Which dynasty ruled Delhi immediately after the Khilji dynasty?

The correct answer is A, Khilji. The Khalji or Khilji dynasty held the throne of Delhi only from 1290, when Jalaluddin Khalji seized power, to 1320, when Khusrau Khan was overthrown by Ghazi Malik. That is about thirty years, the shortest run of the five dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate, even though it produced its most powerful ruler in Alauddin Khalji. Option B is wrong because the Tughlaq dynasty ruled from 1320 to 1414, roughly ninety-four years, which is the longest of the five. Option C is wrong because the Sayyid dynasty, founded by Khizr Khan in 1414, lasted until 1451, about thirty-seven years, which is longer than the Khalji span. Option D is wrong because the Lodi dynasty ruled from 1451 to 1526, about seventy-five years, ending with Ibrahim Lodi's defeat at Panipat. For comparison, the Slave dynasty itself lasted about eighty-four years, from 1206 to 1290.

The correct answer is B, Iltutmish. Shamsuddin Iltutmish, who ruled from 1211 to 1236, moved the seat of government from Lahore to Delhi, completed the Qutb Minar that his father-in-law had begun, issued the silver tanka and the copper jital, organised the iqta system of land assignments and formed the Turkan-i-Chihalgani, the corps of forty Turkish nobles. He is therefore called the real consolidator of the Sultanate. Option A is wrong because Qutbuddin Aibak founded the dynasty in 1206 and kept Lahore as his centre; he only began the Qutb Minar and died in 1210. Option C is wrong because Balban came much later, from 1266 to 1287, and is remembered for the sijda and paibos ceremonies and for breaking the power of the Forty. Option D is wrong because Jalaluddin Khalji founded a different dynasty in 1290, long after the capital had moved.

The correct answer is D, Qutub-ud-Din-Aibak. The Adhai-din-ka-Jhonpra stands at Ajmer in Rajasthan and was raised on the site of an earlier Sanskrit college by Qutbuddin Aibak, the founder of the Slave dynasty and the first Sultan of Delhi. The same ruler built the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in Delhi and began the Qutb Minar, so Aibak is the name to attach to the earliest Sultanate mosques. Option A is wrong because Balban, who ruled from 1266 to 1287, is known for court ceremony and administrative reform rather than for this mosque. Option B is wrong because Ibrahim Lodi ruled more than three centuries later, from 1517 to 1526, and lost the First Battle of Panipat to Babur. Option C is wrong because Iltutmish completed the Qutb Minar and built the Hauz-i-Shamsi, but the Ajmer mosque was Aibak's work.

The correct answer is C, Alauddin Khalji. Alauddin Khalji, who ruled from 1296 to 1316, wanted a standing army paid directly by the state and under his own eye. He therefore had every cavalry horse branded with the state mark, a practice called dagh, and had a written description of each soldier kept, called chehra, so that nobles could not substitute inferior horses or show absent men at the muster. He was also the first Sultan to pay his troops entirely in cash rather than through land assignments. Option A is wrong because Balban created the diwan-i-arz, the army department, but not these two checks. Option B is wrong because Iltutmish organised the iqta system and issued the tanka and jital. Option D is wrong because Firoz Shah Tughlaq moved the other way, making iqtas hereditary and paying nobles in land, which weakened military discipline.

The correct answer is D, Kharaj tax. Kharaj was the land tax on agricultural produce and the single largest source of revenue for the Delhi Sultanate. Alauddin Khalji raised the demand to half the produce in the doab and had land measured for assessment. Along with kharaj the state took zakat from Muslims, jizya from non-Muslims and khams, its share of war booty. Option A is wrong because the Ryotwari settlement was a British land revenue system introduced by Thomas Munro and Alexander Read in the Madras and Bombay presidencies, centuries later. Option B is wrong because income tax in India dates from 1860, when James Wilson introduced it under the colonial government. Option C is wrong because the Mahalwari system was another British settlement, associated with Holt Mackenzie and later William Bentinck in the North-Western Provinces, in which the village or mahal was the revenue unit.