UPHESC Assistant Professor History 2025 PYQs

Concept: Al-Qamus al-Muhit (‘the surrounding ocean’), the most famous classical Arabic dictionary, was compiled by Majd al-Din Muhammad al-Firuzabadi (d. 1415).

1. Firdausi wrote the Persian Shahnama; Badayuni wrote Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh; Barani wrote Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi; Ali Kufi wrote Chachnama.
2. None of them compiled an Arabic dictionary, so only b is correct.

Short trick: Qamus = ‘dictionary’ in Arabic/Urdu itself, named after Firuzabadi’s work.

Concept: Fakhr-i-Mudabbir’s Adab-ul-Harb wa-al-Shuja‘at is a treatise on the art of war and statecraft, dedicated to Sultan Iltutmish.

1. Fakhr-i-Mudabbir also wrote Shajara-i-Ansab (genealogies), presented to Qutbuddin Aibak.
2. His war-manual, written later, was dedicated to Iltutmish.

Short trick: Fakhr-i-Mudabbir: genealogy → Aibak, warfare (Adab-ul-Harb) → Iltutmish.

Concept: The Nalayira Divya Prabandham (‘4000 divine verses’) is the collection of hymns of the 12 Vaishnava Alvars, composed in Tamil (6th–9th c.).

1. It was compiled by Nathamuni in the 9th–10th century.
2. Called the ‘Dravida Veda’ or Tamil Veda; Bhakti began in the Tamil country.

Short trick: Nalayiram = 4000 in Tamil – the clue is in the name.

Concept: Niccolao Manucci, a Venetian who served Dara Shikoh and lived in India c. 1656–1717, wrote Storia do Mogor (History of the Mughals).

1. Rihla – Ibn Battuta.
2. Chronica dos reis de Bisnaga – Portuguese chronicles of Vijayanagara (Domingo Paes, Fernao Nuniz).
3. A Forgotten Empire – Robert Sewell (1900) on Vijayanagara.

Short trick: Manucci → Mogor (Mughal); Bisnaga/Forgotten Empire → Vijayanagara.

Concept: Travellers to 15th–16th century South India came from different lands.

1. Nicolo de Conti – Venetian, visited Vijayanagara c. 1420 (Devaraya I).
2. Domingo Paes – Portuguese, c. 1520 (Krishnadevaraya).
3. Athanasius Nikitin – Russian merchant from Tver, in the Bahmani kingdom 1469–72.
4. Abdur Razzaq – Persian envoy of Shahrukh (Timurid), at Vijayanagara 1443 (Devaraya II).

Short trick: C-V (Conti-Venice), P-P (Paes-Portugal), N-R (Nikitin-Russia), R-P (Razzaq-Persia).

Concept: R. P. Tripathi (Some Aspects of Muslim Administration) wrote that the history of Muslim sovereignty in India begins with Iltutmish.

1. Iltutmish received the investiture (manshur) from the Abbasid Caliph in 1229, giving the Sultanate legal sovereignty.
2. He freed Delhi from dependence on Ghazni/Ghur and organised iqta, coinage (tanka, jital) and the Chahalgani.

Short trick: Real founder/consolidator of the Sultanate = Iltutmish (Tripathi).

Concept: Humayun (as described by Khwandamir in Qanun-i-Humayuni) divided his courtiers into three classes; the officials and nobles were styled Ahl-i-Daulat (‘people of the State’).

1. The three classes: Ahl-i-Daulat (nobles, officials, soldiers), Ahl-i-Sa‘adat (religious men, scholars), Ahl-i-Murad (artists, musicians).
2. Thus the ‘Daulat’ designation as a court rank was Humayun’s creation; Sher Shah was not a Mughal and Dara never ruled.

Short trick: Humayun’s astrologically ordered court: Daulat – Sa‘adat – Murad.

Concept: The dang was a small unit of currency (a fraction of the copper/billon jital) used in Sultanate price lists.

1. Barani, describing Alauddin Khalji’s market control, quotes cheap prices in jitals and dangs.
2. So ‘dang’ is a money unit, not a tax, art form or officer.

Short trick: Tanka (silver) → jital (copper) → dang (smaller fraction).

Concept: Ghaibana (from Arabic ghaib = absent) meant conferring an honour – robe (khil‘at), title or mansab increase – on a noble who was away from court.

1. The farman and khil‘at were sent to him; he received them with prescribed ceremony (taslim towards the capital).
2. Nothing to do with wives, princes or the army chief as such.

Short trick: Ghaib = absent → honour sent ‘in absentia’.

