# Guptas, Delhi Sultans, Mughals and Marathas

> These study notes explain Guptas, Delhi Sultans, Mughals and Marathas for the Group 4 / VAO (Combined Civil Services Examination-IV) exam in plain language: the same reviewed notes the TNPSC Guide app shows, published by our editors with their source. Read the key points first, then practise the unit's questions. For exam facts such as dates and vacancies, always check tnpsc.gov.in.

Last updated: 2026-11-02 · By TNPSC Guide editorial team
URL: https://www.tnpscguide.com/exams/group-4/notes/gs-history-guptas-to-marathas

## Why the exam asks this

Five questions on this topic came in the 2022 and 2024 papers. 2022 Q168 matched the Gupta land classes. 2022 Q188 matched Varahamihira, Kalidasa, Amarasimha and Dhanvantari. 2024 Q112 matched the Peshwa, Surnavis, Nyayadhish and Pandit Rao (final key: prime minister, secretary, chief justice, chief priest). 2024 Q158 asked which is not a Gupta rock-cut temple (final key: Elephanta). 2022 Q164 asked for the wrong statement on Shivaji; its key is disputed. The Standard 11 History book gives Raigad (1674) as the coronation place and 1664 for the Surat attack.

## The Gupta kings

Sri Gupta (240-280 CE) was the first Gupta king, followed by Ghatotkacha (280-319). Chandragupta I (319-335) is taken as the first emperor and took the title Maharaja-adhiraja; he married the Lichchhavi princess Kumaradevi (the Lichchhavi were an old gana-sangha in north Bihar). The Prayag (Allahabad) pillar inscription lists Samudragupta's campaigns, which reached Kanchipuram, the Pallava capital; historians call him the Napoleon of India. He was given the title Kaviraja, his coins show him playing the veena, and he performed the Ashvamedha to proclaim his victories.

## Chandragupta II and after

Chandragupta II ruled 375-415, 40 years, as Vikramaditya; he married his daughter Prabhavati to a Vakataka prince and defeated the Saka kings who had ruled western Malwa and Gujarat for 400 years. Fa-Hien came in his time, and he was the first Gupta king to issue silver coins. Kumaragupta I founded Nalanda and was called Shakraditya. After Skandagupta, who stopped the Huns, died in 467 CE, the empire declined; the last king was Vishnugupta (540-550). Example: when two kings share a name, only "the first" and "the second" tell them apart.

## The navaratnas and the scholars

Chandragupta II's court had nine scholars, the navaratnas, among them the Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, the poet Harisena, Amarasimha who made a dictionary, and the physician Dhanvantari. Kamandaka wrote the Nitisara. Varahamihira gave detailed advice on growing fruit trees; that he was an astronomer is not in the pages we read, although 2022 Q188 matched him with "astronomer". Example: tie one word to one name: dictionary, Amarasimha; medicine, Dhanvantari.

## Gupta land classes and rock-cut temples

Land was in five classes: kshetra (cultivable), khila (waste), aprahata (forest or waste), vasti (fit for living) and kapadasahara (pasture). The notable Gupta rock-cut temples are at Ajanta and Ellora (Maharashtra) and Bagh (Madhya Pradesh); the Udayagiri caves (Odisha) are of this kind too. Elephanta is not in the list. Example: our villages too speak of farmland, waste, common pasture and house plots.

## The Rajputs

"Rajput" comes from the Sanskrit "rajputra", heir of royal blood. Rajput kingdoms arose after Harsha's death in 647 CE. The three main clans were Suryavamshi, Chandravamshi and Agnikula. In 1829 James Tod listed 36 royal clans; the Pratiharas, Chauhans, Solankis and Paramaras are the four of Agnikula descent. The Jaya Stambha at Chittor marks the Rana's victory over Malwa. Example: like a memorial pillar raised on a village ground after a victory, the Jaya Stambha at Chittor.

## The Chauhans and Rajput temples

The Chauhans ruled from Shakambari from 956 to 1192; their founder Simharaj is also known as the founder of Ajmer. Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Muhammad Ghori in the first battle of Tarain (1191) and was defeated and killed in the second (1192); later the poet Chand Bardai wrote the Prithviraj Raso. Khajuraho in Bundelkhand has 30 temples; the Dilwara Jain temple on Mount Abu and the Kandariya temple in Madhya Pradesh are other examples of Rajput temple building.

