UPPSC 2023 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 13 of 150

Correct — B, A-(4), B-(2), C-(1), D-(3). Mirat-e-Sikandari is a Persian history of the Gujarat Sultanate — matching 'Victory of Gujarat' (4). Burhan-e-Masir is a history of the Bahmani and Nizam Shahi (Ahmadnagar) dynasties of the Deccan — 'History of Bahmani's Ahmad Nagar' (2). Riyaz-us-Salatin is a history of Bengal (1). Riyaz-ul-Insha is a compilation of the letters/state correspondence of Mahmud Gawan, the Bahmani prime minister (3). Only option (b) pairs all four correctly.

• (a)A-(2), B-(4), C-(1), D-(3) — Swaps A and B: it wrongly makes Mirat-e-Sikandari a history of Ahmadnagar and Burhan-e-Masir the Gujarat work. C and D are right, but the first two are reversed.
• (c)A-(4), B-(2), C-(3), D-(1) — Correct for A and B, but swaps C and D — it wrongly makes Riyaz-us-Salatin the collection of Gawan's letters and Riyaz-ul-Insha a history of Bengal.
• (d)A-(1), B-(2), C-(4), D-(3) — Wrongly makes Mirat-e-Sikandari a history of Bengal and Riyaz-us-Salatin the 'Victory of Gujarat' work; only B and D are correctly matched.

These are four Indo-Persian historical/literary texts of medieval India. Mirat-i-Sikandari (by Sikandar ibn Muhammad, 'Manjhu') chronicles the Gujarat Sultanate; Burhan-i-Ma'asir (by Sayyid Ali Tabatabai) covers the Bahmani and Ahmadnagar (Nizam Shahi) states of the Deccan; Riyaz-us-Salatin (by Ghulam Husain Salim) is a history of Bengal; and Riyaz-ul-Insha is a collection of the official letters of Mahmud Gawan, the reforming Bahmani wazir.

Sort the works by the region/dynasty they describe: Gujarat, the Deccan (Bahmani–Ahmadnagar) and Bengal. The tricky pair is the two 'Riyaz' titles — Riyaz-us-Salatin (Bengal) vs Riyaz-ul-Insha (Gawan's letters). Fixing A = Gujarat and separating the two Riyaz works cracks the code.

• Mirat-e-Sikandari → history of the Gujarat Sultanate ('Victory of Gujarat').
• Burhan-e-Masir → history of the Bahmani and Ahmadnagar (Nizam Shahi) states.
• Riyaz-us-Salatin → history of Bengal (Ghulam Husain Salim).
• Riyaz-ul-Insha → collected letters of Mahmud Gawan, Bahmani prime minister.

• Mixing up Riyaz-us-Salatin (Bengal history) with Riyaz-ul-Insha (Gawan's letters)
• Reading 'Sikandari' as Sikandar Lodi rather than the Gujarat chronicle

Classic match-the-source-to-region/author; UPPSC favours Indo-Persian chronicles and the dynasties they cover.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Mahmud Gawan, whose letters are compiled in the Riyaz-ul-Insha, was the prime minister of which kingdom?

  • (a)Gujarat Sultanate
  • (b)Bahmani Sultanate
  • (c)Vijayanagara Empire
  • (d)Bengal Sultanate

  Answer(b) Bahmani Sultanate — Gawan was its reforming wazir.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Riyaz-us-Salatin is a Persian chronicle of the history of:

  • (a)Kashmir
  • (b)Gujarat
  • (c)Bengal
  • (d)Malwa

  Answer(c) Bengal — written by Ghulam Husain Salim.