patrons: Harshavardhana and the Pala kings (e.g. Devapala).
• Chinese pilgrims Hiuen Tsang (Xuanzang) and I-tsing studied there; Hiuen Tsang’s teacher was Shilabhadra.
• It was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khalji around 1193 CE.
• The excavated ruins became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.
• A new Nalanda University (Nalanda University Act, 2010) runs near Rajgir; its new campus was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi on 19 June 2024.
• Samudragupta (option A) is called the “Napoleon of India” (V.A. Smith); the Allahabad Pillar inscription by Harisena records his conquests.
• Chandragupta I (option B) began the Gupta Era in 319-320 CE and married the Lichchhavi princess Kumaradevi.
• Skandagupta (option C) repelled the Hunas; his Junagadh inscription records repairs to the Sudarshana lake.
• Vikramashila University was founded by the Pala king Dharmapala.

Correct Answer: (C) Alauddin Khilji

Alauddin Khalji (reigned 1296-1316) of the Delhi Sultanate was the first ruler in medieval India to introduce a market control policy (price regulation), mainly to maintain a large army on low salaries against Mongol invasions. The main source is Ziauddin Barani’s Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi.

Exam Facts

• Officials: Diwan-i-Riyasat (head of markets), Shahna-i-Mandi (market superintendent), Barid and Munhiyan (spies and informers).
• Separate markets for grain (Mandi), cloth (Sarai-i-Adl), horses, cattle and slaves, and general goods.
• Grain was stored in state granaries and supply was ensured by fixing land revenue in kind.
• Military reforms: Dagh (branding of horses) and Huliya/Chehra (descriptive roll of soldiers).
• Land revenue was raised to half (50%) of produce, collected on measurement.
• Iltutmish (option A) introduced the silver tanka and copper jital, organised the Iqta system and the Chahalgani (the Forty).
• Balban (option B) promoted the theory of divine kingship, Sijda and Paibos, and created the Diwan-i-Arz (military department).
• Firoz Shah Tughlaq (option D) built canals, set up Diwan-i-Khairat (charity) and Diwan-i-Bandagan (slaves).
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq issued token currency and shifted the capital to Daulatabad.
• Alauddin’s general Malik Kafur led campaigns into the Deccan and the far south.

Correct Answer: (B) Giotto

Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267-1337), a Florentine painter, is usually called the father of European painting and founder of Renaissance art. He broke with flat Byzantine style and brought in naturalism, depth and human emotion. The official WBPSC key accepts Giotto, although some textbooks give Masaccio the title for early Quattrocento painting.

Exam Facts

• Giotto’s masterpiece is the fresco cycle in the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, Padua (c. 1305).
• He designed the bell tower Giotto’s Campanile in Florence.
• Giorgio Vasari praised Giotto in his Lives of the Artists (1550) as the restorer of painting.
• The Renaissance (“rebirth”) began in Florence, Italy in the 14th century, supported by patrons such as the Medici family.
• Masaccio (option C, 1401-1428) was the first great painter of the early 15th century to use linear perspective (see The Holy Trinity and the Brancacci Chapel frescoes).
• Donatello (option A, 1386-1466) was a sculptor, famous for his bronze David.
• Leonardo da Vinci (option D, 1452-1519) belongs to the High Renaissance and painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.
• Filippo Brunelleschi formulated linear perspective and built the dome of Florence Cathedral.
• Michelangelo (Sistine Chapel ceiling) and Raphael (School of Athens) were the other High Renaissance masters.
• Petrarch is called the father of Humanism, the intellectual basis of the Renaissance.

Correct Answer: (B) Painter

Jamini Roy (1887-1972) was a famous Indian painter from Beliatore, Bankura district, West Bengal. He drew on Kalighat pat and Bengali folk art to create a bold, simple modern style. He received the Padma Bhushan in 1954.

