Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 10

The correct answer is B, The Vernacular Press Act was passed in 1880, to support the Government. This statement is wrong on both counts: the Act was passed in 1878, and it was meant to silence newspapers that criticised the Government, not to support it. The Act, passed under Viceroy Lord Lytton, allowed the Government to confiscate the assets of newspapers, including their printing presses, if they published anything found 'objectionable'. It angered educated Indians so much that Lord Ripon later repealed it. NCERT lists it among the measures of the 1870s and 1880s that turned Indians against British rule. A is a correct statement, since the Arms Act of 1878 disallowed Indians from possessing arms. C is correct, because the Ilbert Bill of 1883, which allowed Indian judges to try British persons, caused a furore among the British in India. D is correct, since dissatisfaction with British rule grew sharply in these two decades and led to the founding of the Congress in 1885. Exam tip: Arms Act and Vernacular Press Act, both 1878 under Lytton; Ilbert Bill, 1883 under Ripon.

The correct answer is B, Parantaka I. Parantaka I (907 to 955 CE), son of Aditya I, crushed the Pandya king Maravarman Rajasimha II and his Sri Lankan allies at the battle of Vellur, or Vellore, around 915 CE, and took the title Maduraikonda, 'captor of Madurai'. His reign is also remembered for the Uttaramerur inscriptions of 919 and 921 CE, which describe how village assemblies were elected by lot, and for covering the Nataraja shrine at Chidambaram with gold. Late in his rule he lost the battle of Takkolam (949 CE) to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna III, where his son Rajaditya was killed. Option A is wrong because Rajaraja I (985 to 1014 CE) came later and is known for the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur. Option C is wrong because Rajendra I led the Ganga expedition and took the title Gangaikonda Chola. Option D is wrong because Vijayalaya founded the imperial Chola line by capturing Thanjavur around 850 CE, before this battle. Exam tip: Vellur = Parantaka I (Maduraikonda), Takkolam = Chola defeat by Krishna III.

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 B, Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq. The Bahmani kingdom was born in 1347 out of a revolt against his rule in the Deccan. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq ruled from 1325 to 1351 and tried to control the far south from Delhi, even shifting his capital to Daulatabad for a while. His nobles in the Deccan rebelled, and one of them, Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah (Hasan Gangu), founded the Bahmani kingdom with its first capital at Gulbarga. Harihara and Bukka had set up Vijayanagara in 1336 in the same reign, so both great southern kingdoms rose under this one Sultan. Option A is wrong because Iltutmish ruled from 1211 to 1236, long before any Deccan kingdom of this kind. Option C is wrong because Ibrahim Lodi was the last Delhi Sultan, defeated at Panipat in 1526. Option D is wrong because Alauddin Khalji died in 1316; his general Malik Kafur raided the south, but no Bahmani state existed then. Exam tip: Vijayanagara 1336 and Bahmani 1347, both in Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq's reign.

The correct answer is A, Vigraharaj IV. Vigraharaja IV, also known as Visaladeva or Bisaldev, ruled the Chauhan kingdom of Shakambhari and Ajmer in the middle of the 12th century. He took Delhi from the Tomaras, and his inscription of 1164 on the Delhi-Topra Ashokan pillar records his wide conquests. He was also a scholar-king: he wrote the Sanskrit play Harakeli Nataka and built a Sanskrit college at Ajmer, which was later turned into the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra mosque. The court poet Somadeva wrote the play Lalit Vigraharaj in his honour, and Bisalpur in Tonk is linked with his name. Option B is wrong because Arnoraja, his father, is remembered for building the Anasagar lake at Ajmer after defeating the Turks. Option C is wrong because Ajayaraja founded the city of Ajmer, then called Ajayameru. Option D is wrong because Prithviraj III, the famous Prithviraj Chauhan, came later and inherited Delhi rather than first conquering it. Exam tip: Ajayaraja founded Ajmer, Arnoraja built Anasagar, Vigraharaja IV won Delhi.

The correct answer is A, 12 and 63. Tradition counts 12 Alvars, the Vaishnava saint-poets devoted to Vishnu, and 63 Nayanars, the Shaiva saints devoted to Shiva, both from the Tamil country. Between about the 6th and 9th centuries these saints sang in Tamil rather than Sanskrit, travelled from temple to temple and welcomed devotees of every caste, laying the base of the Bhakti movement in South India. The hymns of the Alvars were collected in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, and those of the Nayanars in the Tevaram, part of the Tirumurai. Andal was the only woman among the Alvars, while Karaikkal Ammaiyar is the best-known woman among the Nayanars. Option B is wrong because it cuts the Nayanar count to 53. Option C is wrong because it raises the Alvar count to 23. Option D is wrong because both of its numbers are wrong. Exam tip: 12 Alvars for Vishnu, 63 Nayanars for Shiva, and Andal the lone woman Alvar.

The correct answer is C, A-3, B-4, C-2, D-1. Taken in order, each Act adds one step in the Crown's control over the Company. Pitt's India Act, 1784 created the Board of Control to oversee the Company's civil, military and revenue affairs. The Charter Act, 1813 ended the Company's monopoly of Indian trade, leaving it only the trade in tea and with China. The Charter Act, 1833 made the Governor-General of Bengal the Governor-General of India and declared that no Indian would be barred from any office because of religion, birth or colour. The Charter Act, 1853 separated law-making from executive work and enlarged the Governor-General's council for legislation, a small legislature in the making. Option A is wrong because 1784 is the Board of Control, not the enlarged council. Option B is wrong because it gives 1813 the employment clause and 1833 the end of the trade monopoly. Option D is wrong because it repeats that same swap of 1813 and 1833. Exam tip: 1784 Board of Control, 1813 monopoly ends, 1833 no bar on Indians, 1853 bigger legislative council.

