Indian History Previous Year Questions (PYQ) with Answers – Page 6

The correct answer is A, mansabdari system. Mansab means a position or rank, and Akbar used it to place every officer of the empire on a graded ladder. A mansabdar's rank had two numbers: zat, which fixed his personal standing and pay, and sawar, which fixed how many horsemen he had to keep ready for service. Most mansabdars were paid not in cash but by the revenue of an assigned piece of land, and they were moved from one place to another so that no family could settle into a region. B is wrong because the iqta was the revenue assignment of the Delhi Sultanate, held by muqtis, and it did not grade officers in this way. C is wrong because zabt, or the dahsala system worked out under Todar Mal, was a way of assessing land revenue from measured land and average produce, not of ranking nobles. D is wrong because the jagir was only the land whose revenue paid a mansabdar's salary. Exam tip: mansab equals zat plus sawar; zabt or dahsala is revenue assessment.

The correct answer is B, because the Rabatak inscription was not found in western Uttar Pradesh. It came to light in 1993 at Rabatak in Baghlan province of northern Afghanistan, and it is written in the Bactrian language using the Greek script. Its importance is that it lists Kanishka's ancestors, Kujula Kadphises, Vima Taktu and Vima Kadphises, and so settled the order of the early Kushan rulers. Statement A is true, since under Kanishka the empire ran from Central Asia through the north-west to the Ganga valley and southward to Malwa, with Purushapura, today's Peshawar, as its capital. Statement C is true, as Kanishka's court supported Ashvaghosha, who wrote the Buddhacharita, and Vasumitra, who presided over the fourth Buddhist council held in Kashmir. Statement D is true, because his coins carry Greek, Iranian and Indian deities side by side, among them the Buddha, Oesho or Shiva, Mithra and Nana. Exam tip: Rabatak means Afghanistan and the Kushan family tree.

The correct answer is B, Pavapuri. Mahavira attained nirvana, or salvation, at Pavapuri in the Nalanda district of Bihar, at the age of 72. He was the twenty-fourth and last Tirthankara of Jainism, born at Kundagrama near Vaishali to Siddhartha and Trishala. He left home at 30, gained enlightenment at Jrimbhikagrama on the bank of the Rijupalika river after twelve years of penance, and preached in Prakrit for three decades. Pavapuri today has the Jal Mandir, a marble temple standing in a tank at the place of his cremation, and Diwali is observed by Jains as the day of his nirvana. Option A is wrong because Sonagiri in Madhya Pradesh is a Jain pilgrimage hill, but not the site of his nirvana. Option C is wrong because Shravanabelagola in Karnataka is famous for the statue of Bahubali. Option D is wrong because Mount Abu holds the Dilwara temples, built much later. Exam tip: fix Mahavira's four places as Kundagrama for birth, Jrimbhikagrama for enlightenment, Pavapuri for nirvana, and Vaishali as his home region.

The correct answer is C, Bimbisara. Bimbisara belonged to the Haryanka dynasty of Magadha, not to the Mauryas. He ruled from Rajagriha in the sixth century BC, was a contemporary of the Buddha and Mahavira, and enlarged Magadha through marriage alliances and by annexing Anga. The Mauryan line came much later: Chandragupta Maurya founded it around 321 BC with the help of Chanakya after overthrowing the Nandas, his son Bindusara followed, and Ashoka, the greatest of the family, ruled from about 268 BC and spread Buddhism through his rock and pillar edicts. Option A is wrong because Ashoka was the Mauryan ruler who fought the Kalinga war and then turned to dhamma. Option B is wrong because Bindusara was Chandragupta's son and Ashoka's father. Option D is wrong because Chandragupta founded the dynasty itself. Exam tip: the Magadha dynasties run Haryanka, Shishunaga, Nanda and then Maurya, so Bimbisara and Ajatashatru come long before Chandragupta.

The correct answer is C, Ajatashatru. The First Buddhist Council was held under the patronage of Ajatashatru, the Haryanka ruler of Magadha. It met at Rajgir, in the Sattapanni cave, soon after the Buddha's death, and was presided over by Mahakassapa. Its task was to settle the Buddha's teachings in fixed words: Ananda recited the Sutta Pitaka and Upali the Vinaya Pitaka. Ajatashatru was the son of Bimbisara and a contemporary of both the Buddha and Mahavira, and he built the fort of Rajagriha. Option A is wrong because Porus fought Alexander on the Jhelum in 326 BC, far in time and place from this council. Option B is wrong because Ashoka patronised the Third Council, at Pataliputra, presided over by Moggaliputta Tissa. Option D is wrong because Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan empire, leaned towards Jainism and called no Buddhist council. Exam tip: the four councils run Rajgir under Ajatashatru, Vaishali under Kalasoka, Pataliputra under Ashoka and Kashmir under Kanishka.