Exam Facts

• He trained at the Government School of Art, Calcutta under Abanindranath Tagore‘s influence before rejecting academic Western style.
• He used cheap natural pigments (earth, chalk, lamp-black) and materials such as cloth, mats and lime-coated wood.
• Famous works: Mother and Child, Santhal women, Krishna and Balarama and scenes from the Ramayana.
• In 1955 he became the first Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi.
• In 1976 the ASI declared his works among the Nine Masters (national art treasures).
• The other Nine Masters include Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Amrita Sher-Gil, Raja Ravi Varma, Sailoz Mookherjea and Nicholas Roerich.
• Producer (option A) and Actor (option D) describe film careers. Bengal’s film greats include Satyajit Ray and Uttam Kumar.
• Dancer (option C) is wrong. Bengal’s famous dancer is Uday Shankar, a pioneer of Indian modern dance.
• Nandalal Bose designed the illustrations for the original Constitution of India.
• The Bengal School of Art was led by Abanindranath Tagore, painter of Bharat Mata (1905).

Correct Answer: (C) Coins

Numismatics is the study and collection of coins, along with currency, tokens and medals. It is a key source for ancient Indian history because coins show rulers, dates, metals, trade and religion.

Exam Facts

• Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions (option D).
• Palaeography is the study of ancient handwriting and scripts.
• Terracotta (option B) is baked clay art, studied under archaeology, e.g. Bishnupur terracotta temples in West Bengal.
• Stones and Coins (option A) is wrong because numismatics does not cover stones. Rock study is petrology.
• India’s earliest coins are punch-marked coins (karshapanas), mostly silver, from about the 6th century BCE.
• The Indo-Greeks issued coins with portraits and legends. The Kushanas issued gold coins on a large scale.
• The Guptas issued the largest number of gold coins, called dinaras.
• The Indian Institute of Research in Numismatic Studies is at Anjaneri, near Nashik, Maharashtra.
• Philately is the study of postage stamps.
• The word comes from the Latin numisma and Greek nomisma, meaning coin.

Correct Answer: (A) Kerala

Mohiniyattam is a classical dance of Kerala, meaning “dance of the enchantress” (Mohini, the female avatar of Vishnu). It is a graceful lasya-style solo dance usually performed by women. It is one of the 8 classical dances recognised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Exam Facts

• It was revived in the 20th century by poet Vallathol Narayana Menon, who founded Kerala Kalamandalam (1930).
• Maharaja Swathi Thirunal of Travancore was a major 19th-century patron.
• The costume is a white or off-white saree with a gold (kasavu) border. The music is in the Sopana style, with lyrics in Manipravalam.
• Kalamandalam Kalyanikutty Amma is called the mother of Mohiniyattam. Other exponents are Bharati Shivaji and Sunanda Nair.
• Kathakali, a male-dominated dance-drama, is also from Kerala.
• Tamil Nadu (option C) is the home of Bharatanatyam.
• Telangana (option B) is known for Perini Sivatandavam, and the classical Kuchipudi comes from Andhra Pradesh.
• Karnataka (option D) is famous for Yakshagana, a folk dance-theatre.
• The other classical dances are Kathak (North India), Odissi (Odisha), Manipuri (Manipur) and Sattriya (Assam).
• The Ministry of Culture also lists Chhau among classical forms, making 9.

Correct Answer: (B) Annie Besant

Annie Besant, an Irish-born Theosophist, was the first woman President of the Indian National Congress, at the 1917 Calcutta session. Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman President, at the 1925 Kanpur session, which is why option A is a common trap.

Exam Facts

• Annie Besant founded the Home Rule League in September 1916 at Madras, after Tilak’s league in April 1916 at Belgaum.
• She was a leader of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, Madras, and founded the Central Hindu College at Banaras (1898).
• She started the newspapers New India and Commonweal.
• Sarojini Naidu (option A), the Nightingale of India, became the first woman Governor of an Indian state (United Provinces, 1947).
• Nellie Sengupta (option C) presided over the 1933 Calcutta session, the third woman president.
• Aruna Asaf Ali (option D) is famous for hoisting the flag at Gowalia Tank Maidan in the Quit India Movement (1942); she never became INC president.
• The first INC session was held in 1885 in Bombay under W.C. Bonnerjee.
• After Independence, Indira Gandhi (1959) and Sonia Gandhi (1998-2017 and 2019-2022) became INC presidents.
• Annie Besant was born in London in 1847 and died at Adyar in 1933.
• The Lucknow session (1916) saw the Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the Muslim League.

