Indian History

Zia Nakhshabi (d.1350) was a famous Sufi saint and scholar during the reign of Tughlaq Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq . He is credited with translating Chintamani Bhatta’s Sanskrit work Suka-saptati (Parrot’s Seventy) into Persian. The text translated by him is known as Tutinama (Stories from a Parrot) which was in time translated into Turkish and other European languages. Zia Nakhshabi had also translated Koka-shastra (also known as Rati-rahasyam: Mysteries of Passion), a popular early medieval Sanskrit work on erotica written by Kukkoka (Kokapandita).  

Accession of Jalaluddin Firoz Khalji to the throne of Delhi Sultanate in AD 1290 resulted in the foundation of Khilji Dynasty which ruled till 1320. He became the first Khilji Sultan after murdering Slave Sultan Kaiqubad (grandson of Slave Sultan Balban) and deposing latter’s infant son Kayumars. With the rise of the Khiljis, the Turkish nobility began to lose their influence.  His coronation was held in Kilokhari (Kilughari), a suburb of Delhi, not in the city, for the dominant Turkish population of Delhi considered him to be an Afghan usurper and consequently resented his accession to the throne.   Jalaluddin Khilji was in his seventies at the time of his ascension.  Lenient in his treatment of his opponents and fellow Muslims, Jalaluddin Khilji was averse to punishing even those who sought to overthrow him. When Balban’s nephew Malik Chajju, governor of Kara, unfurled the banner of revolt in the second year of Jalaluddin Khaljis reign, the sultan entertained him with wine and releas

Qiran-us-sadin is the first historical masnavi of Amir Khusrau , the mediaeval Sufi mystic and poet. Written in verse in 1289, it describes the much talked about meeting between Bughra Khan, a Bengal Sultan and his son Kaiqubad (Kaiqubad), the last ruler of the Mamluk dynasty of Delhi Sultanate. Bughra Khan, who was appointed governor of Bengal by his father Balban, declined to be the Delhi Sultan and instead became an independent ruler of Bengal after the death of his father in 1287. Balban was succeeded by Kaiqubad on the throne of Delhi Sultanate.  Qiran-us-sadin was written on the instructions of Kaiqubad. 

Riyaz-us-Salatin is a historical work by Ghulam Husain Salim. Written in Persian, it traces the history of Bengal from Turkish general Bakhtyar Khalji’s invasion of the province in 1204-05 AD to 1788, the date in which the work was completed.

1. First session of the Indian National Congress (INC) was conducted in Bombay from 28 to 31 December 1885. The second session of INC was presided by   a) Badruddin Tyabji b) Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee c) Dadabhai Naoroji d) William Wedderburn 2. Who among the following had popularized the festivals associated with Ganesh and Shivaji during the national movement? a) Vinayak Damodar Savarkar b) Lala Lajpat Rai  c) Jyotirao Govindrao Phule d) Bal Gangadhar Tilak 3. Who had launched the Bardoli satyagraha in February 1928? a) Sardar Vallabhai Patel  b) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi c) Vinoba Bhave d) None of the above 4. Who among the following was a leader of the Indian militant peasant movement Eka (unity) Movement? a) Madari Pasi b) Alluri Sitarama Raju c) Laxman Nayak d) Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy 5. Who was the most prominent leader of Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar? a) Ganesh Ghosh b) Satish Chandra Samanta c) Dinesh Chandra Gupta  d) Bagha Jatin 6. Who was the Nawab of Bengal when the Battle

Muiz-ud-din Bahram, Iltutmish’s third son, was raised to the throne of Delhi Sultanate in 1240 by the aristocratic Turkish nobles who put the then reigning ruler Raziya Sultana into prison in the Bhatinda fort, north-western India. Razia tried to retrieve the situation by marrying her captor Altuniya, the governor of Bhatinda. However, both were defeated by the Delhi forces.    Muizuddin Bahram was a savage and bloodthirsty ruler. He was, according to medieval historian  Minhaj-us-Siraj, ‘a fearless, intrepid and sanguinary man’.  During his reign in 1241 the Mongols reached the gates of Lahore and sacked the city.  As part of the agreement under which Muizuddin Bahram was raised to the throne by the nobles, he designated Aitigin as Naib-i-Mamlikat, regent of the kingdom and assigned the highest executive power of the state to him. Naib-i-Mamlikat was intended to be the de facto ruler., the Sultan merely a figurehead.   However, if the nobles expected Muizuddin Bahram to be a puppet in

                                                      Image Credit : Wikimedia Commons Located in the Malakpur Kohli village near Vasant Kunj in Delhi, Sultan Ghari (Sultan of the Cave) is the tomb of Prince Nasiruddin Mahmud, eldest son of Slave Sultan Iltutmish and brother of Razia Sultan. During the reign of Iltutmish, Nasiruddin Mahmud was in charge of Awadh and Bengal where Hasmuddin Iwaz Khilji was trying to establish an independent Sultanate.  Though Nasiruddin Mahmud suppressed the rebellion of Hasmuddin Iwaz Khilji and killed him, he himself died in 1229. Iltutmish founded the Nasiriyya college of Delhi in memory of his son. The celebrated contemporary historian Minhaj-us-Siraj was appointed to the principalship of the college.  Iltutmish also built a mausoleum for  Nasiruddin Mahmud . Built in 1231-32, the cenotaph is in an underground chamber. Hence the name Sultan Ghari (Sultan of the Cave). The roof of  the mausoleum   is an octagonal platform. The materials were taken