Indian History Previous Year Questions (PYQ) with Answers – Page 4

The correct answer is D, Jyotiba Phule. Jyotirao (Jyotiba) Phule founded the Satya-Shodhak Samaj, the 'Society of Seekers of Truth', on 24 September 1873 in Pune. The Samaj fought caste discrimination and worked for the education and rights of Shudras, Dalits and women, without the help of priests. In the same year Phule published his book 'Gulamgiri' (Slavery), which he dedicated to those in America who fought to end slavery. He and his wife had opened a school for girls in Pune in 1848. A is wrong because Govindrao Phule was Jyotiba's father, from the Mali community. B is wrong because Gopal Hari Deshmukh, known as 'Lokahitawadi', was a reformer famous for his letters called 'Shatapatre'. C is wrong because Savitribai Phule was Jyotiba's wife and India's first woman teacher; she worked with the Samaj but did not found it. Exam tip: Satya-Shodhak Samaj, 1873, Pune, Jyotiba Phule, book 'Gulamgiri'.

The correct answer is B, Lord Cornwallis. As Governor-General from 1786 to 1793 he turned the Company's corrupt trading staff into a paid, rule-bound civil service. He raised salaries, banned private trade and presents, and set up a graded service promoted by seniority, which is why he is called the father of the civil services in India. He also kept all higher posts for Europeans, which is the 'Europeanised' part of the question. His Cornwallis Code of 1793 separated revenue collection from judicial work, and the same year he introduced the Permanent Settlement of land revenue in Bengal. A is wrong because Lord Canning is remembered as the last Governor-General and first Viceroy, who handled the Revolt of 1857. C is wrong because Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal under the Regulating Act of 1773, laid early foundations but did not build a professional service. D is wrong because Lord Dalhousie is known for the Doctrine of Lapse, railways and the telegraph. Exam tip: Cornwallis 1793 means civil services, Cornwallis Code and Permanent Settlement together.

The correct answer is B, 1814. Raja Ram Mohan Roy set up the Atmiya Sabha, the 'Society of Friends', in Calcutta in 1814. It was a small circle for discussion that preached one formless God and attacked idol worship, caste rigidity, sati and child marriage. It was the first step of a chain that papers love to test: Atmiya Sabha 1814, then Brahmo Sabha 1828, which later became the Brahmo Samaj, then the ban on sati by Lord William Bentinck in 1829, which Roy strongly backed. A is wrong because Roy died at Bristol in England in 1833, so nothing he founded dates from 1845. C is wrong because 1839 is the year Debendranath Tagore founded the Tattvabodhini Sabha, which later joined the Brahmo movement. D is wrong because 1828 is the year of the Brahmo Sabha, Roy's second and larger body, not the Atmiya Sabha. Exam tip: Roy's timeline is Atmiya Sabha 1814, Brahmo Sabha 1828, sati banned 1829, died 1833.

The correct answer is B, Indus river. Mohenjodaro lies on the right bank of the Indus in Larkana district of Sindh, now in Pakistan. It was excavated in 1922 by R. D. Banerji, and its name means 'mound of the dead'. It was the largest planned city of the civilisation, and papers ask about its finds: the Great Bath, the Great Granary, the bronze dancing girl, the bearded priest-king and the Pashupati seal. Remember the sister site too: Harappa, the first city dug up in 1921 by Daya Ram Sahni, stands on the Ravi. A is wrong because the Jhelum flows through Kashmir and Punjab and meets the Indus system far north of Sindh. C is wrong because the Ghaghara is a Himalayan tributary of the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, far east of the Harappan heartland. D is wrong because the Beas is a Punjab tributary of the Sutlej, not the river at Mohenjodaro. Exam tip: Mohenjodaro on Indus, Harappa on Ravi, Lothal on Bhogava, Kalibangan on Ghaggar, Ropar on Sutlej.

The correct answer is D, The Treaty of Salbai. Signed in May 1782 between the East India Company and the Marathas, it ended the First Anglo-Maratha War that had begun in 1775. The war started when the Bombay government backed Raghunathrao's claim to the Peshwa's seat. Mahadji Scindia helped broker the peace at Salbai: the British kept Salsette, recognised the young Madhavrao II as Peshwa, and Raghunathrao was pensioned off. The treaty brought about twenty years of peace between the two powers. A is wrong, because the Treaty of Surat of 1775 between the British and Raghunathrao started the war rather than ending it. B is wrong, because the Treaty of Purandar of 1776, made by the Calcutta council with the Poona ministers, set Surat aside but did not end the fighting. C is wrong, because the Convention of Wadgaon of 1779 was a humiliating surrender by a British force, later rejected by Warren Hastings. Exam tip: Surat 1775 began it, then Purandar 1776 and Wadgaon 1779, and Salbai 1782 ended it.