Correct Answer: (A) Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) led the struggle against apartheid, South Africa’s system of racial segregation. A leader of the African National Congress (ANC), he spent 27 years in prison (1962-1990), mostly on Robben Island. He became South Africa’s first Black President (1994-1999) after the country’s first fully democratic election.

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Correct Answer: (B) 1919-1922

The Khilafat Movement took place from 1919 to 1922. Indian Muslims led by the Ali brothers (Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali) protested against the harsh treatment of the Ottoman Sultan (Khalifa) after World War I, and Gandhi joined it with the Non-Cooperation Movement.

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Correct Answer: (A) 1885

The Bengal Tenancy Act was passed in 1885 (Act VIII of 1885) during the viceroyalty of Lord Dufferin. It gave occupancy rights and protection against arbitrary eviction and rent increases to ryots under the Permanent Settlement of Bengal.

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Correct Answer: (D) Badruddin Tyabji

Badruddin Tyabji was the first Muslim President of the Indian National Congress. He presided over its 3rd session at Madras in 1887.

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Correct Answer: (B) Lord Canning

Lord Canning was the Governor-General of India during the Revolt of 1857. After the revolt, the Government of India Act, 1858 transferred power from the East India Company to the Crown, and Canning became the first Viceroy of India.

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Correct Answer: (D) Calicut

Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese navigator, found the sea route to India around the Cape of Good Hope and reached Kappad near Calicut (Kozhikode) on the Malabar Coast on 20 May 1498. He was received by the Zamorin of Calicut.

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Correct Answer: (A) 1857

The University of Calcutta was established on 24 January 1857 under Wood’s Despatch (1854), along with the universities of Bombay and Madras in the same year. It was modelled on the University of London.

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Correct Answer: (D) Sachindra Sanyal

The Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) was founded in October 1924 at Kanpur by Sachindra Nath Sanyal, together with Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee and Ram Prasad Bismil. Since Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee (option C) was a co-founder too, the question is slightly ambiguous, but standard books and the official key name Sachindra Sanyal as the founder.

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Correct Answer: (C) Stories of the previous births of the Buddha

The Jatakas are stories of the previous births of the Buddha, when he lived as a Bodhisattva in human and animal forms. They are written in Pali and form part of the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka.

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Correct Answer: (C) Raja Rammohan Roy

The Hindu College of Calcutta was founded on 20 January 1817 by leading Indians and Europeans, with Raja Rammohan Roy and David Hare as its main promoters, along with Radhakanta Deb, Baidyanath Mukherjee and Chief Justice Sir Edward Hyde East. David Hare is not among the options, so Raja Rammohan Roy is the accepted answer; Rammohan kept away from the formal committee because orthodox members objected to him, but he backed the plan.

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Correct Answer: (B) Iron

The Harappans (Indus Valley Civilisation) did not know iron. They used copper, bronze, gold, silver, tin and lead, which is why the civilisation belongs to the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). Iron came into use in India only around 1000 BCE, in the later Vedic period.

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Correct Answer: (C) Narasingha Barman Second

The Pancha Rathas of Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram) are monolithic rock-cut temples of the Pallava dynasty, and option C is the only Pallava ruler among the choices, so the official key accepts it. Strictly, the Rathas were carved under Narasimhavarman I (Mamalla, 630–668 AD), while Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimha) built the Shore Temple, so the word “Second” in the option is loose.

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Correct Answer: (D) Sir William Jones

The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones on 15 January 1784 in Calcutta, with Governor-General Warren Hastings as patron. It was set up to promote oriental studies of Indian history, languages and culture.

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Correct Answer: (A) Rig Veda

The root of Yoga is traced to the Rig Veda, the oldest Veda, where the word comes from the Sanskrit root “yuj” meaning to join or yoke. The official key and standard books accept the Rig Veda; the system was later codified by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras.

