Overview
Previous Year UPSC-CSE Questions By the end you will be able to draft model answers for the following UPSC questions. Each question carries a collapsible framework showing how to approach it in the exam.
- UPSC Prelims 2001 GS-IWhich of the following pairs is correctly matched?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Test each pair: Diwan-i-Bandagan (slaves) with the Tughlaqs/Firoz Shah (correct); Diwan-i-Mustakhraj with Alauddin not Balban; Diwan-i-Kohi (agriculture) with Muhammad bin Tughlaq not Alauddin.
Trap to watch: Do not pair the Diwan-i-Kohi with Alauddin Khalji; the agriculture department was Muhammad bin Tughlaq's.
Key facts to recall:
- The Diwan-i-Bandagan (slaves) was set up by Firoz Shah Tughlaq.
- The Diwan-i-Kohi (agriculture) was Muhammad bin Tughlaq's.
- The Diwan-i-Mustakhraj (revenue arrears) was Alauddin Khalji's.
Answer signal: Dewan-i-bandagani … Tughlaq.
- UPSC Mains 2023 GS-IWhat were the major technological changes introduced during the Sultanate period? How did those technological changes influence Indian society?
How to structure the answer in the exam
Introduction: The Sultanate period brought into India a cluster of new technologies, in cloth-making, irrigation, writing, building and war, that reshaped its crafts, its agriculture and its society.
Body (sub-themes to develop):
- The spinning wheel (charkha): faster spinning, cheaper and more plentiful cloth, a larger weaving craft.
- The Persian wheel and water-lifting devices: surer irrigation, more productive fields, new lands brought under the plough.
- Paper: the easier keeping of records, the copying of books, the wider spread of writing and learning.
- New building methods (the true arch and dome): the grand Indo-Islamic architecture of the age.
- Gunpowder and firearms (at the end of the age): a new way of war, which decided the field of Panipat in 1526.
Conclusion: Together these technologies raised the output of the crafts and the fields, widened learning, and changed the face of Indian building and warfare, leaving a deep mark on the society of medieval India.
The economy of the Delhi Sultanate rested, like all of medieval India, on the land, but its age also saw new tools, brisk trade and a settled coinage. Agriculture was the wealth of the state, and the kharaj, the land tax, its chief revenue. The Sultanate age brought new technologies, the spinning wheel, the water-lifting Persian wheel and paper, that changed the crafts and the life of India. A lively trade by land and sea enriched the growing towns, and the silver tanka and copper jital were the coin of the realm. This part covers agriculture and revenue, the new technologies, trade and the towns, the coinage, and the exam focus.
Agriculture and the Land Revenue
The Village, the Crops and the Land Revenue
What is the significance of agriculture: the land was the foundation of the whole economy, and the tax on its produce was the chief wealth of the Sultanate.
The wealth of the state grew from the soil. The peasants of the village raised the crops, wheat and barley in the north, rice in the wetter east, and the rich cash crops of sugarcane, cotton and indigo. On all this produce the state laid the kharaj, the land tax, which under Alauddin Khalji was set as high as half the crop, and which was the chief revenue of the realm.
The Sultanate cared for the land. Firoz Shah Tughlaq dug the great canals to water the fields, and Muhammad bin Tughlaq set up a special department, the Diwan-i-Kohi, to push the spread of farming. The table below sets out the chief crops and the land revenue of the age.
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| The food crops | Wheat and barley in the north, rice in the wetter east. |
| The cash crops | Sugarcane, cotton and indigo, grown for the market. |
| The land tax | The kharaj, set by Alauddin as high as half the produce. |
| State support | Firoz Shah's canals; the Diwan-i-Kohi of Muhammad bin Tughlaq. |
The New Technologies, the Crafts and the Trade
The New Technologies of the Sultanate Age
What is the significance of the new technologies: the Sultanate age brought into India a set of tools and crafts that raised its output and changed its society.
Several new technologies took root in these centuries. The spinning wheel, the charkha, brought from Iran, sped the spinning of thread and greatly raised the output of cloth. Water-lifting wheels, of the kind called the Persian wheel, spread for irrigation, drawing water from wells to feed the fields more surely than before.
Other changes ran deep. The use of paper spread widely, in place of the older palm-leaf and birch-bark, and eased the keeping of records, the copying of books and the spread of learning. New ways of building, the true arch and the dome, came in too, and at the very end of the age came gunpowder and firearms. The figure below sets out these new technologies.
Trade and the Growing Towns
Distinguishing the trade of the age: a brisk commerce by land and sea bound the Sultanate to the wider world and made its towns grow rich.
Trade flowed in every direction. Within the realm, caravans carried grain, cloth and goods along the roads between a growing web of towns. Beyond it, the overland trade ran north-west through the passes to Central Asia and Persia, while ships sailed from the ports of Cambay, Bengal and the Coromandel coast to the Gulf, the Red Sea and South-East Asia.