Concept: Nabud (‘non-existent’) denoted crop failure; under the zabti system remission (deduction from assessment) was granted for such losses caused by drought, flood, hail etc.

1. Revenue was assessed only on the area actually harvested; the failed area was entered as nabud and excluded.
2. Royal correspondence was handled by the munshi/waqia-navis, not ‘nabud’.

Short trick: Nabud = ‘nothing there’ → no crop → no revenue.

Concept: In the Bahmani kingdom the Sadr-i-Jahan was the chief justice and minister of religious affairs and charitable endowments.

1. Wakil-us-Sultanat – regent/chief minister; Amir-i-Jumla – finance; Wazir-i-Ashraf – foreign affairs; Peshwa – assistant to the Wakil; Kotwal – police.
2. Sadr dealt with ulema, waqf grants and qazis – religion and justice.

Short trick: Sadr = Shari‘a (religion + justice) in every Islamic state.

Concept: R. P. Tripathi held that Sher Shah was an able administrator but not an innovator – he revived and improved institutions of Alauddin Khalji and others.

1. K. R. Qanungo, by contrast, praised Sher Shah’s originality and called him a great constructive genius, precursor of Akbar.
2. Tripathi’s view: efficiency yes, originality no.

Short trick: Qanungo = admirer (‘original’), Tripathi = critic (‘reviver’).

Concept: Match each coin with its metal; note that II and IV are both ‘gold’.

1. Ilahi – Akbar’s gold coin; Shahansah/Shamsab – Akbar’s large gold coin → both gold (II or IV).
2. Jital – copper (III); Rupaiya – Sher Shah’s silver coin (I).
3. Only option D gives b – III and c – I with gold for a and d.

Short trick: Rupee = silver, Jital = copper, Akbar’s showpieces = gold.

Concept: Irfan Habib showed that the earliest clear Indian reference to the spinning wheel (charkha) is in Isami’s Futuh-us-Salatin (1350), and the first detailed description of the Persian wheel (rahat) with gearing is in the Baburnama.

1. Isami mentions the charkha as a symbol of women’s work.
2. Babur describes the geared water-wheel used in Lahore, Dipalpur, Sirhind.

Short trick: Charkha → Isami; Rahat → Babur.

Concept: The Barid Shahis of Bidar (1490s–1619), the weakest of the five Deccan sultanates, issued only copper coins.

1. Qutb Shahis of Golconda struck gold, silver and copper coins.
2. Sayyids and Lodis issued billon (silver-alloy) tankas besides copper; Bahlul Lodi’s ‘bahluli’ was copper.

Short trick: Bidar’s Barid Shahis – copper only.

Concept: In 1657 Shivaji captured Kalyan and Bhiwandi from Bijapur and began building ships there – the beginning of the Maratha navy.

1. Later he built sea forts like Sindhudurg and Vijaydurg.
2. Bajirao, Balaji Vishwanath and Tarabai belong to the 18th century.

Short trick: 1657: Kalyan–Bhiwandi = birth of Shivaji’s fleet.

Concept: In Sultanate weights, 1 man (maund) = 40 sers, as in Barani’s price lists for Alauddin Khalji’s markets.

1. Only the weight of the ser changed over time (Alauddin’s man ≈ 28–30 lb modern), but the ratio stayed 40 sers to a man.
2. ‘28’ is the approximate weight in pounds, not the number of sers.

Short trick: Man : ser = 1 : 40 (same as the later Indian maund).

Concept: The Modak (Moira/Halwai) of Bengal and eastern India was the caste of sweet-makers, who prepared gur (jaggery) based confectionery.

1. The name comes from modaka, a sweet made of jaggery.
2. Dyers were Rangrez/Chhipa; leather workers Chamar/Muchi; liquor-makers Sunri/Kalal.

Short trick: Modak (sweet) → gur → Modak caste.

Concept: Majma-ul-Bahrain (‘Confluence of the Two Oceans’, 1655) by Dara Shikoh compares Sufi and Vedantic concepts.

1. Dara also translated 52 Upanishads as Sirr-i-Akbar (1657).
2. Other works: Safinat-ul-Auliya, Sakinat-ul-Auliya.

Short trick: Two oceans = Islam (Sufism) + Hinduism (Vedanta) – Dara.

Concept: The Gandhak ki Baoli in Mehrauli was built by Iltutmish (early 13th c.) – its water smelled of sulphur (gandhak).

1. It is a five-tier stepwell near the dargah of Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.
2. Iltutmish also built the Hauz-i-Shamsi at Mehrauli.

Short trick: Mehrauli water works (Gandhak Baoli, Hauz-i-Shamsi) = Iltutmish.