Who reduced the Khuts and Muqaddams to such an extent that their wives served in the houses of Muslims?

Correct option is B

The correct answer is (b) Ala-ud-din Khalji

Explanation:

• Ala-ud-din Khalji implemented severe agrarian and revenue reforms aimed at crushing the power of the traditional Hindu intermediaries—the Khuts (landlords) and Muqaddams (village headmen).
• Contemporary historian Ziauddin Barani noted that they were taxed so heavily and impoverished so deeply that their wives were forced to work for wages in the houses of Muslims.

Information Booster:

• Ala-ud-din abolished their traditional perquisites (huquq-i-khoti) and forced them to pay taxes like grazing tax (chari) and house tax (ghari) just like ordinary peasants.
• His objective was to ensure direct contact with the peasantry and prevent intermediaries from retaining state revenue and turning rebellious.

Additional Knowledge:

Balban (Option a)

• Balban believed in an iron-fisted rule but his primary focus was crushing the power of the Turkish nobility (Chalisa), not specifically the village headmen in this manner.

Muhammad bin Tuglaq (Option c)

• He increased taxation in the Doab region but later tried to provide relief and loans (sondhar) during famines; he did not systematically reduce headmen to such destitution as a policy.

Ferozeshah Tuglaq (Option d)

• He was relatively lenient in his revenue administration and restored many of the privileges of the Khuts and Muqaddams.

None of the above/More than one of the above (Option e)

• Incorrect, as Ala-ud-din Khalji is the accurate answer.

So the correct answer is (b)