The Fourteenth Century: History Optional PYQs

“The Khaljl Revolution”; Alauddln Khaljl: Conquests and territorial expansion, agrarian and economic measures; Muhammad Tughluq: Major projects, agrarian measures, bureaucracy of Muhammad Tughluq; Flruz Tughluq: Agrarian measures, achievements In civil engineering and public works, decline of the Sultanate, foreign contacts and Ibn Battuta’s account.

The Fourteenth Century is the single most consistently examined unit in Paper I. UPSC has set 39 questions on it between 1985 and 2026, and it has appeared in every one of the last ten papers. No other unit in Paper I has a perfect recent record. If Section B has a banker, this is it.

Every question the Commission has asked on this topic is listed below, newest first, with a written model answer linked against each one.

Questions asked (1985–2026)	39
Appeared in	10 of the last 10 papers
Paper	Paper I, Section B (Medieval India)
Usual mark value	10, 15 or 20 marks
Model answers available	37 of 39

PYQs: The Fourteenth Century [1985-2026]

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Year	Question	Answer
2026	"Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq's token currency scheme was an innovative economic experiment in medieval India, but its failure exposed the limitations of State control over the medieval economy." Evaluate.
2026	Critically analyse Barani's Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi and identify the shortcomings in his account.
2025	"Alauddin Khilji's economic measures aimed at centralising political authority in the Delhi Sultanate." Elucidate.	View answer
2025	"Barani's Fatwa-i-Jahandari was not a proper account of the Delhi Sultanate, rather a lament." Elucidate.	View answer
2024	Evaluate Firuz Shah Tughluq’s economic policies.	View answer
2023	The motive of Alauddin Khilji’s agrarian policy was to curb the powers of the intermediaries. Examine the measures which he adopted to achieve his objective.	View answer
2022	The market regulations of Ala-ud-din Khilji were useful for the Sultan’s military might but harmful for the economy of the Sultanate. Comment.	View answer
2021	Why is the reign of the Khaljis known as the ‘Khalji Revolution’?	View answer
2020	Elaborate upon the agrarian reforms of Alauddin Khilji.	View answer
2019	"The economic measures of Alauddin Khalji were aimed at greater political control. Discuss	View answer
2018	"The policy of creating heterogeneous nobility by Muhammad Tughluq started the process of disintegration of Delhi Sultanate". Explain	View answer
2017	Do you agree that the schemes of Muhammad bin Tughluq were correctly conceived, badly executed and disastrously abandoned? Discuss.	View answer
2017	To what extent was the Caliphate the source and sanction to the legal authority of the Sultans of Delhi?	View answer
2016	What measures were initiated by the Sultans for the consolidation of Delhi Sultanate? Discuss	View answer
2016	Do you think that the economic measures introduced by the Sultanate rulers beneficial to the common people as well? Illustrate with examples.	View answer
2014	Analyse the ordinances mentioned by Barani which Alauddin Khalji promulgated for market control. (150 words)	View answer
2014	Evaluating the theory of kingship of the Sultanate, discuss the deviations seen in the reigns of different Sultans.	View answer
2013	What is your assessment of Ibn Batutah’s Rehla as an important source of Indian history.	View answer
2012	How did the Mongol invasions affect the Delhi Sultanate and the north – western frontier policy of the Delhi Sultans?	View answer
2011	Examine critically the agrarian and economic reforms of Alauddin Khalji. How did it strengthen the Sultanate?	View answer
2009	Write short essay: Muhammad Tughluq as an agrarian innovator.	View answer
2006	Write brief essay: The Khilji Revolution.	View answer
2006	Bring out the main features of the administrative system under Delhi Sultanate during Turko-Afghan period.	View answer
2004	Write brief essay: The Token Currency System introduced by Muhammad Tughlaq.	View answer
2003	Write brief essay: Experiments of Mohammad Tughluq.	View answer
2002	Discuss Balban’s concept of kingship. How was it modified by Alauddin Khalji?	View answer
2001	Assess the impact of the market reforms of Alauddin Khilji on contemporary economy and society.	View answer
2000	Form an estimate of the personality of Firoz Shah Tughlaq with special reference to his religious policy and public works.	View answer
1999	Write brief essay – Alauddin Khilji was a typical despot.	View answer
1997	Discuss the implications of Khilji with reference to administration and economic regulations on the State and people of India.	View answer
1994	Write brief essay on Ziauddin Barani as a historian.	View answer
1993	Examine the significance of Alauddin Khalji’s administrative reforms. Was he really successful in implementing these measures?	View answer
1992	Muhammad Bin Tughlaq's contradictory qualities were beyond the grasp knowledge and common sense. Evaluate the significance of his administrative measures and policies in the light of this statement.	View answer
1991	What,in your opinion, was the significance of the extensive military expeditions undertaken during the time of Alauddin Khalji ? Do you think his reign is considered significant in terms of such expeditions alone?	View answer
1990	‘Firuz Tugluq has been overshadowed by Muhammad Tughluq.’ In the light of this statement evaluate the significance of the policies and actions of Firuz Tughluq.	View answer
1989	The significance of Alauddin Khilji economic regulations for his imperialism. Write short answer of not more than 200 words.	View answer
1988	Was the state in the Sultanate period a theocracy? Discuss the new orientation of state policies and administrative principles under Muhammad bin Tughluq.	View answer
1987	Critically examine the price control measures of Alauddin Khilji. What was the main objective behind them and how far was he able to put them into effect?	View answer
1985	Examine the responsibility of Firoz Tughluq for the fall of his dynasty. Write short answer of not more than 200 words.	View answer

What UPSC keeps asking about the Fourteenth Century

Thirty-nine questions sound like a vast unit. They are not. Nearly all of them come back to two rulers and one historian, which is why this unit repays deep rather than broad preparation.

