Indian History Previous Year Questions (PYQ) with Answers – Page 7

The correct answer is C, China. The Panchsheel agreement was signed on 29 April 1954 between India and China, as part of the treaty on trade between India and the Tibet region of China. Jawaharlal Nehru and Zhou Enlai gave it the name Panchsheel, the five principles: respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. The slogan Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai belongs to those years, and the five principles later shaped the Non-Aligned Movement. The war of 1962 showed how little the agreement held. Option A is wrong because India's main agreements with Pakistan are the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 and the Simla Agreement of 1972. Option B is wrong because Bangladesh came into being only in 1971. Option D is wrong because the India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed in 1950. Exam tip: Panchsheel - India and China, 29 April 1954, five principles.

The correct answer is A, Maharana Pratap. The Battle of Haldighati was fought on 18 June 1576 near Gogunda in Rajasthan, between Maharana Pratap of Mewar and the Mughal army sent by Akbar. Pratap rode his horse Chetak and fought alongside his Rajput soldiers and the Bhil archers of the hills; the Mughal force was led by Raja Man Singh of Amber with Asaf Khan. The Mughals held the field, but Pratap escaped and carried on a long guerrilla war, winning back much of Mewar at Dewair in 1582. Option B is wrong because Amar Singh was Pratap's son and became Rana after him. Option C is wrong because Udai Singh II, Pratap's father, founded Udaipur and died in 1572. Option D is wrong because Man Singh commanded the Mughal side, not Mewar. Exam tip: Haldighati 1576 - Maharana Pratap against Akbar's general Man Singh; Pratap's horse was Chetak.

The correct answer is B, 1921. Harappa in Punjab was excavated in 1921 by Daya Ram Sahni of the Archaeological Survey of India, and that dig brought the civilisation to light. A year later, in 1922, R.D. Banerji found Mohenjo-daro on the Indus in Sindh. Sir John Marshall, then Director-General of the ASI, put the two finds together and in 1924 announced a new Bronze Age civilisation older than anything then known in India. It is called the Harappan civilisation after the first site excavated and the Indus Valley civilisation after the river along which many of its sites lie. Option A is wrong because no such excavation took place in 1905. Option C is wrong because by 1926 work at these sites was already going on. Option D is wrong because 1932 is a full decade after the discovery. Exam tip: Harappa 1921 - Daya Ram Sahni; Mohenjo-daro 1922 - R.D. Banerji; announced by John Marshall in 1924.

The correct answer is D, Persian. Persian was the language of the Mughal court and of its records, and Akbar made it the official language of administration in 1582. The chronicles written for the emperors were therefore in Persian: Abul Fazl's Akbarnama with its third volume the Ain-i-Akbari, Gulbadan Begum's Humayun-nama, Jahangir's own Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri and Abdul Hamid Lahori's Padshahnama for Shah Jahan. Babur wrote his memoirs, the Tuzuk-i-Baburi, in Chagatai Turkish, and Akbar had them translated into Persian as the Baburnama. Persian also borrowed freely from local speech at Delhi, and out of that mixing grew the language later called Urdu. Option A is wrong because Sanskrit works were translated into Persian at Akbar's Maktab Khana, not the other way round. Option B is wrong because Hindi was used in poetry and in the regions, not in court records. Option C is wrong because Urdu took shape later and never served as the Mughal chancery language. Exam tip: Akbarnama, Padshahnama and Ain-i-Akbari are all Persian; Baburnama began in Turkish.

The correct answer is C, Brihadratha. Brihadratha was the last Mauryan emperor, and about 185 BCE his own commander-in-chief Pushyamitra Shunga killed him while the army was being reviewed, ending the dynasty Chandragupta Maurya had founded around 322 BCE. Pushyamitra then set up the Shunga dynasty with its capital at Pataliputra. The story comes to us from Bana's Harshacharita, and the Puranas give the Mauryas a rule of about 137 years. Pushyamitra is remembered for performing two Ashvamedha sacrifices and for the revival of Brahmanical practice, while the Buddhist stupa at Bharhut and the railing at Sanchi belong to Shunga times. Option A is wrong because Devavarman was an earlier, short-lived Mauryan king. Option B is wrong because Bindusara was the second Mauryan emperor, son of Chandragupta and father of Ashoka. Option D is wrong because Dasharatha, a grandson of Ashoka, ruled earlier and gave the Nagarjuni caves to the Ajivikas. Exam tip: Chandragupta founded the Mauryas, Brihadratha ended them, Pushyamitra began the Shungas.