The towns grew on this wealth. Delhi became one of the great cities of the eastern world, and Multan, Lahore, Cambay and Lakhnauti grew into busy centres of craft and exchange, above all of the famous textiles of India. The figure below sets out the trade and the towns of the Sultanate.
The Coinage of the Sultanate
The Tanka, the Jital and the Gold Dinar
What is the significance of the coinage: a settled coinage was the mark of a settled state, and the coins of the Sultanate served its trade and its treasury alike.
The coinage was set on a firm footing by Iltutmish, who struck the silver tanka, the standard high-value coin of the Sultanate, and the copper jital, the small coin of everyday use. These two remained the basis of the money of the realm through the centuries that followed.
Later sultans added to the coinage. Muhammad bin Tughlaq struck a fine gold coin, the dinar, which the traveller Ibn Battuta praised, and also made his famous and doomed experiment with the token currency of cheap metal, which Part 5 describes. The figure below sets out the coins of the Sultanate.
UPSC Relevance and Exam Focus
Where the Economy of the Sultanate Fits in the UPSC-CSE Syllabus
This topic belongs to General Studies Paper I: medieval Indian history, and the economy of the Sultanate, above all its new technologies, is a favourite ground for both Prelims and Mains.
The questions most often test the new technologies of the age, the special revenue departments, and the coins of the Sultanate, the tanka and the jital.
Several linked points recur and are worth holding in working memory:
- The spinning wheel: The charkha, which raised the output of cloth in the Sultanate age.
- The Persian wheel: The water-lifting wheel that spread for the irrigation of the fields.
- The kharaj: The land tax, set by Alauddin as high as half the produce.
- The Diwan-i-Kohi: The agriculture department of Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
- The tanka and jital: The silver and copper coins, struck first by Iltutmish.
A 2001 question asked which department was correctly paired with its ruler; the answer is the Diwan-i-Bandagan, the slave department, with the Tughlaqs (Firoz Shah), while the Diwan-i-Kohi was the agriculture department of Muhammad bin Tughlaq and the Diwan-i-Mustakhraj that of Alauddin Khalji.
A 2023 Mains question asked about the technological changes of the Sultanate period and their influence on society; the answer turns on the spinning wheel, the Persian wheel, paper and, at the end, gunpowder, each of which is set out in this part.
Prelims MCQ practice
Each question below tests one specific concept on the topic. Click to reveal the answer and a full option-wise explanation.
Q1. The chief land tax of the Delhi Sultanate, set by Alauddin Khalji as high as half the produce, was known as which one of the following?
- Kharaj
- Zakat
- Jizya
- Khams
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Kharaj
Explanation.
Option (a) is correct. The kharaj was the land tax, the chief revenue of the Sultanate, set by Alauddin Khalji as high as half the produce. Hence option (a).
Q2. The spinning wheel, which raised the output of cloth in the Sultanate age, is known by which one of the following names?
- Saqiya
- Charkha
- Araghatta
- Dhenki
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Charkha
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. The spinning wheel was the charkha, brought from Iran, which sped the spinning of thread; the saqiya was a water-lifting wheel. Hence option (b).
Q3. With reference to the technologies of the Sultanate age, consider the following statements:
- The spinning wheel raised the output of cloth.
- Water-lifting wheels spread for the irrigation of the fields.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Both 1 and 2
Explanation.
Both statements are correct. The spinning wheel raised the output of cloth, and water-lifting wheels spread for the irrigation of the fields. Hence option (c).
Q4. The silver coin that was the standard high-value money of the Delhi Sultanate, struck first by Iltutmish, was known as which one of the following?
- Jital
- Tanka
- Dam
- Rupiya
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Tanka
Explanation.
Option (b) is correct. The silver tanka, struck first by Iltutmish, was the standard high-value coin; the jital was the small copper coin. Hence option (b).
Q5. The Diwan-i-Kohi, a special department set up to promote agriculture, was created by which one of the following sultans?
- Iltutmish
- Alauddin Khalji
- Muhammad bin Tughlaq
- Bahlul Lodi
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Muhammad bin Tughlaq
Explanation.
Option (c) is correct. The Diwan-i-Kohi, the agriculture department, was set up by Muhammad bin Tughlaq; the Diwan-i-Mustakhraj of revenue arrears was Alauddin's. Hence option (c).
Q6. With reference to the trade of the Delhi Sultanate, consider the following statements:
- Overland caravans carried trade north-west to Central Asia and Persia.
- Ships traded from Cambay and Bengal to the Gulf and South-East Asia.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer and explanation
Answer: Both 1 and 2
Explanation.
Both statements are correct. Overland caravans carried trade to Central Asia and Persia, and ships traded from Cambay and Bengal to the Gulf and South-East Asia. Hence option (c).
Sources and Further Reading
Editorial Disclaimer
This article is for UPSC preparation. The economic history of the Sultanate rests on the Persian chronicles and the account of Ibn Battuta, and follows the standard scholarship on the period.
