17 multiple-choice (MCQ / objective) questions from this chapter, in every exam-style shape used in the paper. Every question comes with an explanation along with the answer, so you remember why the option is correct, not just which one it is.
1 Direct Questions
Direct Questions
- 1 markBy the twelfth century, the principal deity at Puri, Orissa, Jagannatha, was identified as a form of which god, even though the image itself was carved from wood by local tribal specialists?
(A) Shiva(B) Vishnu(C) Brahma(D) Surya - 1 markThe sociological terms “great tradition” and “little tradition”, used to describe the interaction between Brahmanical and local religious practices, were coined by:
(A) Max Weber(B) Robert Redfield(C) Louis Dumont(D) M.N. Srinivas - 1 markBasavanna, the twelfth-century founder of the Virashaiva/Lingayat movement in Karnataka, served as a minister at the court of which ruler?
(A) A Chola ruler(B) A Kalachuri ruler(C) A Chalukya ruler(D) A Rashtrakuta ruler - 1 markBecause Lingayats believe the devotee unites with Shiva at death and does not return to this world, they reject cremation in favour of:
(A) Cremation on a sandalwood pyre(B) Exposure of the body(C) Ceremonial burial(D) River immersion without rites - 1 markThe Arab general Muhammad Qasim conquered Sind, bringing it into the Caliph’s domain, in the year:
(A) 632(B) 711(C) 1206(D) 1526
2 Assertion-Reason
Assertion-Reason
- 1 markAssertion (A): The Delhi Sultans generally resisted the ulama’s demand to impose the shari’a strictly as state law.
Reason (R): The majority of their subjects were non-Muslims, and imposing the shari’a risked provoking their opposition.
(A) A and R are both true, and R correctly explains A(B) A and R are both true, but R does not explain A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): Later traditions claiming that Ramananda was Kabir’s guru cannot be accepted at face value.
Reason (R): The verses attributed to Kabir use the words “guru” and “satguru” but never name a specific preceptor, and Ramananda cannot easily be made Kabir’s contemporary without assigning improbably long lives to one or both.
(A) A and R are both true, and R correctly explains A(B) A and R are both true, but R does not explain A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true
3 Match the Following
Match the Following
- 1 markMatch List I with List II.
List I: (i) Nizamuddin Auliya (ii) Amir Khusrau (iii) Abu’l Hasan al Hujwiri (iv) Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi
List II: (1) Introduced the qaul sung at the opening of qawwali (2) Wrote the Maktubat-i Imam Rabbani, often contrasted with Akbar’s liberal outlook (3) Wrote the Kashf-ul-Mahjub and is revered as Data Ganj Bakhsh (4) Addressed by his disciples as sultan-ul-mashaikh
(A) i-4, ii-1, iii-3, iv-2(B) i-3, ii-4, iii-1, iv-2(C) i-1, ii-3, iii-2, iv-4(D) i-2, ii-1, iii-4, iv-3 - 1 markMatch List I with List II.
List I: (i) Basavanna (ii) Mirabai (iii) Shankaradeva (iv) Andal
List II: (1) Rajasthan/Mewar, Krishna bhakti (2) Karnataka, the Virashaiva movement (3) Tamil Nadu, an Alvar devoted to Vishnu (4) Assam, the Bhagavati dharma
(A) i-4, ii-2, iii-3, iv-1(B) i-3, ii-1, iii-2, iv-4(C) i-1, ii-3, iii-4, iv-2(D) i-2, ii-1, iii-4, iv-3
4 Statement-Based Questions
Statement-Based Questions
- 1 markConsider the following statements:
1. A khanqah was led by a teaching master known as a shaikh, pir or murshid.
2. A khalifa was the disciple who formally initiated a new master into the order.
3. A silsila is an unbroken spiritual chain linking a master to the Prophet through a lineage of disciples.
4. A murid was the title given to a shaikh’s own successor.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(A) 1 and 2 only(B) 2 and 4 only(C) 1, 2 and 4 only(D) 1 and 3 only - 1 markConsider the following statements:
1. The Chishtis used sama’ (mystical music) as an integral part of their devotional practice.
2. Amir Khusrau introduced the qaul, a hymn recited at the opening of qawwali.
3. Baba Farid’s verses were incorporated into the Kashf-ul-Mahjub.
4. Chishtis associated with the Delhi silsila conversed in Hindavi, the language of ordinary people.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(A) 1, 2 and 4 only(B) 1 and 3 only(C) 2, 3 and 4 only(D) 1, 2, 3 and 4
5 Chronological Ordering
Chronological Ordering
- 1 markArrange the following Chishti sufis in order of their year of death, earliest first:
1. Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya
2. Shaikh Muinuddin Sijzi
3. Shaikh Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar
4. Shaikh Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli
(A) 1-2-3-4(B) 2-1-3-4(C) 3-2-1-4(D) 2-3-1-4 - 1 markArrange the following in chronological order:
1. Printed anthologies of verses attributed to Kabir circulate in Bengal, Gujarat and Maharashtra
2. Kabir composes his verses
3. Vaishnava hagiographies claim that Kabir was born a Hindu
(A) 2-1-3(B) 2-3-1(C) 3-2-1(D) 1-3-2
6 Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the Blanks
- 1 markThe term used for Islamic scholars, expected to guide Muslim rulers according to the shari’a, is the ______.
(A) ulama(B) auliya(C) khalifa(D) jangama
7 Odd One Out
Odd One Out
- 1 markWhich of the following is the odd one out?
(A) Ajmer (Muinuddin Chishti)(B) Ajodhan (Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar)(C) Pandharpur (Vitthala temple)(D) Delhi (Nizamuddin Auliya)
8 Passage-Based Questions
Passage-Based Questions
Passage
“You (Vishnu) manifestly like those ‘servants’ who express their love for your feet, though they may be born outcastes, more than the Chaturvedins who are strangers and without allegiance to your service.”