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Correct Answer: (B) South Africa

Mahatma Gandhi first used non-violent mass resistance, which he called Satyagraha, in South Africa in 1906 against the Transvaal government’s Asiatic Registration Act (the “Black Act”). The formal Non-Cooperation Movement came later in India (1920-22), but the method was first tried in South Africa, so standard keys mark (B).

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Correct Answer: (B) 1948

Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead on 30 January 1948 at Birla House, New Delhi, by Nathuram Godse during his evening prayer meeting. The day is observed as Martyrs’ Day (Shaheed Diwas).

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Correct Answer: (D) Lumbini

Gautama Buddha (Siddhartha) was born at Lumbini in present-day Nepal around 563 BCE, on Vaishakha Purnima. Emperor Ashoka’s pillar at Lumbini (Rummindei inscription) records the birthplace.

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Correct Answer: (C) West Medinipur district

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was born on 26 September 1820 at Birsingha village, now in the Ghatal subdivision of Paschim (West) Medinipur district. At the time of his birth the village lay in Hooghly district, but the present-day answer accepted by standard keys is (C).

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Correct Answer: (A) 1757

The Battle of Plassey was fought on 23 June 1757 between the East India Company under Robert Clive and Siraj-ud-Daulah, Nawab of Bengal. The Nawab lost because his commander Mir Jafar betrayed him.

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Correct Answer: (C) Muzaffarpur

Khudiram Bose was hanged in Muzaffarpur Jail (Bihar) on 11 August 1908, at the age of about 18, for the Muzaffarpur bomb attack of 30 April 1908. He and Prafulla Chaki had thrown a bomb at a carriage they believed carried the magistrate Douglas Kingsford.

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Correct Answer: (C) W. C. Bonnerjee

Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee (W. C. Bonnerjee) presided over the first session of the Indian National Congress at Bombay in December 1885. A. O. Hume founded the Congress but was never its first President.

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Correct Answer: (B) C. Rajagopalachari

C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) was the first and only Indian Governor-General of independent India, from 21 June 1948 to 26 January 1950. Lord Mountbatten was the first Governor-General of independent India.

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Correct Answer: (C) 326 B.C.

Alexander of Macedon invaded the north-west of India in 326 BC. He crossed the Indus and defeated King Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes (Jhelum) in 326 BC.

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Correct Answer: (D) 1919

Rabindranath Tagore gave up his knighthood in 1919 in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar (13 April 1919). He returned it by a letter to Viceroy Lord Chelmsford dated 30 May 1919.

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Correct Answer: (C) home to the development of Kathakali dance form.

Kathakali is the classical dance-drama of Kerala, not of Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu, so statement (C) is wrong. Statement (B) is also loose, since the Pallava capital was Kanchipuram and Mamallapuram was their chief port, but the official key takes (C) as the clearly wrong statement.

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Correct Answer: (B) Moirang

On 14 April 1944, the Indian National Army (INA) hoisted the Indian tricolour for the first time on Indian mainland soil at Moirang in Manipur, after pushing back British forces during the Imphal campaign. The flag was unfurled by Col. Shaukat Ali Malik of the INA’s Bahadur Group, and Moirang became the INA’s headquarters in the area.

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Correct Answer: (D) Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands were never a Portuguese colony: the Danes held the Nicobars (1756-1868) and the British set up the Andaman penal settlement in 1858. The question is flawed because Pondicherry and Chandannagar were French settlements, not Portuguese, so they are also “not Portuguese”; the official key accepts (D), the option with no Portuguese link at all.

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Correct Answer: (C) 1893

Swami Vivekananda delivered his famous addresses at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893, opening on 11 September 1893 with the words “Sisters and Brothers of America”. The speech made him world famous and introduced Vedanta to the West.

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Correct Answer: (D) Mehrgarh Civilisation

Mehrgarh in the Kachhi plain of Balochistan (now in Pakistan) is the oldest known Neolithic settlement of the Indian subcontinent, dating back to about 7000 BCE, long before the Harappan or Indus Valley Civilisation (c. 2600-1900 BCE in its mature phase). The printed key’s (D) is correct; note that options A and C are actually the same civilisation.

