Consider the following statements : The arrival of Babur into India led to the 1. introduction of gunpowder in the subcontinent 2. introduction of arch and dome in the region’s architecture 3. establishment of Timurid dynasty in the region 4. introduction of cannons in warfare Which of the above statements are correct?
- (a)Only 1 and 2
- (b)1, 2 and 3
- (c)3 and 4
- (d)None of the above
Correct — C, 3 and 4. Take the two false statements first, because they decide the question. Statement 2 is refuted by Babur's own memoir. Four days after Panipat, on Wednesday 13 Rajab, he went sightseeing in Delhi and recorded it: 'I made the circuit of Khwaja Qutbu'd-din's tomb and visited the tombs and residences of Sl. Ghiyasu'd-din Balban and Sl. 'Alau'u'd-din Khilji, his Minar, and the Hauz-shamsi, Hauz-i-khas and the tombs and gardens of Sl. Buhlul and Sl. Sikandar.' Every one of those is an arcuated, domed Sultanate monument that was standing before he arrived, and ASI protects the whole ensemble to this day — the Qutb archaeological area is listed as including the mosque, the Iron Pillar, the Minar of Qutbu'd-din, the tomb of Altamash, the buildings of Alau'd-Din and the Alai Darwaza, while Balban's tomb has its own entry in Lado Sarai. True arch-and-dome construction entered the subcontinent with the Delhi Sultanate from the late twelfth century, and Balban's tomb is conventionally cited for the earliest true arch in India. A ruler cannot introduce what he tours as a visitor. Statement 1 fails for the same kind of reason: gunpowder weapons were in Indian use through the fifteenth century in the Bahmani, Gujarat and Malwa sultanates, and the Portuguese had been fighting a cannon war in Indian waters since the first decade of the sixteenth century. Statement 3 is straightforwardly true — Babur was a Timurid prince descended from Timur, and his victory at Panipat in April 1526 planted that line on the throne of Delhi as the dynasty we call Mughal. Statement 4 is what BPSC added to the UPSC original, and it is true in the sense the paper intends: the Baburnama records that 'seven hundred carts (araba) were brought in' and that the order to Ustad Ali-quli was that they 'should be joined together in Ottoman fashion, but using ropes of raw hide instead of chains, and that between every two carts 5 or 6 mantelets should be fixed, behind which the matchlockmen were to stand to fire'; in the battle itself Ustad Ali-quli 'made good discharge of firingi shots' while Mustafa the commissary fired zarb-zan from the left of the centre. That integrated use of field artillery behind a fortified cart-line is what changed Indian warfare. With 1 and 2 out and 3 in, only option (c) survives.
- (a)Only 1 and 2 — Selects precisely the two statements that are false and drops the one that is unarguably true. It is the answer of a candidate running on the popular story that the Mughals brought both firearms and Islamic architecture to India — when in fact both had arrived with earlier dynasties, and what the Mughals actually brought was a new scale and a new refinement of each. The clue that should stop this choice is that it excludes statement 3, and no reading of Babur's career makes him not a Timurid.
- (b)1, 2 and 3 — Correctly keeps the Timurid statement but carries the two false ones with it. This is the most-marked wrong option on questions of this family, because statement 3 feels so secure that a candidate stops evaluating once it is in and 'all the plausible ones' becomes the default. It is also the option a candidate lands on if they take 'introduction' loosely, in the sense of 'made much greater use of' — which is true of Babur but is not what the word says.
- (d)None of the above — Cannot stand, because statement 3 is not in dispute on any reading — Babur was a fifth-generation descendant of Timur, was descended from Chinggis Khan on his mother's side, and the dynasty he founded at Delhi in 1526 is a Timurid house. Any option that excludes statement 3 is eliminable before the harder statements about gunpowder and architecture have even been examined, which is why the question is really a two-way choice between (b) and (c).
Babur, born 1483, was a Timurid prince of Farghana who lost Samarkand more than once, took Kabul in 1504, and turned towards Hindustan only after repeated failures in Central Asia. He was descended from Timur on his father's side and from Chinggis Khan on his mother's, which is why the house he founded is properly Timurid and only loosely 'Mughal', a name that derives from 'Mongol'. His four Indian battles — Panipat against Ibrahim Lodi in 1526, Khanwa against Rana Sanga in 1527, Chanderi in 1528 and the Ghaghra against the eastern Afghans in 1529 — were all won by the same method: a defensive centre of carts and mantelets bristling with matchlocks and light guns, with mobile cavalry wheeling round the enemy flanks in the tulughma manoeuvre. The technique itself was Ottoman, learned second-hand and delivered by two specialists whose names Babur records, Ustad Ali-quli and Mustafa Rumi, and at Khanwa he says plainly that 'we imitated the ghazis of Rum'. He died at Agra in 1530 having ruled India less than five years, and left the Baburnama, one of the very few autobiographies written by the founder of an Indian dynasty and a source unusually candid about what he found in India and what he thought of it. His own building in India was modest and survives: ASI protects the Kabuli Bagh Mosque with its enclosure wall at Panipat, and the site of Ibrahim Lodi's tomb stands in the same town.
The single discriminating move is to notice that 'introduction' is a claim about firsts, and firsts are almost never Babur's. Both statement 1 and statement 2 assert that something entered India with him, and in both cases the Delhi Sultanate got there earlier — arcuate architecture from the late twelfth century, gunpowder weapons across the fifteenth. Statement 3 is the anchor that survives every reading, so any option omitting it goes at once, which kills (a) and (d) without any thought about gunpowder at all. Then only (b) and (c) remain, and since statement 2 is false, (c) is forced. Be honest about where this answer is finely balanced, because it is: statement 4 is loose. Cannon were fired in India before 1526, so 'introduction of cannons in warfare' is defensible only in the narrow, conventional sense of massed and tactically integrated field artillery, and even Babur's guns at Panipat were light pieces — the translator's notes on the Baburnama record that firingi and zarb-zan both denoted swivel guns, that Erskine thought 'the size of these artillery at this time is very uncertain', and that reading the word araba as 'gun-carriages' rather than plain carts is itself disputed. The option architecture, not the precision of statement 4, is what makes (c) the answer, and a student is better served knowing that than being told the statement is exact.