The correct answer is C, Ayodhya. Jain tradition places the birth of Rishabhanatha, the first Tirthankara, and of Abhinandananatha, the fourth, at Ayodhya in present-day Uttar Pradesh. In fact five of the twenty-four Tirthankaras are held to have been born there, which is why Jains count Ayodhya among their oldest holy places. Rishabhanatha, also called Adinatha, has the bull as his symbol and is named in the Rig Veda and the Bhagavata Purana as well. The last two Tirthankaras, Parshvanatha and Mahavira, are the ones whose history is best attested; Mahavira was born at Kundagrama near Vaishali in Bihar. Option A is wrong because Gaya is linked with the Buddha's enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. Option B is wrong because Varanasi is the birthplace of Parshvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, and of Suparshvanatha, the seventh. Option D is wrong because Dwarka is associated with Krishna and with Neminatha, the twenty-second Tirthankara. Exam tip: Ayodhya - Rishabhanatha; Varanasi - Parshvanatha; Kundagrama - Mahavira.

The correct answer is C, Ropar. Ropar, now Rupnagar in Punjab, stands on the Sutlej, not on the Indus. It was excavated by Y.D. Sharma in 1953 and was the first Harappan site dug up in independent India; a dog buried along with a human being is its best remembered find. The other three sites named here all lie in Sindh, in present-day Pakistan, along the Indus. Option A is wrong because Chanhudaro sits on the Indus and is known for its bead-making and shell-working workshops; it is the only Harappan city without a citadel. Option B is wrong because Mohenjodaro, the site of the Great Bath and the Great Granary, is on the right bank of the Indus. Option D is wrong because Kot Diji, opposite Mohenjodaro on the left bank of the Indus, gave its name to a pre-Harappan culture. Exam tip: pair the site with its river - Ropar on the Sutlej, Kalibangan on the Ghaggar, Lothal on the Bhogava, Harappa on the Ravi.

The correct answer is B, Minto-Morley Reforms, 1909. The Indian Councils Act of 1909, known as the Morley-Minto Reforms, first gave Muslims separate electorates, in which only Muslim voters could elect Muslim members. It followed the Simla Deputation of 1906, when the Aga Khan led Muslim leaders to Lord Minto to ask for separate representation, and the Muslim League was founded the same year. That is why Lord Minto is called the Father of Communal Electorate. The Act also enlarged the legislative councils, and Satyendra Prasanna Sinha became the first Indian on the Viceroy’s Executive Council. Option A is wrong because the 1892 Act only brought indirect elections and let members discuss the budget. Option C is wrong because the 1919 Act widened communal representation to Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans; it did not start it. Option D is wrong because the 1935 Act extended it further to the depressed classes, women and labour. Exam tip: separate electorates began in 1909 under Minto and grew in 1919 and 1935.

The correct answer is C, Lahore. The Lahore session of the Indian National Congress, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru, adopted the Purna Swaraj or complete independence resolution. At midnight on 31 December 1929, Nehru hoisted the tricolour on the banks of the river Ravi. The Congress then fixed 26 January 1930 as Purna Swaraj Day for the whole country, and the session also authorised the Working Committee to launch civil disobedience, which began with the Dandi March in March 1930. That is why the Constitution was brought into force on 26 January 1950. A is wrong, because the Ahmedabad session of 1921 met during the Non-Cooperation Movement, with Hakim Ajmal Khan as acting president. B is wrong, because the Calcutta session of 1928 under Motilal Nehru only gave the British one year to accept dominion status. D is wrong, because the Lucknow session of 1916 is known for the Congress-League pact and the reunion of moderates and extremists. Exam tip: Lahore 1929, Nehru, Purna Swaraj; 26 January 1930, the first Independence Day.

The correct answer is C, Lord Chelmsford. Chelmsford was Viceroy from 1916 to 1921, and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre happened on 13 April 1919, the day of Baisakhi, in Amritsar. A peaceful crowd protesting the Rowlatt Act and the arrest of Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satyapal was fired upon on the orders of General Dyer, with Michael O'Dwyer as Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab. Rabindranath Tagore returned his knighthood in protest, and the Hunter Commission was set up to inquire into the firing. The Montagu–Chelmsford reforms of the same year and the Government of India Act 1919 are also from his term. A is wrong because Lord Irwin (1926–31) is linked with the Simon Commission boycott, the Dandi March and the Gandhi–Irwin Pact. B is wrong because Dalhousie (1848–56) was a Governor-General famous for the Doctrine of Lapse. D is wrong because Ripon (1880–84) is remembered for local self-government and the Ilbert Bill. Exam tip: 1919 means Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh and Montagu–Chelmsford reforms, all under Chelmsford.

