Medieval Indian History

The governing concept is the division of responsibilities in Shivaji's military and civil administration. Sar-i-Naubat, also written as Senapati in descriptions of the Ashta Pradhan system, was the military commander or head of the army. Therefore option A is correct. The title refers to command over troops and military affairs, not to judging legal cases, conducting foreign relations or maintaining state accounts. Those functions belonged to other offices in the administrative structure. A useful distinction is that the Peshwa coordinated the government as chief minister, while the Sar-i-Naubat was concerned primarily with military command. The wording may vary between Persian and Marathi administrative terminology, but the function remains clearly military.

The governing concept is the literature of the Bhakti movement and the texts associated with its poet-saints. Bijak is the best-known collection associated with Kabir's verses, sayings and devotional teachings, so option A is correct. Kabir's compositions challenge empty ritual, social discrimination and narrow religious divisions while emphasising devotion and a direct relationship with the divine. Ramcharitmanas was composed by Tulsidas, Gita Govinda by Jayadeva, and Padmavat by Malik Muhammad Jayasi. These are important works of Indian religious or literary tradition, but they belong to different authors and contexts. Author-text association is therefore the decisive reasoning tool for this question.

The direct answer is B, the Deccan. The Nizam Shahi dynasty ruled the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, one of the important successor states that emerged in the Deccan after the Bahmani kingdom weakened and broke up. Ahmadnagar was located in the area of present-day Maharashtra and belonged to the western Deccan political and cultural region. To solve the question, first connect the dynasty with its capital: Nizam Shahis ruled Ahmadnagar; then locate Ahmadnagar: it was a Deccan sultanate. A is incorrect because Bengal was an eastern region with its own ruling traditions and political history. C is incorrect because Kashmir was in the northern Himalayan region. D is incorrect because Rajasthan was a north-western region associated with different Rajput and other states. Thus B is the only suitable answer. A memory cue is “Ahmadnagar—Deccan,” and other well-known Deccan sultanates included Bijapur, Golconda, Bidar and Berar.