SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 23 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 20 of 97

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which of the following battles was fought between Babur and Rana Sanga in 1527?

(a)Battle of Chanderi
(b)Battle of Bayana
(c)Battle of Khanwa
(d)Second battle of Panipat

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The Battle of Khanwa, fought in March 1527 near Fatehpur Sikri, set Babur against Rana Sanga of Mewar and the Rajput confederacy he had gathered.

Babur won with the method that had taken Panipat the year before — field artillery behind a barricade of carts, with cavalry sweeping the flanks. The victory broke the organised Rajput challenge and secured his hold on the Delhi-Agra country.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Battle of Chanderi — Chanderi came after Khanwa, in 1528, and was fought against Medini Rai of Malwa, one of Rana Sanga's allies rather than Sanga himself.
(b)
Battle of Bayana — Bayana was the preliminary clash of the same 1527 campaign, in which Rajput horse mauled Babur's advance detachment. It is not the battle that decided the war.
(d)
Second battle of Panipat — The second battle of Panipat is 1556 — Akbar's regent Bairam Khan against Hemu. Wrong ruler, wrong opponent, and nearly three decades after Rana Sanga.

Concept

Three battles made the Mughal foothold in India, and Babur fought all three.

Panipat, 1526 removed Ibrahim Lodi and the Delhi Sultanate. Khanwa, 1527 removed Rana Sanga and the Rajput confederacy. Ghaghra, 1529 removed the Afghan power of Bihar and Bengal.

Khanwa was the hardest of the three: Sanga's army was larger and Babur's own men were unwilling. Babur declared the campaign a holy war, remitted the tamgha tax on Muslims, and took the title Ghazi after the win.

Read the stem's two anchors together — Rana Sanga and 1527. Babur fought Rajput forces more than once, so a name alone or a year alone would not settle the option.

Key facts

The Battle of Khanwa was fought in 1527 between Babur and Rana Sanga of Mewar.
Babur remitted the tamgha tax before the battle and took the title Ghazi after it.
Babur's three decisive Indian battles were Panipat in 1526, Khanwa in 1527 and Ghaghra in 1529.
The Battle of Chanderi, against Medini Rai, followed in 1528.

Study next

Babur's artillery and the tulughma flanking manoeuvreRana Sanga's confederacy and the chiefs who joined itHumayun's defeats at Chausa and Kannauj against Sher Shah Suri

Common traps

Reading any Babur-versus-Rajput battle as Khanwa, when Chanderi in 1528 was against Medini Rai
Confusing the second battle of Panipat in 1556 with the first in 1526

This campaign is worked through its supporting cast as well as its date.

Rana Sanga's allies — Medini Rai of Chanderi, Hasan Khan of Mewat and Mahmud Lodi — form the stem at 26 Sep 2024, 12:30, General Awareness Q.23, keyed to Babur. Babur's successor is asked at 17 Sep 2024, 09:00, General Awareness Q.10, keyed to Humayun.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.