Indian History Quiz: Titles of Ancient and Medieval Indian Rulers

Ashoka edicts almost never use his personal name; they speak of Devanampiya Piyadassi, the beloved of the gods and of pleasing appearance.

The Allahabad pillar inscription, a prashasti composed by his court poet Harisena, lists his campaigns in the Ganga valley, the Deccan and the frontier states and calls him Sarvarajochchetta; the same inscription gives him Kaviraja for his learning, and his coins show him playing the veena.

The Nasik cave inscription issued by his mother Gautami Balashri praises the Satavahana ruler as Trisamudratoyapitavahana and as Ekabrahmana, and credits him with destroying the Shakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas.

He conquered the territories of the Western Kshatrapas in Gujarat and Malwa, which gave the Guptas access to the western ports, and he used the titles Vikramaditya, Simhavikrama and Devashri; the Chinese pilgrim Fa-hien visited India in his reign.

The founder of the Slave or Mamluk dynasty was called Lakh Baksh for his lavish charity, and he began the Qutb Minar at Delhi and the Adhai Din ka Jhonpra at Ajmer.

Ruling from 1266 to 1287 over a sultanate weakened by factions, he raised the throne above the nobility by claiming Zil-i-Ilahi and Niabat-i-Khudai, deputy of God, and by making courtiers perform sijda, prostration, and paibos, kissing the feet.

The ambition announced by the title matched his record: the conquest of Gujarat, Ranthambore, Chittor, Malwa and the Deccan campaigns of Malik Kafur, besides the market control regulations and the first systematic measurement of land for revenue.

She was the daughter of Mirza Ghiyas Beg, whom Jahangir honoured with the title Itmad-ud-Daula, and after her marriage to the emperor in 1611 she was styled Nur Mahal, light of the palace, and then Nur Jahan, light of the world; coins were struck in her name along with the…

On his accession in 1658 he took the title Alamgir, conqueror of the world, and because he lived austerely and copied the Quran he was also called Zinda Pir, the living saint.

He sent an army to the north that reached the Ganga, and in memory of the campaign he took the title Gangaikonda Chola and built a new capital called Gangaikondacholapuram; his naval expedition against the Srivijaya kingdom earned him Kadaram Kondan.

Krishnadevaraya of the Tuluva dynasty was himself the author of the Telugu work Amuktamalyada and patronised the Ashtadiggajas, the eight great poets of his court, which earned him the names Andhra Bhoja and Abhinava Bhoja after the legendary king Bhoja of Dhar.

He was crowned at the Raigad fort in 1674 with the title Chhatrapati, the ceremony being performed by the scholar Gaga Bhatt, and he governed with a council of eight ministers, the Ashta Pradhan, whose head carried the title Peshwa.