Correct answer: (d) 3, 2, 4, 1
Explanation
- A
2, 3, 4, 1
(a) 2, 3, 4, 1. Starts with Prithviraja-Raso before Kitab-ul-Hind. Alberuni’s Kitab-ul-Hind is early eleventh century, earlier than the Raso tradition.
- B
3, 1, 2, 4
(b) 3, 1, 2, 4. Places Fatawa-i-Jahandari second, before Raso and Tabaqat. Barani’s Fatawa is fourteenth century, last of the four.
- C
4, 3, 1, 2
(c) 4, 3, 1, 2. Opens with Tabaqat-i-Nasiri (mid-thirteenth) before Alberuni—too late to be first.
- D
3, 2, 4, 1
(d) 3, 2, 4, 1. Kitab-ul-Hind (c. 1030) → Prithviraja-Raso (post-1192 tradition) → Tabaqat-i-Nasiri (c. 1260) → Fatawa-i-Jahandari (Barani, 14th century). Official key.
Summary. Official key is (d) 3, 2, 4, 1. Alberuni wrote Kitab-ul-Hind after accompanying Mahmud. Chand Bardai’s Raso is tied to Prithviraja III. Minhaj-i-Siraj completed Tabaqat-i-Nasiri under the early Delhi Sultanate. Ziauddin Barani’s Fatawa-i-Jahandari is a later Tughlaq-era ‘mirror for princes’. Only that order is earliest-to-latest.