Which of the following works of Kalidasa is based on the context of the birth of Kartikeya, the son of God Shiva and Goddess Parvati?

The correct answer is C, Nawab of Awadh. The richly illustrated manuscript of the Badshah Nama that now lies in the Royal Library at Windsor reached King George the Third in 1799 as a gift from the Nawab of Awadh. The Badshah Nama, or Padshahnama, is the official Persian chronicle of Shah Jahan's reign, written by Abdul Hamid Lahori, and its paintings of court scenes, durbars and sieges are among the finest Mughal work that survives. Option A is wrong because Abul Fazl was Akbar's courtier, the author of the Akbarnama and the Ain-i-Akbari, and he was killed in 1602. Option B is wrong because Abdul Hamid Lahori wrote the chronicle but lived in the seventeenth century, so he could not have presented it in 1799. Option D is wrong because William Jones was the judge and orientalist who founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 and died in 1794. Exam tip: Badshah Nama, Abdul Hamid Lahori, Shah Jahan's reign, Windsor manuscript.

The correct answer is B, James the First, to the court of Jahangir. Sir Thomas Roe reached India in the second decade of the seventeenth century as the formal ambassador of James the First of England and spent about three years at Jahangir's court, seeking a firm commercial treaty for the East India Company; he obtained trading concessions but not the treaty he wanted, and his journal, with the writings of his chaplain Edward Terry, is a close account of the court. Option A is wrong because Charles the First reigned later, in Shah Jahan's time, and sent no such embassy. Option C is wrong because Elizabeth the First did write to Akbar and her letter was carried by John Mildenhall, but Roe was not her envoy; the earlier Englishman received at Jahangir's court was William Hawkins. Option D is wrong because George the First reigned in the eighteenth century, after Aurangzeb's death. Fix the sequence as Hawkins first, then Roe as ambassador, both at Jahangir's court.

The correct answer is B, Devaraya the Second. Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi came from Herat in the fifteenth century as the envoy of the Timurid ruler Shah Rukh, and his account, part of the work Matla-us-Sadain, describes the great fortifications of Vijayanagara in seven concentric walls, the crowded bazaars, the jewel market and the court ceremony, and it is among the fullest descriptions of the city that survive. Option A is wrong because Harihara the First was a founder of the kingdom in the fourteenth century, long before this embassy. Option C is wrong because Krishnadeva Raya, the most famous of the Vijayanagara kings, ruled in the early sixteenth century and hosted the Portuguese writers Domingo Paes and Duarte Barbosa. Option D is wrong because Achyuta Deva Raya, who followed Krishnadeva Raya, was visited by the Portuguese Fernao Nuniz. The ordered list to remember is Nicolo Conti under Devaraya the First, Abdur Razzaq under Devaraya the Second, and Paes and Barbosa under Krishnadeva Raya.

The correct answer is B, Al-Biruni. Al-Biruni wrote this work in Arabic in the eleventh century as a careful account of Indian religion, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, law, custom and measurement, setting out each belief as its own followers held it and comparing it with Greek and Islamic learning; he had learned Sanskrit for the purpose, and the book is why he is called the founder of Indology. Option A is wrong because Amir Khusrau was a poet of the Delhi Sultanate who wrote in Persian, and his works include the Tughlaq Nama and the Khazain-ul-Futuh. Option C is wrong because Ziauddin Barani wrote the Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi, a Persian history of the Sultanate sultans. Option D is wrong because Minhaj-us-Siraj wrote the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, the chief source for the reign of Iltutmish and Razia. Pair the books with their authors: Indica with Megasthenes, Si-Yu-Ki with Hiuen Tsang, Kitab-ul-Hind with Al-Biruni and Rihla with Ibn Battuta.

The correct answer is B, Chandragupta the Second Vikramaditya. Fa-Hien travelled overland into India at the close of the fourth century and stayed for several years, coming chiefly to collect the texts of Buddhist monastic discipline; his account, known as the Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms, notes the charitable rest houses and hospitals, the mildness of punishments and the safety of the roads, and it is a valued picture of Gupta society. He is remarkable for never naming the emperor in whose realm he travelled. Option A is wrong because Samudragupta, the father of Chandragupta the Second, ruled earlier and is known from the Allahabad pillar inscription of Harisena. Option C is wrong because Harshavardhana of the seventh century was the host of Hiuen Tsang, not of Fa-Hien, and mixing up these two pilgrims is the commonest mistake here. Option D is wrong because Kanishka of the Kushanas ruled in the second century and is linked with the fourth Buddhist council.