Which of the following monuments were built by Emperor Shershah ? A. Sasaram Tomb B. Kila-E-Kuhn Mosque C. Tomb of Sikandara D. Jama Masjid

Correct — option (1), A, B.

Statement A is right. The Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908) says Sasaram 'is noted as containing the tomb of the Afghan Sher Shah', an octagonal hall set within a large tank.

Sher Shah commissioned the tomb for himself. Wikipedia, citing Catherine Asher, records that it was completed on 16 August 1545, about three months after his death, during the reign of Islam Shah Suri.

Statement B is right, though its attribution is less settled. The Qila-i-Kuhna mosque stands inside the Purana Qila in Delhi. NCERT's Class XI Fine Art glossary says it was built 'by Humayun or Sher Shah between 1530 and 1545'.

Wikipedia summarises accounts that credit Sher Shah with building it for his own use, around 1541, and notes historian M. C. Joshi's view that Humayun designed and began it. Option (1) counts it as Sher Shah's, in line with those accounts.

Statement C is wrong. The Imperial Gazetteer says Akbar's tomb at Sikandra 'was built by Jahangir, and completed in 1612-3'.

Statement D, read as the Jama Masjid of Delhi, is wrong. NCERT's Class VII text dates the Jami Masjid that Shah Jahan built at Shahjahanabad to 1650–1656.

Only A and B remain, so the code is option (1), A, B.

The idea to remember: Sher Shah's buildings are his tomb at Sasaram and the mosque in Delhi's Purana Qila; Sikandra is Jahangir's tomb for Akbar, and Delhi's Jama Masjid is Shah Jahan's.

Why the others are wrong

• (2)
  A, C — This code keeps the Sasaram tomb but swaps the Purana Qila mosque for the Tomb of Sikandara.

  Akbar's tomb at Sikandra was built by Jahangir and, per the Imperial Gazetteer of India, completed in 1612–13, about 67 years after Sher Shah died in 1545. A, C would fit a list of royal tombs, since both are mausoleums, but not a list of Sher Shah's buildings.

• (3)
  A, D — This code keeps the Sasaram tomb but adds the Jama Masjid.

  Delhi's Jama Masjid is Shah Jahan's: NCERT (Class VII) dates his Jami Masjid at Shahjahanabad to 1650–1656, nearly a century after the Sur dynasty's rule ended in 1555. A, D pairs a Sur building with a Mughal one.

• (4)
  B, D — This code drops the Sasaram tomb, Sher Shah's own mausoleum, which the Imperial Gazetteer of India names as his tomb.

  It also adds Delhi's Jama Masjid, built by Shah Jahan in 1650–1656. B, D would describe two mosques in Delhi, only one of which, the Qila-i-Kuhna, is linked to Sher Shah.

A builder attribution rests on records: inscriptions, chronicles and later surveys. Sher Shah ruled only from 1540 to 1545, so a building begun or finished near those years can be credited to him or to a ruler close to him in time.

That is the case with the Purana Qila mosque, which NCERT credits to 'Humayun or Sher Shah'. NCERT (Class VII) gives Humayun's reigns as 1530–1540 and 1555–1556.

Tombs add a second complication: a successor may finish them. Jahangir built Akbar's tomb at Sikandra, and Sher Shah's tomb at Sasaram was completed after his death.

Key facts

• The Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908) says Sasaram is noted for Sher Shah's tomb, an octagonal hall surrounded by an arcade, set within a large tank.
• Per Wikipedia, citing Asher, Sher Shah's tomb was completed on 16 August 1545, about three months after his death on 22 May 1545.
• NCERT's Class XI Fine Art glossary: the Qila-i-Kuhna Masjid, inside Purana Qila in Delhi, was built by Humayun or Sher Shah between 1530 and 1545.
• Akbar's tomb at Sikandra, near Agra, was built by Jahangir and completed in 1612–13, according to the Imperial Gazetteer of India.
• NCERT (Class VII) dates the Jami Masjid built by Shah Jahan at Shahjahanabad, Delhi, to 1650–1656.

Common traps

• Assuming a tomb was built by the person buried in it: Akbar's tomb at Sikandra was built by Jahangir.
• Treating 'Jama Masjid' as the name of one building: NCERT (Class VII) explains it as a congregational mosque and describes more than one, such as the Quwwat al-Islam of Delhi's first city; the Jami Masjid of Shahjahanabad is Shah Jahan's (1650–1656).
• Reading the Qila-i-Kuhna mosque as settled: NCERT credits it to 'Humayun or Sher Shah between 1530 and 1545', a weaker attribution than the Sasaram tomb's.

UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2023 and 2013 here once those papers are published on this site.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The tomb of Sher Shah Sur is located at

  • (a)Sasaram
  • (b)Kalinjar
  • (c)Sikandra
  • (d)Shergarh
  Answer(1) — The Imperial Gazetteer of India says Sasaram is noted for Sher Shah's tomb. Option (2) is the fort outside which he died in 1545 while leading a siege; option (3) holds Akbar's tomb; option (4) is a small hill fort from Sher Shah's time, 26 miles south-west of Sasaram.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Whose tomb stands at Sikandra, near Agra?

  • (a)Sikandar Lodi
  • (b)Akbar
  • (c)Humayun
  • (d)Sher Shah
  Answer(2) — The Imperial Gazetteer of India says Sikandra is chiefly famous for Akbar's tomb, built by Jahangir. Option (1) gave the village its name, by tradition, and built a palace there in 1495; option (3) is buried in Delhi; option (4) is buried at Sasaram.