The correct answer is B, The Battle of Colachel. At Colachel in August 1741, Marthanda Varma of Travancore defeated the Dutch East India Company. It was one of the rare times an Indian ruler decisively beat a European power in open battle, and it ended Dutch hopes of expanding on the Malabar coast. The Dutch commander Eustachius De Lannoy was captured, joined Travancore's service, trained its army on European lines and rose to be its chief commander. Colachel lies on the coast of today's Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. A is wrong, because at Porto Novo in 1781 the British under Eyre Coote defeated Hyder Ali in the Second Anglo-Mysore War. C is wrong, because the battles of Pollilore were fought in 1780 and 1781 between Hyder Ali and the British in that same war. D is wrong, because Changanacherry is a town in central Kerala, not the scene of the 1741 fight with the Dutch. Exam tip: Colachel 1741, Marthanda Varma beat the Dutch; Porto Novo 1781, Eyre Coote beat Hyder Ali.

The correct answer is C, Warren Hastings. Warren Hastings was the first Governor-General of Bengal under the Regulating Act of 1773 and held office from 1773 to 1785. After he returned to England, the House of Commons impeached him in 1787 on charges of corruption and misrule, including his treatment of Raja Chait Singh of Banaras and the Begums of Awadh. Edmund Burke led the prosecution, and the trial before the House of Lords ran from 1788 to 1795, ending in his acquittal on every charge. It remains the most famous impeachment in British history. A, Robert Clive, was Governor of Bengal, faced a parliamentary inquiry in 1773 but was never impeached, and died in 1774. B, Henry Vansittart, was Governor of Bengal from 1760 to 1764 and faced no impeachment. D, Lord Cornwallis, succeeded Hastings and is known for the Permanent Settlement of 1793. Exam tip: Hastings, first Governor-General of Bengal, impeached 1787, acquitted 1795.

The correct answer is A, Harishena. The Prayag Prashasti, also called the Allahabad Pillar Inscription, is a Sanskrit eulogy of the Gupta emperor Samudragupta (about 335 to 375 CE) composed by his court poet and minister Harishena, who held the titles sandhivigrahika (minister of peace and war) and kumaramatya. It is engraved on the Ashokan pillar now at Allahabad Fort and lists the kings Samudragupta defeated in the north (uprooted) and in the south (defeated and released), which is why historians call him the Napoleon of India. Written in the champu style, it also describes him as a poet and musician. B, Chand Bardai, wrote the Prithviraj Raso in the twelfth century. C, Vishakhadatta, wrote the play Mudrarakshasa about Chandragupta Maurya and Chanakya. D, Kalidasa, the poet of Abhijnanashakuntalam and Meghaduta, is linked to Chandragupta II, not to this inscription. Exam tip: Harishena, Prayag Prashasti, Samudragupta; Ravikirti, Aihole inscription, Pulakeshin II.

The correct answer is A, Dhondo Keshav Karve. Maharshi Karve, a social reformer from Maharashtra, founded India's first women's university at Pune in 1916, inspired by the Japan Women's University. In 1920 the industrialist Sir Vithaldas Thackersey donated fifteen lakh rupees, and the university was renamed after his mother as Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women's University; it later moved to Mumbai. Karve had earlier married a widow in 1893, started the Widow Remarriage Association and, in 1896, a home and school for widows at Hingne near Pune. He received the Bharat Ratna in 1958, in his hundredth year. B is wrong because Ashutosh Mukherjee was the famous Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, known as the 'Tiger of Bengal'. C is wrong because William Hunter headed the Hunter Commission of 1882 on education. D is wrong because Sayed Ahmed Khan founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh in 1875, which became Aligarh Muslim University. Exam tip: first women's university, Pune 1916, D.K. Karve, later SNDT; Bharat Ratna 1958.

The correct answer is C, Lord Hastings. This sentence comes from the NCERT Class 8 history chapter 'From Trade to Territory'. Lord Hastings, Governor-General from 1813 to 1823, declared that the Company's authority was paramount, so it could annex or threaten any Indian state to protect its interests. Under him the Company fought the Anglo-Nepal War (1814 to 1816), ended by the Treaty of Sugauli, crushed the Pindaris, and won the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817 to 1818), after which the Peshwa's office was abolished; Thomas Munro's ryotwari system in Madras (1820) also belongs to his time. Do not confuse him with Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal. Option A is wrong because Lord Amherst (1823 to 1828) fought the First Anglo-Burmese War, ended by the Treaty of Yandabo. Option B is wrong because Lord Cornwallis (1786 to 1793) is known for the Permanent Settlement. Option D is wrong because Lord Auckland (1836 to 1842) is linked with the First Anglo-Afghan War. Exam tip: Wellesley = subsidiary alliance, Lord Hastings = paramountcy, Dalhousie = doctrine of lapse.