## The Palas and the struggle for Kannauj

The Gurjara-Pratiharas of Malwa, the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan and the Palas of Bengal fought a long tripartite struggle for Kannauj. Gopala, chosen king by the people, founded the Pala line; Dharmapala (770-810) founded Vikramashila, the best centre of Buddhist learning; Devapala extended Pala rule to Kamarupa (Assam). The Palas followed Mahayana Buddhism and supported Nalanda and Vikramashila. Atisha (981-1054), who reformed Buddhism in Tibet, headed Vikramashila. The school of art they supported, Pala art or East Indian art, shows in bronze figures and palm-leaf paintings. Example: like three teams after one trophy, three kingdoms fought for Kannauj.

## Arab and Turkish invasions

In 712 CE the Umayyad general Muhammad bin Qasim defeated Dahir, king of Sind, and took Aror and Multan. Mahmud of Ghazni (997-1030) is said to have raided India seventeen times; he defeated the Shahi king Jayapala in 1001, and the plunder of Somnath in 1024 was his last raid. After Muhammad Ghori died in 1206, his general Qutb-ud-din Aibak declared himself the first Sultan of Delhi.

## The Slave dynasty

The Mamluk dynasty (1206-1290) was called the Slave dynasty; mamluk is Arabic for slave. Aibak, Iltutmish and Ghiyas-ud-din Balban were its great sultans. Aibak began at Lahore and moved to Delhi, built the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque (taken as India's oldest mosque), laid the foundation of the Qutb Minar and died in 1210 after a fall from his horse at polo. Under Iltutmish (1210-1236) the Mongols under Chengiz Khan threatened the frontier; he formed the Chahalgani (the Forty) of Turkish nobles, gave land under the iqta system and completed the Qutb Minar. Example: one person lays a foundation stone and another opens the building: Aibak began the Qutb Minar, Iltutmish finished it.

## Razia and Balban

Iltutmish's daughter Razia (1236-1240) ruled as Sultan; appointing the Ethiopian slave Jalal-ud-din Yakut as her aide led to the nobles' revolt, and she was killed in 1240. Balban (1266-1287) ended the Forty, set up a spy department and supported the Persian poet Amir Khusrau.

## Alauddin Khalji

Alauddin Khalji (1296-1316) sent Malik Kafur as far as Madurai in 1310; the Yadavas of Devagiri, the Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra, the Kakatiyas of Warangal and the Pandyas of Madurai accepted his overlordship. During the sack of Chittor in 1303 those in the fort performed jauhar. Alauddin measured farmland for a fixed tax and brought in compulsory grain purchase for the army at prices fixed by the Sultan.

## The Tughluqs

Muhammad bin Tughluq (1325-1351) moved the capital from Delhi to Devagiri, renamed Daulatabad, and issued copper coins as token money; forgeries spread and the state went bankrupt. In his time Madurai became a separate sultanate and Bengal became independent in 1346. Firuz Shah Tughluq (1351-1388) dug many irrigation canals, built Firozabad, Jaunpur, Hisar and Firozpur, and died in 1388 at 83. The two books differ on the year of the Madurai Sultanate; do not learn a year for it. Example: when a coin's value is only what is stamped on it and many can forge it, its value is lost; that is what happened to Tughluq's copper coins.

## The Sayyids, the Lodis and the buildings

Timur, called Tamerlane, plundered Delhi in December 1398; Khizr Khan, whom he appointed, founded the Sayyid dynasty in 1414, which lasted to 1451. Bahlul Lodi founded the Lodi dynasty (1451-1526); Sikandar Lodi built Agra and made it the capital; Ibrahim Lodi was defeated by Babur at Panipat in 1526. The Qutb Minar, Alai Darwaza, Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, Moti Masjid and the tombs of Iltutmish and Balban are in the Indo-Saracenic style.

## The Bahmani Sultanate

The Standard 7 book says one Bahmani, a soldier under Muhammad bin Tughluq, declared Daulatabad independent: the Bahmani Sultanate. The Standard 9 book says Alauddin Bahman Shah founded it in 1347. At the end of the fifteenth century five sultanates arose in the Deccan: Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmadnagar, Berar and Bidar. The books name the founder in different words; if a question on the founder says Bahman Shah, that is right. Example: like a family estate split among five children, the Bahmani kingdom split into five sultanates.