— Tondaradippodi, an Alvar, NCERT Source 1
— Tondaradippodi, an Alvar, NCERT Source 1
- 1 markRead the passage and answer: What is Tondaradippodi, himself a Brahmana Alvar, arguing about the relationship between caste status and devotion to Vishnu?
(A) That Brahmanas alone can achieve true devotion(B) That caste status and ritual learning matter more than devotion(C) That Vishnu is indifferent to devotion altogether(D) That Vishnu favours devoted “outcaste” servants over unaffiliated Chaturvedins, regardless of caste
Passage
“I did not sleep on a leopard skin at night, I did not extend my feet in the direction of the blessed sanctuary… I passed the days beneath the trees… From the doorway to the blessed tomb I went barefoot, kissing the ground. Having entered the dome, I went around the light-filled tomb of my master seven times.”
— Jahanara, on her 1643 pilgrimage to Ajmer, NCERT Source 7
— Jahanara, on her 1643 pilgrimage to Ajmer, NCERT Source 7
- 1 markRead the passage and answer: As a historical source, what kind of text is this excerpt from Jahanara’s account, and what does it chiefly reveal to historians?
(A) A hagiography, revealing the genre conventions used to describe a devotee’s personal experience of ziyarat(B) A treatise on sufi doctrine, revealing Ibn al-Arabi’s philosophy(C) A malfuzat, revealing a shaikh’s own recorded conversation(D) A farman, revealing state religious policy
Answer Key and Explanations
Direct Questions
- (B) Jagannatha (“lord of the world”) was recognised as a form of Vishnu by the twelfth century, a clear case of a local deity being absorbed into the Puranic framework while still being visualised in a locally distinctive way.
- (B) Robert Redfield, a twentieth-century sociologist, coined these terms to describe peasant societies observing rituals from dominant social categories (great tradition) alongside local practices (little tradition).
- (B) Basavanna (1106-68) was a Brahmana who served as a minister in the court of a Kalachuri ruler before leading the new Virashaiva movement.
- (C) Rejecting the Dharmashastra-prescribed funerary rite of cremation, Lingayats ceremonially bury their dead, consistent with their belief that the devotee is united permanently with Shiva at death.
- (B) In 711, Muhammad Qasim’s conquest of Sind was one of the earliest instances of an Islamic power establishing rule in the subcontinent.
Assertion-Reason
- (A) Both statements are true, and R gives the exact reason: the Sultans, ruling a non-Muslim majority, anticipated opposition and so sought legitimacy from sufis, whose authority came directly from God, rather than depend on ulama-enforced law.
- (A) Both statements are true, and R explains A: Kabir’s own verses name no preceptor, and the two can hardly have been contemporaries, so the Ramananda link found in later Vaishnava hagiographies cannot be taken literally; it shows instead how important Kabir’s legacy was to later generations.
Match the Following
- (A) Nizamuddin Auliya’s disciples addressed him as sultan-ul-mashaikh; Amir Khusrau, his disciple, introduced the qaul; Hujwiri wrote the Kashf-ul-Mahjub and is revered as Data Ganj Bakhsh; Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi wrote the Maktubat-i Imam Rabbani.
- (D) Basavanna led the Virashaiva movement in Karnataka; Mirabai was a Rajput princess of Mewar devoted to Krishna; Shankaradeva led the Bhagavati dharma in Assam; Andal was a woman Alvar of Tamil Nadu, devoted to Vishnu.
Statement-Based Questions
- (D) Statements 1 and 3 are correct. Statement 2 is wrong: a khalifa was the SUCCESSOR appointed BY the shaikh, not a disciple who initiated a master. Statement 4 is wrong: a murid was simply a disciple, not the shaikh’s successor (that was the khalifa).
- (A) Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct. Statement 3 is wrong: Baba Farid’s verses in the local language were incorporated into the Guru Granth Sahib, not the Kashf-ul-Mahjub, which is Abu’l Hasan al Hujwiri’s own treatise on tasawwuf.
Chronological Ordering
- (D) Muinuddin Sijzi died in 1235, Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar in 1265, Nizamuddin Auliya in 1325, and Nasiruddin Chiragh-i Dehli in 1356. Correct order: 2-3-1-4.
- (B) Kabir lived c. fourteenth-fifteenth centuries; the Vaishnava hagiographies about him were composed from the seventeenth century onwards, about 200 years after his lifetime; printed anthologies of his verses circulated by the nineteenth century. Correct order: 2-3-1.
Fill in the Blanks
- (A) Ulama (plural of alim, “one who knows”) are scholars of Islamic studies performing religious, juridical and teaching functions.
Odd One Out
- (C) Ajmer, Ajodhan and Delhi hold the dargahs of three of the major Chishti teachers listed in the chapter’s chart (Muinuddin Sijzi, Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar, Nizamuddin Auliya). Pandharpur is not a sufi shrine at all: it is the centre of the Vitthala (a form of Vishnu) temple in Maharashtra, whose sants composed the abhangs.
Passage-Based Questions
- (D) Tondaradippodi, though himself a Brahmana, argues that Vishnu prefers outcaste devotees who love him over Chaturvedins (Brahmanas versed in the four Vedas) who show no real allegiance to him — a direct critique of caste-based religious privilege from within the Brahmana fold itself.
- (A) This excerpt comes from Jahanara’s own biography of Muinuddin Chishti — a hagiographical text she herself wrote — and reveals, in her own words, the genre conventions of a devotee’s pilgrimage account: physical self-denial, barefoot humility, and repeated circling of the tomb.
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