The correct answer is B, Rupiya. Sher Shah Suri, who ruled from 1540 to 1545 after defeating Humayun at Chausa and Kannauj, issued a silver coin of about 178 grains called the rupiya, along with a copper coin called the dam. The Mughals kept this coinage, and the word rupiya is the ancestor of today's rupee. Sher Shah is remembered for a strong administration: he rebuilt the Grand Trunk Road with sarais and shady trees, ran a postal service of horse riders, measured land to fix revenue at one third of the produce and gave each peasant a patta stating his holding and a qabuliyat stating his dues. He also built the Rohtas fort and Purana Qila in Delhi. Option A is wrong because the tankah was the silver coin of the Delhi Sultanate, introduced by Iltutmish. Option C is wrong because the mohur was the gold coin of the Mughals. Option D is wrong because the dinar was a West Asian gold coin. Exam tip: Iltutmish gave the tankah and jital, Sher Shah the rupiya and dam.

The correct answer is A, Dhamma-mahamatta. Ashoka created a new class of officers called Dhamma Mahamattas, mentioned in his fifth Rock Edict, in about the thirteenth year of his reign. Their work was to spread his Dhamma, look after the welfare of women, of prisoners, of the aged and of border peoples, and to see that different sects were treated fairly. Ashoka turned to Dhamma after the Kalinga war of 261 BCE, described in the thirteenth Rock Edict, and had his message carved on rocks and pillars in Prakrit using the Brahmi script. His edicts were first deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837. Options B, C and D are wrong because Dhammadhiraja, Dhammadhikari and Dhammadhyaksha are not titles used in Ashokan inscriptions; Ashoka calls himself Devanampiya, the beloved of the gods, and Piyadassi. Exam tip: Dhamma Mahamatta for spreading Dhamma, Rajukas for justice in the districts and Yuktas as revenue officers.

The correct answer is C, Lal Bahadur Shastri. Lal Bahadur Shastri was Prime Minister from 1964 to 1966 and led the country through the war with Pakistan in 1965. He gave the slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kisan, which linked the soldier at the border with the farmer in the field, and his years saw the beginning of the Green Revolution and the setting up of the Food Corporation of India. The war ended with the Tashkent Agreement, signed with Ayub Khan on 10 January 1966; Shastri died in Tashkent the same night. He was given the Bharat Ratna after his death, and 2 October is remembered as his birthday as well as Gandhi Jayanti. Option A is wrong because Morarji Desai became Prime Minister in 1977. Option B is wrong because Indira Gandhi took office in 1966 and led India in the 1971 war. Option D is wrong because Jawaharlal Nehru died in May 1964, before this war. Exam tip: 1962 China under Nehru, 1965 Pakistan under Shastri, 1971 Bangladesh war under Indira Gandhi.

The correct answer is B, French Revolution. The storming of the Bastille in Paris on 14 July 1789 marks the beginning of the French Revolution. French society then had three estates: the clergy first, the nobility second and everyone else, from peasants to merchants, in the third, which paid the taxes but had no privileges. The Bastille was a royal fortress prison and a symbol of the despotic power of Louis XVI, so the crowd attacked it for arms and gunpowder. The revolution gave the world the slogan of liberty, equality and fraternity and the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and 14 July is still the national day of France. Option A is wrong because the Russian Revolution of 1917 began with strikes in Petrograd. Option C is wrong because the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. Option D is wrong because the Tsar, Nicholas II, abdicated in the February Revolution of 1917. Exam tip: 14 July 1789 Bastille, 1917 Russian Revolution, 1991 end of the Soviet Union.

The correct answer is C, Mehrgarh. Mehrgarh was a Neolithic farming village, not a city of the Harappan civilisation. It lies on the Kachi plain of Balochistan and goes back to about 7000 BCE, thousands of years before the mature Harappan phase of 2600 to 1900 BCE. Mehrgarh gives the earliest evidence in the subcontinent of settled farming, wheat and barley cultivation and the herding of sheep, goats and cattle, so it is studied as a pre-Harappan site. Option A is wrong because Lothal in Gujarat was a Harappan port with a brick dockyard and a bead-making workshop. Option B is wrong because Dholavira in the Rann of Kachchh is a Harappan city known for its water reservoirs and its signboard, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Option D is wrong because Sokhta Koh was a Harappan coastal settlement near Pasni on the Makran coast. Exam tip: Mehrgarh stands for Neolithic beginnings, while Lothal, Dholavira, Kalibangan and Rakhigarhi are Harappan cities.

