Which of the following Delhi sultans introduced two coins, namely silver tanka and copper jital?

Correct — C. Iltutmish issued the silver tanka and the copper jital, and the two became the basis of Delhi Sultanate coinage — option (c).

The step was about more than money. Striking coin in one's own name is a declaration of sovereignty, and Iltutmish had just received formal investiture from the Abbasid Caliph in 1229, which let him make the claim openly.

He also organised the iqta system of revenue assignments and built the corps of forty Turkish nobles, the Turkan-i-Chihalgani.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Bahlul Lodi — Bahlul Lodi founded the Lodi dynasty in 1451, more than two centuries after this coinage. The coin remembered in his name is the billon bahluli.
• (b)
  Qutbuddin Aibak — Qutbuddin Aibak founded the line in 1206 but ruled barely four years, dying in 1210. He is remembered for beginning the Qutb Minar, not for a currency.
• (d)
  Ghiyasuddin Balban — Balban belongs to a later generation and is studied for his theory of kingship — sijda and paibos, the title zill-i-ilahi, and the breaking of the corps of forty.

Sultanate questions cluster on who introduced what, and the coinage line is the most stable of them.

Iltutmish gives the silver tanka and the copper jital, the iqta system and the corps of forty.

Alauddin Khalji gives market control and the Deccan campaigns. Muhammad bin Tughlaq gives the token currency in cheaper metal that had to be withdrawn. Sher Shah Suri, later still, gives the silver rupiya from which the modern rupee takes its name.

In each case the coin is a statement of sovereignty, which is why the syllabus keeps returning to it.

Key facts

• Iltutmish introduced the silver tanka and the copper jital.
• Iltutmish received investiture from the Abbasid Caliph in 1229.
• Qutbuddin Aibak founded the Slave dynasty in 1206 and began the Qutb Minar.
• Balban broke the power of the corps of forty and introduced sijda and paibos at court.

Common traps

• Giving the coinage to Qutbuddin Aibak because he founded the dynasty.
• Swapping the metals and calling the jital silver.

No directly related past PYQ was found.