The correct answer is B, Eight. In Rock Edict XIII, Ashoka states that the country of the Kalingas was conquered eight years after his consecration as king. Taking his coronation at about 268 BCE, the war is placed around 261 BCE. The same edict records that a hundred and fifty thousand people were carried away, a hundred thousand were slain and many more died, and that the king felt deep remorse and turned to dhamma — this is the only war Ashoka ever describes in his inscriptions. Kalinga is the coastal tract of present-day Odisha, and his edicts at Dhauli and Jaugada stand there. Option A is wrong because no Ashokan edict gives five years for the Kalinga campaign. Option C is wrong because six years appears in none of the inscriptions. Option D is wrong because seven is a common distractor while the text plainly says eight. Exam tip: consecration about 268 BCE, Kalinga war in the eighth regnal year about 261 BCE, told in Rock Edict XIII.

The correct answer is A, (i) and (iv). Anekantavada and Syadvada are the two central Jain ideas about knowledge and truth. Anekantavada means 'many-sidedness': reality has many aspects, and no single point of view can capture all of it. Syadvada, the doctrine of 'may be', puts this into language; every statement should carry the word 'syat', meaning 'in some respect', and Jain thinkers built on it a sevenfold way of stating a thing, called saptabhangi. The story often used to explain it is that of the blind men and the elephant, each touching one part and describing a different animal. Option B is wrong because Sarvastivada ('everything exists') was an early Buddhist school, and Shunyavada ('emptiness') is the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism founded by Nagarjuna. Option C is wrong because it pairs a Buddhist school with a Jain doctrine. Option D is wrong because it adds two Buddhist schools and leaves out Syadvada. Exam tip: Anekanta and Syad are Jain; Sarvasti and Shunya are Buddhist.

The correct answer is C, Dr. Vishnudhar Vakankar. Dr. Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar, an archaeologist from Ujjain, spotted the rocks of Bhimbetka in 1957–58 while travelling by train near Bhopal, and then explored the shelters in detail. Bhimbetka lies in Raisen district, about 45 km south of Bhopal, at the southern edge of the Vindhya hills. Its more than 700 rock shelters carry paintings from the Stone Age to the medieval period, showing hunting, dancing and animals, which makes it one of the oldest records of human life in India. UNESCO listed the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka as a World Heritage Site in 2003. Option A is wrong because H. D. Sankalia is known for excavating sites such as Navdatoli and Nevasa, not for finding Bhimbetka. Option B is wrong because the historian Shyam Sundar Nigam did not discover the site. Option D is wrong because Rajbali Pandey was a historian of ancient India, not the discoverer. Exam tip: Bhimbetka, Raisen district, found by Wakankar in 1957–58, World Heritage Site in 2003.

The correct answer is B, Belgaum Session 1924. Gandhi presided over the Congress only once, at its session held at Belgaum (now Belagavi in Karnataka) in December 1924. At that time the party was split between the No-Changers, who wanted to stick to his constructive programme, and the Swarajists led by C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru, who wanted to contest elections and enter the legislative councils. Under Gandhi's presidency the Belgaum session let both groups work side by side, and it gave great importance to spinning and khadi. Option A is wrong because the Amritsar session of 1919, held after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, was presided over by Motilal Nehru. Option C is wrong because Jawaharlal Nehru presided at Lahore in 1929, where Purna Swaraj was adopted as the goal. Option D is wrong because Jawaharlal Nehru also presided at the Lucknow session of 1936. Exam tip: Gandhi presided only at Belgaum 1924; Jawaharlal Nehru at Lahore 1929 and Lucknow 1936; Subhas Bose at Haripura 1938.

The correct answer is A, Zat, Sawar. Every Mughal mansab was expressed by two numbers, the zat rank and the sawar rank. Akbar organised the mansabdari system in the 1570s so that every noble and officer, civil or military, had a place on one graded ladder. The zat rank fixed a mansabdar's status and his personal salary, while the sawar rank fixed how many horsemen he had to keep ready for the emperor. Mansabdars were usually paid through jagirs, which were rights to collect land revenue from an area, not ownership of the land, and they could be transferred at the emperor's will. The post was not hereditary. Option B is wrong because barkat (blessing) and fana (merging of the self in God) are ideas from Sufi thought. Option C is wrong because namus and din are words for honour and faith, not ranks. Option D is wrong because peshkash and nazr were tributes and gifts offered to a ruler or a superior. Exam tip: zat = personal rank and pay; sawar = number of cavalrymen; together they make one mansab.