The correct answer is A, Warren Hastings. The Regulating Act of 1773 created the post of Governor-General of Bengal, and Warren Hastings, then Governor of Bengal, became the first holder from 1774 to 1785, with a council of four and a Supreme Court at Calcutta set up in 1774. He ended the dual system of Robert Clive, shifted the treasury from Murshidabad to Calcutta, set up civil and criminal courts in each district, and founded the Calcutta Madrasa in 1781; the Asiatic Society of Bengal was founded in 1784 during his time. After returning to England he faced a long impeachment trial from 1788 to 1795 and was acquitted. Option B is wrong because William Bentinck was the first Governor-General of India under the Charter Act of 1833 and abolished sati in 1829. Option C is wrong because Charles Metcalfe (1835 to 1836) freed the press. Option D is wrong because John Shore (1793 to 1798) followed Cornwallis and is known for non-intervention. Exam tip: first Governor-General of Bengal = Warren Hastings (1773 Act), first Governor-General of India = William Bentinck (1833 Act).

The correct answer is B, Pushyamitra. Pushyamitra Shunga founded the Shunga dynasty in about 185 BCE after killing Brihadratha, the last Mauryan king, while reviewing the army; he was the Mauryan commander-in-chief. The Shungas ruled from Pataliputra, and later Vidisha, for about 112 years, and Pushyamitra performed two Ashvamedha sacrifices, a sign of the Brahmanical revival after Ashoka's Buddhist patronage. The Bharhut stupa railings and the enlargement of the Sanchi stupa belong to this period, and Patanjali, author of the Mahabhashya, lived at his court. The last Shunga king, Devabhuti, was killed by his minister Vasudeva Kanva, who started the Kanva dynasty. Option A is wrong because Porus was the Punjab king who fought Alexander at the Hydaspes in 326 BCE. Option C is wrong because Bindusara was the second Mauryan emperor, son of Chandragupta. Option D is wrong because Ashoka was a Mauryan, not a Shunga. Exam tip: Mauryas end with Brihadratha, Shungas begin with Pushyamitra (185 BCE), Kanvas begin with Vasudeva.

The correct answer is D, Bihar. The Lomas Rishi cave is one of the Barabar caves in the Barabar Hills of Jehanabad district, about 25 km north of Gaya. These are the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India, carved from hard granite in the Mauryan period, in the third century BCE, and their inner walls carry the famous glass-like Mauryan polish. Ashoka and his grandson Dasharatha gave the caves to the Ajivika monks, as inscriptions at the site record. The Lomas Rishi cave is best known for its doorway, carved to look like the arched wooden entrance of a hut, the earliest "chaitya arch" that later appears at Bhaja, Karle and Ajanta. A, Maharashtra, has the later Buddhist caves of Ajanta, Ellora, Karle and Bhaja. B, Karnataka, has the Badami cave temples of the Chalukyas. C, Madhya Pradesh, has Bhimbetka rock shelters and Udayagiri caves, but not Lomas Rishi. Exam tip: Barabar and Lomas Rishi, Mauryan, Ajivikas, Bihar.

The correct answer is D, Diwan-i-insha. The Diwan-i-insha was the department of royal correspondence in the Delhi Sultanate. It drafted the Sultan's letters and orders to provincial governors and other rulers, kept copies of them and was headed by the Dabir-i-khas, who had to be a careful writer of Persian because the wording of a farman carried the Sultan's authority. Option A is wrong because the Diwan-i-arz was the military department, under the Ariz-i-mumalik, which recruited soldiers, paid them and held the horse-branding and descriptive roll system. Option B is wrong because the Diwan-i-khairat was the department of charity, set up by Firoz Shah Tughlaq to give help to the poor and to arrange marriages of poor girls. Option C is wrong because the Diwan-i-risalat looked after religious matters and grants to scholars. Exam tip: insha for letters, arz for the army, wizarat for finance.

The correct answer is D, Ashwini Kumar Dutta. He founded the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti at Barisal in 1905, during the movement against the partition of Bengal. The samiti built a network of village volunteers who pushed swadeshi goods, enforced the boycott of foreign cloth, settled local disputes through their own arbitration courts and organised relief work, which made it the strongest of the Swadeshi era volunteer bodies. A teacher by calling, Dutta had earlier set up Brajamohan College in Barisal, and the government banned the samiti and deported him in 1908. Option A is wrong because Chandrasekhar Azad led the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association and died at Alfred Park, Allahabad, in 1931. Option B is wrong because Bhagat Singh worked through the Naujawan Bharat Sabha and the HSRA. Option C is wrong because Rajguru was an HSRA member hanged with Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev in 1931. Exam tip: Swadeshi volunteer bodies - Swadesh Bandhab Samiti of Barisal and Anushilan Samiti of Bengal.

