SSC
The Chand Minar, a tall tower built by the Bahmani Sultan Alauddin Ahmad Shah II in 1435, stands at:
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option B — Daulatabad (Maharashtra)
Detailed Solution
The Chand Minar ("Tower of the Moon") stands inside the Daulatabad Fort, near Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), in Maharashtra.
About the Chand Minar:
- It was built in 1435 by the Bahmani Sultan Alauddin Ahmad Shah II (Alauddin Bahman Shah), to commemorate his capture of the fort of Daulatabad.
- It is about 63 metres (about 210 feet) high, making it one of the tallest medieval towers in India.
- It has four storeys, with balconies, and is built in a style showing Persian influence.
- It was originally decorated with Persian blue glazed tiles.
- A mosque stands at its base.
- It may have been used as a victory tower and also as a minaret (and possibly a watchtower).
About Daulatabad:
- Its earlier name was Devagiri, the capital of the Yadava dynasty.
- It was captured by Alauddin Khalji's forces in the late 13th and early 14th century.
- Muhammad bin Tughlaq renamed it Daulatabad and shifted his capital there in 1327, forcing many people of Delhi to move; the experiment failed.
- It later came under the Bahmanis, the Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar and the Mughals.
The Daulatabad Fort:
- It is built on a conical hill, and is famous for its strong defences, including a deep moat, a dark winding tunnel (the "Andheri"), spikes on the gates against elephants, and several layers of walls.
- It was considered one of the strongest forts in India.
- It is near the Ellora caves.
Other towers in India:
- Qutub Minar (Delhi): about 73 metres.
- Fateh Burj (Punjab): a modern victory tower.
- Vijay Stambha (Chittorgarh).
About the Bahmani kingdom:
It was founded in 1347 and broke up into five Sultanates in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Bidar, Gulbarga and Golconda have other monuments.
Quick tip
Remember: Chand Minar = Daulatabad Fort, Maharashtra (built 1435 by Bahmani Sultan Alauddin Ahmad Shah II; about 63 m); Daulatabad = old Devagiri (Muhammad bin Tughlaq's capital, 1327).
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Monuments & Religious Places — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Monuments & Religious Places, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers India's important monuments, temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras and pilgrimage sites, who built them and when, their architectural styles, and India's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Questions ask who built a monument, where it is located, or which dynasty or style it belongs to. For example, the Qutub Minar was begun by Qutbuddin Aibak, and the Sun Temple at Konark was built by the Eastern Ganga king Narasimhadeva I. Revise the UNESCO World Heritage Sites as a list, noting the most recent additions. Practise the monuments and religious places questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.