The correct answer is A, Nizam Shahis : Bijapur. The Nizam Shahis ruled from Ahmadnagar; Bijapur belonged to the Adil Shahis. The Bahmani Sultanate, founded in 1347 by Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah, broke up in the late 15th and early 16th centuries into five Deccan Sultanates: Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Golconda, Bidar and Berar. Four of them joined hands to defeat Vijayanagara at the Battle of Talikota in 1565, while Berar stayed away. Each dynasty is named after the title of its founder, which makes the pairs easy to link. Option B is correctly matched because the Barid Shahis ruled Bidar, the last Bahmani capital. Option C is correctly matched because the Qutb Shahis ruled Golconda, famous for its fort and its diamond trade. Option D is correctly matched because the Imad Shahis ruled Berar, which Ahmadnagar annexed in 1574. Exam tip: Nizam Shahi Ahmadnagar, Adil Shahi Bijapur, Qutb Shahi Golconda, Barid Shahi Bidar, Imad Shahi Berar.

The correct answer is B, Sir William Jones. Jones, a judge of the Supreme Court at Calcutta and a scholar of many languages, founded the Asiatic Society on 15 January 1784 to study the history, languages and culture of Asia. He translated Kalidasa’s Abhijnanashakuntalam into English in 1789, which made Sanskrit literature famous in Europe, and in 1786 he pointed out the family link between Sanskrit, Greek and Latin. Governor-General Warren Hastings supported the society as its patron but declined to be its president in favour of Jones. Option A is wrong because Jonathan Duncan founded the Sanskrit College at Benares in 1791. Option C is wrong because Warren Hastings was only the patron; his own foundation was the Calcutta Madrasa of 1781. Option D is wrong because William Bentinck, Governor-General from 1828 to 1835, is remembered for abolishing sati in 1829, not for this society. Exam tip: Calcutta Madrasa 1781 (Hastings), Asiatic Society 1784 (Jones), Benares Sanskrit College 1791 (Duncan).

The correct answer is A, Dholavira. This Harappan city in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, is famous for its dams, channels and chain of stone reservoirs. Dholavira stands on Khadir Bet island between two seasonal streams, the Manhar and the Mansar. Its people built check dams across the streams, led the water through channels and stored it in large rock-cut reservoirs around the city, a clever answer to a very dry climate. The site, excavated by R.S. Bisht, also has a signboard of ten large Harappan letters, and it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. Option B is wrong because Kalibangan in Rajasthan is known for its ploughed field and fire altars. Option C is wrong because Rakhigarhi in Haryana is known as one of the largest Harappan sites, not for water works. Option D is wrong because Ropar in Punjab is known for a burial of a dog with its master. Exam tip: Dholavira means reservoirs and a signboard; Lothal means a dockyard.

The correct answer is D, Murshid Quli Khan. Aurangzeb sent him to Bengal as diwan, the officer in charge of revenue, and he later became its governor. After Aurangzeb died in 1707, he gradually stopped taking orders from Delhi, though he kept sending tribute. He became the first Nawab of Bengal (1717–1727) and moved the capital from Dhaka to Murshidabad, a town named after him. He transferred the Mughal jagirdars out of Bengal and collected land revenue strictly in cash from the zamindars. A is wrong because Mukarram Khan was a Mughal governor of Bengal in the 1620s, when the province was fully under the emperor. B is wrong because Ali Kadir is not linked with the rise of the independent Nawabs of Bengal. C is wrong because Alivardi Khan came later, seizing power in 1740; he was the grandfather of Siraj-ud-Daulah. Exam tip: Bengal broke away under Murshid Quli Khan, capital Murshidabad; the order is Murshid Quli Khan, then Alivardi Khan, then Siraj-ud-Daulah.

The correct answer is C, Samudragupta. The Prayaga Prashasti, better known as the Allahabad Pillar Inscription, is a long Sanskrit poem in his praise. It was composed by Harishena, his court poet and minister, and engraved on an old Ashokan pillar now kept in the Allahabad (Prayagraj) Fort. It lists the kings Samudragupta defeated in the north and the south, the frontier states and forest kingdoms that paid him tribute, and praises him as a poet and a player of the veena, which his coins also show. His wide conquests led the historian V. A. Smith to call him the Napoleon of India. A is wrong, because the same pillar carries Ashoka's own edicts, not a prashasti praising him. B is wrong, because Harshavardhana is praised in Banabhatta's Harshacharita, not in this inscription. D is wrong, because no prashasti at Prayaga praises Bindusara, the Mauryan king who was Ashoka's father. Exam tip: Prayaga Prashasti, Harishena, Samudragupta; Aihole inscription, Ravikirti, Pulakeshin II.