## The first Mughals: Babur and Sher Shah

The Mughal empire began when Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat in 1526. The first six emperors were the Great Mughals, the last of them Aurangzeb, after whom the empire began to break up. The first battle of Panipat was fought on 21 April 1526. Babur defeated Rana Sanga at Khanwa (1527) and Medini Rai at Chanderi (1528). His memoirs, Tuzuk-i-Baburi (Babur Nama), are counted as a world classic. Sher Shah kept the jagirdari and zamindari systems, built sarais (rest houses) on the roads, and laid the base of the Mughal and British currency; he began Purana Qila in Delhi, his tomb is at Sasaram, and he died in a gunpowder accident in 1545. Example: like rest stops on today's highways, the sarais on Sher Shah's roads.

## Akbar: wars and the mansabdari system

Akbar was born in 1542 and crowned in his fourteenth year. In the second battle of Panipat (November 1556) Hemu, general of the Afghan king Adil Shah, was defeated. Akbar died on 27 October 1605. He abolished the jizya on non-Muslims and the Hindu pilgrim tax; the battle of Haldighati with Rana Pratap Singh (1576) was the last battle; he built Fatehpur Sikri as a new capital. In his mansabdari system rank had two parts: zat, the number of soldiers, from 10 to 10,000, and sawar, the number of horses; a mansab was not hereditary. Example: zat and sawar are two separate numbers, one for rank and one for the horses kept.

## Akbar's religious policy and court

He set up the Ibadat Khana and stopped its debates in 1582; Akbar and Badauni called his philosophy Tauhid-i-Ilahi (Din Ilahi), which ended with him; his policy was peace for all (sulh-i-kul). Raja Todar Mal became his diwan and Raja Man Singh his trusted general. He married Harka Bai, daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber; Harka Bai was later called Jodha Akbar.

## Jahangir

Jahangir (1605-1627) took the throne as Nur-ud-din Jahangir. Guru Arjan Dev was killed on the charge of backing Prince Khusrau's revolt. The Englishmen William Hawkins and Sir Thomas Roe came to his court. Shah Jahan's and Aurangzeb's reigns are not covered in this lesson.

## Shivaji and the Marathas

Shivaji (1627-1680) was born at Shivneri near Junnar to Shahji Bhonsle and Jijabai, grew up under Dadaji Kondadev, took the saint Ramdas as his guru and captured Torna fort in 1646. He defeated Afzal Khan in 1659, attacked Surat in 1664, made peace with Jai Singh by the treaty of Purandar on 11 June 1665, and was held at Agra in May 1666 and escaped. On 6 June 1674 he was crowned at Raigad by Vedic rites and took the title Chhatrapati. He took Surat again in 1670; from 1672 the Marathas received chauth, a quarter of the revenue, from Surat as yearly tribute. He died in 1680, aged 53. In 1713 Shahu made Balaji Vishwanath the Peshwa, and Peshwa rule was later run from Poona. Example: Surat again 1670, chauth 1672, crowning 1674: the last three come two years apart.

## The Ashtapradhan

Shivaji's council of eight: Peshwa (prime minister), Amatya (finance), Vakianavis (records), Sumant (foreign secretary), Sachiv or Surunavis (home secretary), Pandit Rao (religion), Nyayadhish (chief justice) and Sarinaubat (commander-in-chief). The 2024 paper wrote "Surnavis" and "Nyayadhis"; the book writes "Surunavis" and "Nyayadhish"; the posts are the same. Example: like the posts of a state cabinet today, the Ashtapradhan had eight posts.

## The Thanjavur Marathas

The Maratha general Venkoji, Shivaji's half-brother, set up Maratha rule in Tamil Nadu. Maratha rule in Thanjavur began in 1674 and lasted until the death of Serfoji II in 1832. Example: 1674 is both Shivaji's coronation year and the start of Maratha rule in Thanjavur.