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Correct Answer: (B) Pandua

The Adina Masjid stands at Pandua in the Malda district of West Bengal. It was built in 1373-1375 by Sikandar Shah, the second ruler of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty of the Bengal Sultanate, and was the largest mosque in the Indian subcontinent in its time.

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Correct Answer: (B) 1856

The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act (Act XV of 1856) was passed on 26 July 1856, during the Governor-Generalship of Lord Canning. It legalised the remarriage of Hindu widows and was the result of the campaign led by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

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Correct Answer: (B) Kalhana

Rajatarangini (“River of Kings”), the chronicle of the kings of Kashmir, was written in Sanskrit by Kalhana in 1148–49 CE, during the reign of King Jayasimha. It is regarded as the first true historical work of India.

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Correct Answer: (D) Chakravarti Rajagopalachari

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) was the last Governor-General of India, holding the post from 21 June 1948 to 26 January 1950, when India became a republic and the post was abolished. He was also the only Indian to hold the office.

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Correct Answer: (B) Chandragupta II

Chandragupta II (c. 375–415 CE) took the title Shakari (“destroyer of the Shakas”) after defeating the Western Kshatrapa (Shaka) ruler Rudrasimha III and annexing Gujarat and Malwa. He is also famous as Vikramaditya.

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Correct Answer: (D) Murshid Quli Khan

Murshid Quli Khan is regarded as the first independent Nawab of Bengal. Appointed Diwan of Bengal by Aurangzeb and made Nazim in 1717, he ruled almost independently of the weakening Mughals and moved the capital from Dhaka to Murshidabad. The printed key shows (B) Mir Kasim, but the correct answer is (D) Murshid Quli Khan.

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Correct Answer: (A) Ashutosh Banerjee

Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee (1864–1924), the great educationist, judge and Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, is called “Banglar Bagh” (the Tiger of Bengal) for his fearless and independent spirit. The paper prints his name as “Ashutosh Banerjee”, a misprint for Ashutosh Mukherjee; the printed key’s (A) is accepted.

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Correct Answer: (C) Sitar

By long tradition, Amir Khusrau (1253–1325) is credited with inventing or popularising the sitar (and also the tabla), so standard exam keys give (C) Sitar. Modern historians doubt this, since the sitar in its present form appears only in the 18th century, but the question follows the traditional view.

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Correct Answer: (A) William Jones

The Asiatic Society was founded in Calcutta on 15 January 1784 by Sir William Jones, a judge of the Supreme Court at Fort William, with Warren Hastings as patron. It promoted the study of Asian, especially Indian, history, languages and culture.

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Correct Answer: (A) Vedic period

Apala, Lopamudra and Gargi were learned women of the Vedic period. Apala and Lopamudra composed hymns of the Rigveda, and Gargi Vachaknavi debated the sage Yajnavalkya in the court of King Janaka of Videha, as recorded in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

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Correct Answer: (B) Chandragupta II

Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya) ended Saka rule in western India by defeating the Western Kshatrapa ruler Rudrasimha III around 409 CE and annexing Gujarat, Kathiawar and Malwa. This victory earned him the title ‘Sakari’ (destroyer of the Sakas) and gave the Guptas access to the western sea ports.

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Correct Answer: (A) The Pallavas

The Ratha-type monolithic temples of Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram), the Pancha Rathas, were carved by the Pallavas in the 7th century, mainly under Narasimhavarman I (Mamalla). Each ratha is cut from a single rock and named after the Pandavas and Draupadi.

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Correct Answer: (D) Lakshmansena

Jayadeva, author of the Sanskrit lyrical poem Gita Govinda on the love of Radha and Krishna, was the court poet of Lakshmanasena (c. 1178-1206), the last major Sena king of Bengal. He was one of the Pancharatnas (five jewels) of Lakshmanasena’s court.

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Correct Answer: (A) Akbar

Fatehpur Sikri was built by the Mughal emperor Akbar between 1571 and 1585 near Agra, in honour of the Sufi saint Shaikh Salim Chishti, whose blessing was believed to have given him a son (Salim, later Jahangir). It served as the Mughal capital for about 14 years before being abandoned.