The correct answer is B, Lahore, 1929. At its Lahore session in December 1929, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian National Congress passed the Purna Swaraj resolution declaring complete independence, not dominion status, as its goal. The tricolour was unfurled on the bank of the Ravi at midnight on 31 December 1929, and 26 January 1930 was celebrated as the first Independence Day; that date was later chosen for the Constitution to come into force in 1950, which is why Republic Day falls on 26 January. The session also authorised Gandhi to launch civil disobedience, which began with the Dandi March in March 1930. A, Bombay, 1885, was the first session of the Congress under W. C. Bonnerjee, which asked only for modest reforms. C, Kheda, 1917, is wrong: Kheda was the peasant satyagraha of 1918, and Champaran came in 1917. D, Bombay, 1942, was the session that passed the Quit India resolution on 8 August 1942. Exam tip: Lahore 1929, Nehru as president, Purna Swaraj, first Independence Day on 26 January 1930.

The correct answer is D, Annie Besant. Annie Besant, an Irish-born theosophist, was the first woman to preside over the Indian National Congress, at its Calcutta session in 1917. She had started the Home Rule League in 1916, founded the newspaper 'New India', and set up the Central Hindu College at Banaras, which later grew into Banaras Hindu University. The first Indian woman to become Congress president was Sarojini Naidu, at the Kanpur session of 1925. A is wrong because Indira Gandhi became Congress president much later, in 1959. B is wrong because Sucheta Kripalani was India's first woman Chief Minister, of Uttar Pradesh in 1963, and never headed the Congress. C is wrong because Nellie Sengupta presided over the Calcutta session of 1933, making her the third woman president, not the first. Exam tip: first woman Congress president Annie Besant, Calcutta 1917; first Indian woman Sarojini Naidu, Kanpur 1925.

The correct answer is A, Babur. Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur founded the Mughal Empire in India after defeating Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat on 21 April 1526, and he ruled till his death in 1530. He came from Fergana in Central Asia and traced his descent from Timur on his father's side and Chengiz Khan on his mother's side. After Panipat he defeated Rana Sanga of Mewar at Khanwa in 1527 and the Afghans at Ghaghra in 1529. He wrote his memoirs, the Baburnama, in Turkish, and he is buried in Kabul. B is wrong because Jahangir was the fourth Mughal emperor, ruling from 1605 to 1627. C is wrong because Sher Shah Suri was not a Mughal at all; he was an Afghan who drove Humayun out and founded the Sur dynasty in 1540. D is wrong because Humayun was Babur's son and the second Mughal emperor. Exam tip: the order of the great Mughals is Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb.

The correct answer is B, Lord Cornwallis. Lord Cornwallis, Governor-General from 1786 to 1793, introduced the Permanent Settlement on 22 March 1793 in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. It made the zamindars the owners of the land and fixed the land revenue permanently: the zamindar kept one-eleventh and paid ten-elevenths to the Company, and under the 'sunset law' his estate was auctioned if the money was not paid by sunset of the due date. Cornwallis also issued the Cornwallis Code of 1793, separated revenue and judicial work, reorganised the police under darogas, and is called the father of the Indian civil services. Option A is wrong because Warren Hastings (1774 to 1785) was the first Governor-General of Bengal and used annual and five-year revenue farming. Option C is wrong because Sir John Macpherson was only the acting Governor-General in 1785 to 1786. Option D is wrong because Sir John Shore helped design the scheme but became Governor-General only after Cornwallis, in 1793 to 1798. Exam tip: Permanent Settlement 1793 = Cornwallis, Ryotwari = Munro (Madras), Mahalwari = Holt Mackenzie (North-West Provinces).

The correct answer is A, a police station at Chauri Chaura in Uttar Pradesh was set on fire by a mob. Gandhi withdrew the movement because it had turned violent, against his principle of non-violence. On 5 February 1922 at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district, a crowd of protesters set fire to a police station after the police fired on them, and 22 policemen died. Gandhi called the incident a warning from God, went on a five-day fast, and the Congress Working Committee at Bardoli on 12 February 1922 suspended the movement that had been launched in 1920 on the Khilafat and Punjab wrongs. Leaders such as Motilal Nehru and C. R. Das disagreed and later formed the Swaraj Party. B is wrong because Gandhi was not ill; the decision was a moral one. C is wrong because Swaraj had not been achieved when the movement was stopped. D is wrong because Gandhi was arrested only in March 1922, after the movement had already been called off. Exam tip: Chauri Chaura 5 February 1922, Bardoli resolution 12 February 1922, Non-Cooperation ended.