**Key facts**

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Chandragupta I | 319-335 (Std 11 History, p. 101) |
| Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya) | 375-415, 40 years (Std 11 History, p. 103) |
| Death of Skandagupta | 467 CE (Std 11 History, p. 104) |
| Harsha's death; Rajput kingdoms | 647 CE (Std 7, pp. 115-116) |
| James Tod's list | 1829, 36 clans (Std 7, p. 116) |
| Muhammad bin Qasim, Sind | 712 CE (Std 7, p. 122) |
| Battles of Tarain | first 1191, second 1192 (Std 7, p. 118) |
| Aibak, first Sultan of Delhi | 1206 (Std 7, p. 124) |
| Mamluk (Slave) dynasty | 1206-1290 (Std 7, pp. 143-144) |
| Malik Kafur to Madurai | 1310 (Std 7, p. 146) |
| Timur sacks Delhi | December 1398 (Std 7, p. 150) |
| Bahmani Sultanate | 1347, Alauddin Bahman Shah (Std 9, p. 95) |
| First battle of Panipat | 21 April 1526 (Std 11 History, pp. 217-218) |
| Second battle of Panipat | November 1556 (Std 11 History, pp. 221-222) |
| Haldighati | 1576 (Std 11 History, pp. 222-224) |
| Mansabdari zat | 10 to 10,000 (Std 11 History, p. 224) |
| Shivaji's coronation | 6 June 1674, Raigad (Std 11 History, p. 248) |
| Maratha rule in Thanjavur | 1674-1832 (Std 11 History, p. 245) |

> **Exam tip:** Memory hooks
"Kaviraja, veena, Napoleon: Samudragupta." "Vikramaditya, Fa-Hien, navaratnas: Chandragupta II." "Nalanda: Kumaragupta." "The Forty: made by Iltutmish, ended by Balban." "Panipat 1526 and 1556; Tarain 1191 and 1192." "Elephanta is not a Gupta cave." "Peshwa prime minister, Nyayadhish judge, Pandit Rao religion."

**Easy to confuse**

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Chandragupta I / Chandragupta II | 319-335, Lichchhavi marriage, first emperor / 375-415, Vikramaditya, Fa-Hien, navaratnas |
| Khila / aprahata | waste land / forest or waste land |
| Ajanta, Ellora, Bagh, Udayagiri / Elephanta | Gupta rock-cut temples / not in the list |
| Varahamihira / Amarasimha | advice on fruit trees (astronomy is not in the pages we read) / the dictionary |
| Tarain / Panipat | 1191 Prithviraj won, 1192 Ghori won / 1526 Babur, 1556 Akbar's army defeated Hemu |
| Qutb Minar begun / finished | Aibak / Iltutmish |
| The Forty made / ended | Iltutmish / Balban |
| Daulatabad / Agra / Fatehpur Sikri | Muhammad bin Tughluq / Sikandar Lodi / Akbar |
| Year of the Madurai Sultanate | Std 7 says 1335, Std 11 says 1333; do not learn a year |
| Surat attacks / Purandar | 1664, 1670 / 1665 |
| Konark | the Std 7 book lists it with the Rajput temples; do not give it as the answer to a "Rajput temple" question |
| Surnavis, Nyayadhis / Surunavis, Nyayadhish | the 2024 paper's spelling / the book's spelling; the same posts |

> **Exam tip:** Quick check
1. Who was called the Napoleon of India? Answer: Samudragupta.
2. What was kshetra land in the Gupta age? Answer: cultivable land.
3. Who was the first Sultan of Delhi? Answer: Qutb-ud-din Aibak (1206).
4. Who was the Nyayadhish in the Ashtapradhan? Answer: the chief justice.
5. Where was Shivaji crowned? Answer: Raigad fort (6 June 1674).

Source: சமூக அறிவியல், ஏழாம் வகுப்பு, முதல் பருவம், தொகுதி 3, தமிழ் வழி (Social Science, Standard VII, Term I, Volume 3, Tamil medium; Samacheer Kalvi) (7ஆம் வகுப்புச் சமூக அறிவியல், பருவம் 1, வரலாறு அலகு 2 (வடஇந்தியப் புதிய அரசுகளின் தோற்றம்), பக்கம் 114-124, அலகு 4 (டெல்லி சுல்தானியம்), பக்கம் 143-151; 9ஆம் வகுப்புச் சமூக அறிவியல், வரலாறு அலகு 7, பக்கம் 95-96; 11ஆம் வகுப்பு வரலாறு, பாடம் 7 (குப்தர்), பக்கம் 101-109, பாடம் 14 (முகலாயப் பேரரசு), பக்கம் 217-225, பாடம் 15 (மராத்தியர்), பக்கம் 245-250)

## Sources

- [Official syllabus page](https://www.tnpsc.gov.in/english/syllabus.html)
- [Notifications](https://www.tnpsc.gov.in/English/Notification.aspx)