Which medieval Indian city was known as the Shiraz of the East for its scholars and learning?
- A.Mandu
- B.Jaunpur
- C.Gaur
- D.Ahmedabad
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Jaunpur. Under the Sharqi sultans, and especially Ibrahim Shah Sharqi, Jaunpur attracted so many scholars of Persian and Arabic, theologians and musicians that it was compared with Shiraz, the city of learning and poetry in Iran. Option A is wrong because Mandu, the hill capital of Malwa, was renamed Shadiabad, the city of joy, by Hoshang Shah, and is remembered for the Jahaz Mahal and the tomb of Hoshang Shah rather than for scholarship. Option C is wrong because Gaur was a capital of the Bengal sultans and is known for its brick and terracotta mosques. Option D is wrong because Ahmedabad, founded in 1411, was a city of trade, textiles and stone carving. Candidates sometimes confuse this epithet with the Jaunpur style of architecture, which is a separate fact about the same city.
Read the full article: Provincial Kingdoms of Medieval India: Rulers and Capitals
Practice Questions
View allWho founded the Sharqi dynasty of Jaunpur?
- A.Malik Sarwar
- B.Ibrahim Shah
- C.Dilawar Khan Ghuri
- D.Zafar Khan
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A noble of the later Tughlaq court, Malik Sarwar was sent east in 1394 with the title Malik-us-Sharq, the Master of the East, and he made himself independent of Delhi; the title gave his line the name Sharqi.
Read the full explanation →The city of Ahmedabad was founded in 1411 on the bank of the Sabarmati by which ruler?
- A.Muzaffar Shah I
- B.Mahmud Begarha
- C.Ahmad Shah I
- D.Bahadur Shah
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He moved the capital of Gujarat from Anhilwara Patan to a new city on the Sabarmati in 1411, named it after himself, and built there the Jama Mosque and the ceremonial Teen Darwaza.
Read the full explanation →Mahmud of Gujarat received the title Begarha because he
- A.captured the two forts of Girnar and Champaner
- B.defeated two Sultans of Delhi
- C.ruled for two separate terms
- D.built two capital cities on the coast
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In Gujarati be garh means two forts, and Mahmud took both the hill fort of Girnar in Junagadh and the fort of Champaner in the east of his kingdom, founding the towns of Mustafabad and Muhammadabad beside them.
Read the full explanation →Zain-ul-Abidin, the greatest ruler of medieval Kashmir, is popularly known as
- A.Butshikan
- B.Bud Shah
- C.Shah-i-Bangalah
- D.Malik-us-Sharq
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He abolished the jizya, recalled the Brahmins who had fled, had the Mahabharata and Kalhana's Rajatarangini translated into Persian, and settled artisans from Samarkand who introduced paper-making, shawl weaving and carpet weaving.
Read the full explanation →Which ruler of Malwa shifted the capital from Dhar to Mandu and renamed it Shadiabad?
- A.Dilawar Khan Ghuri
- B.Hoshang Shah
- C.Mahmud Khalji I
- D.Baz Bahadur
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The son of Dilawar Khan Ghuri moved the seat of government from the plains town of Dhar to the hill fort of Mandu, renamed it Shadiabad, the city of joy, and built the Jama Mosque there; his own tomb at Mandu is the first building in India faced entirely in…
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