1. Alauddin Khalji’s economic measures (1987, 1989, 2001, 2011, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2025)

Ten questions — the most repeated subject in the whole of Paper I.
Market regulations, price control and agrarian reform. The framing has settled on motive: were they for the army (2022), for political control (2019, 2025), or to curb the rural intermediaries (2023)?
Irfan Habib’s reading of the agrarian measures as an attack on the khuts and muqaddams is the historiography to cite. The answer that simply lists the regulations scores in single digits.

2. Muhammad bin Tughluq’s experiments (1992, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2026)

Token currency (2004, 2026), the transfer of capital, the Doab taxation and agrarian schemes (2009).
2017 asked whether the schemes were well conceived but badly executed — the standard verdict, which you are expected to test rather than repeat.
2018 on his heterogeneous nobility is the question that shows the examiner has read the recent scholarship.

3. Barani and the sources (1994, 2013, 2014, 2025, 2026)

Barani as historian (1994), his Fatwa-i-Jahandari as political theory rather than record (2025), and the shortcomings of his Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi (2026).
Ibn Battuta’s Rehla (2013) is the counterweight source. Barani’s aristocratic and religious bias is the point every answer must make.

4. Kingship, the Caliphate and the nature of the state (1988, 2002, 2014, 2017)

Was the Sultanate a theocracy (1988)? How far was the Caliphate the sanction for authority (2017)?
Balban’s theory of kingship and Alauddin’s modification of it (2002) connect this thread to the thirteenth century.

5. The Khalji Revolution and Firuz Shah (1985, 1990, 1997, 2000, 2006, 2021, 2024)

The “Khalji Revolution” — the widening of the ruling class beyond the Turkish nobility — asked in 2006 and 2021.
Firuz Shah Tughluq: his economic policies (2024), his personality (2000), his responsibility for the dynasty’s fall (1985).

6. Consolidation, Mongols and expansion (1991, 2006, 2012, 2016)

Southern expeditions (1991), the Mongol invasions (2012), measures of consolidation (2016).
The least recently asked thread, and the one most often neglected.

The model answers to this unit, in one place

Knowing the questions is half the work. The other half is seeing what a full-mark answer to each one looks like — not a hint or a bullet outline, but a complete answer at the mark and the word limit, with the historians named inside the argument.

The History Optional PYQ Master Pack carries the same for every question the Commission has set since 1985, across the whole syllabus.

PYQs 1985–2025, arranged topic-wise — revise a theme and see every way it has been asked
Model answers with historiography — the debate cited where it belongs, not bolted on
Map sections solved — the full 50-mark section, every year
PDF plus online access — any device, permanently, no subscription

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See the model answers

How to use this topic list

Reading a question list feels like preparation and is not. Three sittings turn it into marks.

Sitting 1 — sort before you read (30 minutes)

Copy the questions above into the threads identified in the previous section.
Note which thread has gone longest without being asked — that is your priority, not the one you find most interesting.

Sitting 2 — write three answers cold (45 minutes)

Pick the most recent question from three different threads.
Seven minutes for a 10-marker, fifteen for a 20-marker. Stop when the time is up, even mid-sentence.
Mark every place you wanted a historian’s name and could not produce one.

Sitting 3 — compare, then rewrite (45 minutes)

Put your script beside the model answer for the same question.
Compare structure first: opening claim, evidence, counter-view, judgement.
Rewrite your weakest answer using that structure and no new content. Most candidates gain four to six marks from structure alone.

Two ways to prepare this optional

Two routes, depending on what is actually missing.

	PYQ Master Pack	Mains Master Kit 2027
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What you get	Model answers to every question since 1985, topic-wise, map sections included	4,500+ pages of notes, full mapping coverage, 12 months of article access
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Frequently asked questions

Thirty-nine times between 1985 and 2026, and in every one of the last ten papers. It is the most consistently examined unit in Paper I.

The examiner asks about motive. The standard view ties them to maintaining a large army on fixed pay; Irfan Habib and others add the agrarian aim of curbing rural intermediaries. The best answers weigh these rather than choosing one.

Asked directly in 2017. The token currency and the transfer of capital had coherent aims, but the absence of safeguards against forgery and the scale of the disruption turned them into failures. Test the verdict rather than repeating it.

Useful but deeply biased. He wrote as a disappointed aristocrat with firm religious views, so his judgements on low-born officials and on rulers who ignored the ulema need to be read against Ibn Battuta and other evidence.

Yes. Thirty-seven of the thirty-nine questions listed above link to a written model answer on this site.