The correct answer is B, Quit India Movement. Mahatma Gandhi gave the call 'Do or Die' (Karo ya Maro) when the Quit India Movement was launched in August 1942. The Congress passed the Quit India resolution at its Bombay session on 8 August 1942, and in his speech at Gowalia Tank Maidan, now August Kranti Maidan, Gandhi told Indians to win freedom or die trying. The British arrested Gandhi, Nehru and other leaders early the next morning, and Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Congress flag at the same ground. With the leaders in jail, the movement was carried on by students, workers and underground leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia. A is wrong because the Swadeshi Movement began in 1905 against the partition of Bengal. C is wrong because the Civil Disobedience Movement began with the Dandi March in 1930. D is wrong because the Non-Cooperation Movement ran from 1920 to 1922. Exam tip: 1942 = Quit India = 'Do or Die'; 9 August is marked as August Kranti Day.

The correct answer is D, 3, 4, 2, 1. The four dates run 1828, 1849, 1875 and 1897. Raja Rammohan Roy founded the Brahmo Sabha in Calcutta in 1828, which later came to be called the Brahmo Samaj. The Paramhans Mandali was set up in Bombay in 1849 as a secret society that opposed caste rules and idol worship. Swami Dayanand Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj in Bombay in 1875, with the call "Go back to the Vedas". Swami Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897, after his return from the Parliament of Religions held at Chicago in 1893. Option A is wrong because it puts the Ramakrishna Mission, the latest of the four, first. Option B is wrong because it places the Arya Samaj of 1875 before the Brahmo Samaj of 1828. Option C is wrong because it puts the Ramakrishna Mission of 1897 before the Arya Samaj of 1875. Exam tip: Brahmo Samaj 1828, Paramhans Mandali 1849, Arya Samaj 1875, Ramakrishna Mission 1897.

The correct answer is D, Surya Sen. Surya Sen led the Chittagong Armoury Raid of 1930 in Bengal and had no part in the Kakori case. The Kakori train action took place on 9 August 1925, when members of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) stopped a train at Kakori near Lucknow and took the government cash it was carrying to fund their struggle. In the trial that followed, four revolutionaries were sentenced to death, and all four were hanged in December 1927. Option A is wrong because Ramprasad Bismil planned the action and was hanged at Gorakhpur. Option B is wrong because Rajendra Lahiri took part and was hanged at Gonda, two days before the others. Option C is wrong because Ashfaqulla Khan, Bismil's close friend, was hanged at Faizabad; the fourth martyr was Roshan Singh. Chandrashekhar Azad also took part but escaped arrest. Exam tip: Kakori 1925 with the HRA; Chittagong 1930 with Surya Sen.

The correct answer is A, Abu'l Hasan al Hujwiri. He wrote Kashf-ul-Mahjub in Lahore in the 11th century, and it is the oldest Persian treatise on Sufism. Al Hujwiri came from Ghazni in Afghanistan and settled in Lahore. The title means "Unveiling of the Veiled", and the book explains Sufi ideas, practices and the lives of earlier saints for ordinary readers. His shrine in Lahore, Data Darbar, is still one of the busiest in South Asia, and people call him Data Ganj Bakhsh, "the giver of treasures". Option B is wrong because Moinuddin Chishti set up the Chishti order in India at Ajmer in the late 12th century and did not write this book. Option C is wrong because the sayings of Nizamuddin Auliya were recorded by Amir Hasan Sijzi in Fawaid-ul-Fuad. Option D is wrong because Amir Khusrau was a poet and musician, known for works such as Khazain-ul-Futuh and Tughluq Nama. Exam tip: Kashf-ul-Mahjub by Hujwiri of Lahore; Fawaid-ul-Fuad records Nizamuddin Auliya.

The correct answer is B, Rajagopalachari. C. Rajagopalachari, known as C.R. or Rajaji, drew up the formula in 1944 to end the Congress–League deadlock over Pakistan. Under the plan, the Muslim League would back the demand for independence and join the Congress in a provisional government. After the war, a commission would mark out the Muslim-majority districts of the north-west and east, and a plebiscite of all adults there would decide on separation. Gandhi used it as the basis of his talks with Jinnah in Bombay in September 1944, but Jinnah rejected it because he wanted the whole of Punjab and Bengal and a vote of Muslims alone. Option A is wrong because Jawaharlal Nehru did not draft this plan. Option C is wrong because Chittaranjan Das founded the Swaraj Party in 1923 and died in 1925, long before 1944. Option D is wrong because V. P. Menon drafted the June 1947 partition plan and later helped integrate the princely states. Exam tip: C.R. Formula 1944, Gandhi–Jinnah talks September 1944, Wavell Plan 1945.