- Baburnama, before Panipat: 'Seven hundred carts (araba) were brought in. The order given to Ustad Ali-quli was that these carts should be joined together in Ottoman fashion, but using ropes of raw hide instead of chains, and that between every two carts 5 or 6 mantelets should be fixed, behind which the matchlockmen were to stand to fire.'
- In the battle itself Ustad Ali-quli 'made good discharge of firingi shots' and Mustafa the commissary fired zarb-zan from the left of the centre — the translator's note records that both words denoted swivel guns, not siege pieces
- At Khanwa in 1527 Babur writes that 'we imitated the ghazis of Rum by posting matchlockmen (tufangchian) and cannoneers (ra'd-andazan) along the line of carts which were chained to one another in front of us'
- Babur dates Panipat to Friday 8 Rajab 932 AH; Beveridge's translation renders that 20 April 1526, while textbooks conventionally print 21 April 1526
- Four days after the battle Babur toured Delhi's existing domed monuments — the tombs of Balban and Alauddin Khalji, Alauddin's minar, the Hauz-i-Shamsi, the Hauz Khas and the Lodi tombs and gardens — his own record that arch and dome preceded him
- ASI's protected list for South Delhi covers the Qutb archaeological area 'including the Mosque, Iron Pillar, Minar of Qutbu'd-din, unfinished Minar, all colonnades, screen arches, tomb of Altamash, college, buildings of Alau'd-Din ... and all gateways including the Ala'i-Darwaza', plus Balban's tomb at Lado Sarai — all pre-Mughal
- Babur's Indian campaigns: Panipat 1526 (Ibrahim Lodi), Khanwa 1527 (Rana Sanga), Chanderi 1528, Ghaghra 1529; he died at Agra in 1530, and ASI protects his Kabuli Bagh Mosque with enclosure wall at Panipat
The two highlighted rows are statements 3 and 4, which gives option (c). Both false statements say 'introduction', and both are beaten by dates that precede 1526.
- Reading 'introduction' loosely. Statements built on firsts are almost always false for Babur, because the Delhi Sultanate had already brought both arcuate architecture and gunpowder
- Answering with everything that sounds broadly true. Statement 3 is safe, but carrying statements 1 and 2 along with it produces the popular wrong option
- Overstating Babur's artillery. His guns at Panipat were light swivel pieces, and what was new was their tactical integration behind a cart-line, not the existence of cannon in India
BPSC took this straight from UPSC's 2015 paper, kept the three original statements word for word, added a fourth about cannon and rebuilt the options — so the same reasoning that answered UPSC answers BPSC, with one extra step. That reuse is itself the lesson: on the medieval-history block, BPSC's setters draw on the UPSC bank, and solving old UPSC prelims papers is direct BPSC preparation rather than a supplement to it. UPSC's version tests only whether you know that arch, dome and gunpowder predate the Mughals; BPSC's version additionally makes you decide how generously to read 'introduction of cannons', which is the softer half of the question and the reason our confidence in the answer is qualified rather than absolute.
Consider the following : The arrival of Babur into India led to the 1. Introduction of gunpowder in the subcontinent 2. Introduction of the arch and dome in the region's architecture 3. Establishment of Timurid dynasty in the region Which of the above statements is/are correct?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(b) 3 only
This is the parent question, and the resemblance is not a coincidence — BPSC reproduced all three statements word for word, added a fourth on cannon, and rebuilt the options. UPSC's key ruled statements 1 and 2 false and 3 true, which is exactly the ruling that forces (c) on the BPSC version.
Assertion (A): The Battle of Khanua was certainly more decisive and significant than the First Battle of Panipat. Reason (R): Rana Sanga, the Rajput hero, was certainly a more formidable adversary than Ibrahim Lodi.
- (a) Both A and R are individually true, and R is the correct explanation of A
- (b) Both A and R are individually true, but R is NOT a correct explanation of A
- (c) A is true, but R is false
- (d) A is false, but R is true
Answer(d) A is false, but R is true
The other side of Babur's Indian campaigns. Both questions turn on what Panipat actually achieved — here UPSC insists it was the more decisive battle even though Rana Sanga was the harder opponent, which is precisely because the cart-and-artillery method that debuted at Panipat ended Lodi rule outright.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In the Baburnama, the carts (araba) roped together with raw-hide instead of chains, with mantelets fixed between them for matchlockmen to fire from, were an adaptation of the military practice of
- (a)The Ottomans of Rum
- (b)The Portuguese at Goa
- (c)The Rajput confederacy
- (d)The Bahmani sultanate
Answer(a) The Ottomans of Rum — Babur writes that the carts were 'joined together in Ottoman fashion', and at Khanwa that 'we imitated the ghazis of Rum'; his gunners Ustad Ali-quli and Mustafa Rumi carried the technique.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following was NOT among the Delhi monuments Babur records visiting within days of his victory at Panipat?
- (a)The tomb of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban
- (b)The tombs and gardens of Sultan Sikandar Lodi
- (c)The Taj Mahal at Agra
- (d)The Hauz-i-Shamsi
Answer(c) The Taj Mahal at Agra — built by Shah Jahan more than a century later. The Baburnama names Balban's tomb, Alauddin Khalji's tomb and minar, the Hauz-i-Shamsi, the Hauz Khas and the Lodi tombs.