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Correct Answer: (A) Guru Nanak

Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539) founded Sikhism in the 15th century. He was born at Talwandi (now Nankana Sahib, Pakistan) and preached devotion to one formless God, equality and honest living. He was the first of the ten Sikh Gurus.

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Correct Answer: (B) Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee

Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee (W. C. Bonnerjee), a Calcutta barrister, presided over the first session of the Indian National Congress, held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay, from 28 to 31 December 1885 with 72 delegates. The Congress was founded with the initiative of A. O. Hume.

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Correct Answer: (C) 1911

The transfer of the capital of British India from Calcutta to Delhi was announced by King George V at the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911, during the viceroyalty of Lord Hardinge II. The government moved to Delhi in 1912, and the newly built New Delhi was inaugurated in 1931.

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Correct Answer: (D) Ramesh Chandra Dutt

Following the printed key, the answer is Ramesh Chandra Dutt, whose “The Economic History of India” (1902-04) criticised the drain of wealth from India to Britain in detail. However, the theory was first put forward by Dadabhai Naoroji (option A) in “Poverty and Un-British Rule in India”, so both A and D are correct critics. The question is ambiguous, and most general sources would name Naoroji as the chief critic.

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Correct Answer: (A) Annie Besant

Annie Besant, the Irish-born Theosophist and Home Rule leader, presided over the Calcutta session of 1917 and became the first woman president of the Indian National Congress. Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman president (Kanpur, 1925).

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Correct Answer: (B) Dinabandhu Mitra

Nil Darpan (1860) was written by Dinabandhu Mitra. The Bengali play exposed the oppression of indigo (neel) cultivators by British planters during the Indigo Revolt of 1859-60.

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Correct Answer: (B) Madame Cama

Madame Bhikaji Rustom Cama is known as the “Mother of Indian Revolution”. She unfurled the first version of the Indian national flag at the International Socialist Congress, Stuttgart (Germany) on 22 August 1907.

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Correct Answer: (C) James Prinsep

James Prinsep, secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, first deciphered the Brahmi script of the Ashokan inscriptions in 1837. This let historians read Ashoka’s edicts, in which the king calls himself “Devanampiya Piyadasi” (beloved of the gods, of gracious look).

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Correct Answer: (A) Rahul

The son of Gautama Buddha (Prince Siddhartha) and his wife Yashodhara was Rahula. He was born shortly before Siddhartha’s Great Renunciation (Mahabhinishkramana), and he later became a monk in his father’s Sangha.

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Correct Answer: (A) Harisena

The Allahabad Prasasti (Prayag Prashasti) praising Samudragupta was composed by Harisena, his court poet and minister. It is engraved in Sanskrit, in the Gupta form of Brahmi, on the Ashokan pillar at Allahabad (Prayagraj), and is the main source on Samudragupta’s conquests.

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Correct Answer: (C) Alauddin Khalji

Alauddin Khalji (ruled 1296–1316) introduced the famous market control (price control) measures, fixing low prices of grain, cloth, horses and other goods in Delhi. His main aim was to maintain a large standing army at low pay to face repeated Mongol invasions.

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Correct Answer: (B) Sher Shah

Sher Shah Suri (ruled 1540–1545) introduced the Patta and Kabuliyat system. The Patta was a title deed given by the state to each peasant, stating the land and revenue due, and the Kabuliyat was the deed of agreement in which the peasant accepted that revenue.

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Correct Answer: (A) Husain Shah

The Husain Shahi dynasty of Bengal was founded by Alauddin Husain Shah, who became Sultan in 1494 after killing the Abyssinian (Habshi) Sultan Shamsuddin Muzaffar Shah, whose wazir he had been. The printed key shows (C) Ghiyas-uddin-Mahmud Shah, but he was the last ruler of the dynasty, not its founder.

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Correct Answer: (B) Abul Fazal

The Ain-i-Akbari was written by Abul Fazl (Abul Fazal), the court historian and one of the Navaratnas of Akbar. It is the third volume of his Akbarnama and gives detailed information on Akbar’s administration, revenue system, army and the provinces of the empire.

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