The correct answer is C, Anga. Champa was the capital of the Anga mahajanapada, and its site lies near modern Bhagalpur in Bihar, where the Champa river meets the Ganga. Anga is one of the sixteen mahajanapadas listed in the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya, and Champa was among the six great cities of the Buddha's time. The kingdom was rich because the river port carried trade downstream, which is why Bimbisara of Magadha annexed it and made his son Ajatashatru its governor. Option A is wrong because the capital of Kashi was Varanasi. Option B is wrong because Matsya, in the Alwar-Jaipur region of Rajasthan, had Viratnagar as its capital. Option D is wrong because the Vajji confederacy, a group of clans led by the Lichchhavis, had its centre at Vaishali. Exam tip: pair the capitals - Anga-Champa, Kashi-Varanasi, Vajji-Vaishali, Magadha-Rajgir.

The correct answer is D, A, B and C. All three reasons together made Magadha the strongest mahajanapada in about two hundred years. Rivers such as the Ganga and the Son gave water for the fields, made the plain fertile and served as cheap routes for moving men and goods. The forests in parts of Magadha supplied timber for houses and carts and, more important, elephants that were caught and trained for the army. And the iron ore mines of the region gave the metal for strong tools that cleared land and for weapons that no rival could match. Two ambitious rulers, Bimbisara and Ajatasattu, used these gifts well, and the capital was shifted from Rajagriha to Pataliputra, standing on the bank of the Ganga. A, B and C are wrong because each of them leaves out one of the three reasons named in NCERT's chapter on kingdoms and republics. Exam tip: Magadha's strength came from rivers, forests with elephants and iron ore; capital Rajagriha, later Pataliputra.

The correct answer is D, Inamgaon. Inamgaon is a Chalcolithic farming settlement on the Ghod river in the Pune district of Maharashtra. Excavations there found that grown-up people were buried in the ground, laid out straight with the head pointing north, and that pots of food and water were placed beside them for the life after death; this is the description NCERT's Class 6 history book gives. The site also shows round and rectangular houses, grain stored in large jars, and remains of wheat, barley, peas and millets. A is wrong because Lothal, in Gujarat, is a Harappan town famous for its dockyard and bead making. B is wrong because Gufkral is a Neolithic site in Kashmir known for pit dwellings, like Burzahom nearby. C is wrong because Mehrgarh, in the Bolan valley, is one of the earliest farming villages, where the dead were buried with goats. Exam tip: Inamgaon, Ghod river, Maharashtra, Chalcolithic burials with the head to the north.

The correct answer is C, Rupnath. Rupnath lies in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, not in Karnataka, and it bears Minor Rock Edict I. Karnataka holds the largest cluster of Ashokan Minor Rock Edicts, in the Raichur, Ballari and Chitradurga belt — at Maski, Gavimath, Palkigundu, Brahmagiri, Siddapura, Jatinga-Rameshwara, Nittur and Udegolam. Minor Rock Edicts differ from the fourteen Major Rock Edicts in being short, personal declarations of the king's faith in dhamma rather than statements of policy. Option A is wrong because Maski, in Raichur district of Karnataka, is a find spot, and a famous one — it is where the name Ashoka itself was first read in an inscription. Option B is wrong because Gavimath, near Koppal in Karnataka, also carries Minor Rock Edict I. Option D is wrong because Brahmagiri, in Chitradurga district of Karnataka, is another Karnataka find spot. Exam tip: Maski, Gavimath, Brahmagiri, Siddapura and Nittur are in Karnataka, while Rupnath is in Madhya Pradesh and Bairat in Rajasthan.

The correct answer is B, Charaka. Charaka is the physician of ancient India whose name is attached to the Charaka Samhita, the great text on medicine, and tradition makes him a court physician of the Kushana king Kanishka. The Charaka Samhita is a reworking of the older Agnivesha Tantra and deals with diagnosis, diet, hygiene, drugs and the ethics a physician must keep; with Sushruta's Samhita on surgery it forms the base of Ayurveda. Option A is wrong because Bhasa was a Sanskrit dramatist, remembered for plays such as Svapnavasavadatta. Option C is wrong because Panini was the grammarian who composed the Ashtadhyayi, the standard work on Sanskrit grammar. Option D is wrong because Harsha was a seventh-century ruler of Kanauj and himself a playwright, author of Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda, not a writer on medicine. Exam tip: fix the pairs — Charaka for medicine, Sushruta for surgery, Panini for grammar, Aryabhata for mathematics and astronomy.