Ghiyas ud-din Balban had set up a _________ department called 'Diwan-i-arz'.

Correct — D. Arz is the word for the muster or review of troops, and the officer who held it was the ariz.

Diwan-i-Arz was therefore the war department of the Delhi Sultanate: it recruited soldiers, paid them, kept the descriptive rolls of men and horses, and held the inspections.

Balban's throne rested on a standing army answerable to him rather than to the Turkish nobility, so he built the department up under the ariz-i-mumalik and kept it clear of the wazir's finance office.

The blank takes military, option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  agriculture — No department of that name handled farming under Balban. The sultanate's agriculture ministry was Diwan-i Amir-i Kohi, created much later by Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
• (b)
  education — The Delhi Sultanate ran no state education diwan. Learning was carried by madrasas and by individual patronage, not by a department of the central secretariat.
• (c)
  commerce — There was no commerce diwan in the standard list of sultanate departments. Trade was handled through market regulation and taxation rather than a ministry of its own.

The Delhi Sultanate governed through named diwans, the departments of a central secretariat, and SSC tests the name-to-function map directly.

Four recur. Diwan-i-Wizarat was finance, under the wazir. Diwan-i-Arz was the army, under the ariz-i-mumalik. Diwan-i-Insha drafted the sultan's correspondence. Diwan-i-Risalat dealt with religious affairs and appeals.

Balban (r. 1266-1287) rebuilt the army department because his authority depended on it. He needed a force loyal to the throne while he broke the Turkish noble group known as the Chalisa, or the Forty.

Key facts

• Diwan-i-Arz was the military department of the Delhi Sultanate, headed by the ariz-i-mumalik.
• Diwan-i-Wizarat was the finance department, headed by the wazir.
• Diwan-i-Insha handled the sultan's correspondence and the drafting of royal orders.
• Balban ruled from 1266 to 1287 and broke the power of the Turkish noble group called the Chalisa.

Common traps

• Reading arz as land or revenue because the sound resembles arazi.
• Assuming every named diwan was Balban's creation, when several predate him and several come after.
• Mixing Diwan-i-Arz with Diwan-i-Risalat, which dealt with religious affairs rather than the army.

No directly related past PYQ was found.