The correct answer is C, First Anglo-Maratha War. The Treaty of Salbai, signed in May 1782, closed that war between the English East India Company and the Marathas. The war had begun in 1775 when the Company backed Raghunath Rao for the Peshwa's seat through the Treaty of Surat. After the British defeat at Wadgaon in 1779 the fighting dragged on until Mahadji Scindia mediated the peace at Salbai. The treaty gave Salsette to the British, recognised Madhav Rao Narayan as Peshwa, and bought about twenty years of peace between the two powers. A is wrong because the Third Battle of Panipat, 1761, was fought between the Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali and ended in a single day, not with a treaty. B is wrong because the Battle of Buxar, 1764, was followed by the Treaty of Allahabad in 1765. D is wrong because the Second Anglo-Maratha War ended with the treaties of Deogaon and Surji-Arjangaon in 1803. Exam tip: remember the Maratha treaty chain Surat 1775, Purandar 1776, Wadgaon 1779, Salbai 1782.

The correct answer is B, Kerala. The Moplah (Mappila) Rebellion of 1921 broke out in the Malabar region of present-day Kerala, which was then a district of the Madras Presidency. The Mappilas were Muslim tenant farmers who had long resented the heavy rents of the mostly Hindu landlords (janmis) and the British officials who backed them. In 1921 the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements spread into Malabar, and the unrest turned into an armed revolt led by men such as Variyamkunnath Kunhahammed Haji and Ali Musliyar. The British crushed it with martial law. The most tragic event was the Wagon Tragedy of November 1921, when dozens of Mappila prisoners died of suffocation inside a closed railway goods wagon. A is wrong because the uprising had nothing to do with Assam. C is wrong because Punjab's best-known event of that period is the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919. D is wrong because Bengal is linked to revolts such as the Indigo Revolt of 1859–60. Exam tip: Moplah 1921 = Malabar, Kerala = Khilafat link = Wagon Tragedy.

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 B, Part-C States. Under the Government of Part C States Act, 1951, Delhi got its own Legislative Assembly and Council of Ministers. The first election was held in 1952, and Chaudhary Brahm Prakash became Delhi's first Chief Minister. The 1950 Constitution had sorted the units of India into Part A, B, C and D, and Part C covered small areas once run by Chief Commissioners, such as Delhi, Ajmer and Coorg. This arrangement ended when the States Reorganisation Act made Delhi a Union Territory from 1 November 1956, and its Assembly was abolished. Option A is wrong because Part B States were former princely states or their unions, headed by a Rajpramukh. Option C is wrong because Part D had only one unit, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Option D is wrong because Part A States were the former British provinces such as Bombay and Madras, headed by Governors. Exam tip: Delhi became a Part C State in 1951, a Union Territory in 1956, and an NCT with an Assembly under the 69th Amendment of 1991.

The correct answer is B, Khan Bahadur Khan. When the sepoys at Bareilly rose on 31 May 1857, Khan Bahadur Khan, a grandson of the Rohilla chief Hafiz Rahmat Khan, took charge of the town and of much of Rohilkhand. He had served as a judge under the Company and was living on a British pension, yet he set up his own government, raised an army of several thousand men and ruled in the name of the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, who recognised him as governor. The British recaptured Bareilly in May 1858; Khan Bahadur Khan fled to Nepal, was handed over and was hanged at Bareilly in 1860. Option A is wrong because Nana Saheb, the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II, led the revolt at Kanpur. Option C is wrong because Begum Hazrat Mahal led the rising at Lucknow in the name of her son Birjis Qadr. Option D is wrong because Kunwar Singh led the revolt at Jagdishpur near Arrah in Bihar. Exam tip: Kanpur–Nana Saheb, Lucknow–Hazrat Mahal, Bareilly–Khan Bahadur Khan, Jhansi–Lakshmibai, Arrah–Kunwar Singh.

The correct answer is D, 1911. King George V announced at the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911 that the capital of British India would move from Calcutta to Delhi. Lord Hardinge II was the Viceroy at the time, and the same Durbar also cancelled the Partition of Bengal of 1905. Delhi was chosen because it was more central, had long been the seat of the Sultans and the Mughals, and was away from the strong nationalist movement in Bengal. The new city of New Delhi was planned by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker and was formally inaugurated in 1931. A is wrong because 1912 is when the move was carried out; the decision was declared in 1911. B is wrong because 1905 is the year of the Partition of Bengal under Lord Curzon. C is wrong because 1910 is the year George V became king. Exam tip: 1905 Partition of Bengal (Curzon); 1911 partition annulled and capital shift announced (Hardinge II, Delhi Durbar); 1931 New Delhi inaugurated.

The correct answer is D, The Charter Act of 1833. This Act turned the Governor-General of Bengal into the Governor-General of India, with full civil and military powers over all British territory in India. Lord William Bentinck became the first Governor-General of India under it. The Act was the high point of centralisation: it took away the law-making powers of the Bombay and Madras governments, ended the East India Company's commercial activities so that it became a purely administrative body, and added a Law Member, Macaulay, to the Governor-General's Council. Option A is wrong because the Regulating Act of 1773 created the post of Governor-General of Bengal, first held by Warren Hastings. Option B is wrong because Pitt's India Act of 1784 set up the Board of Control and the system of dual control. Option C is wrong because the Charter Act of 1793 mainly renewed the Company's charter for twenty years. Exam tip: 1773 Governor-General of Bengal (Hastings), 1833 Governor-General of India (Bentinck), 1858 Viceroy (Canning).

The correct answer is B, indigo. Under the tinkathiya system, European planters forced the peasants of Champaran in Bihar to grow indigo on 3 out of every 20 katthas (one bigha) of their land. Indigo was a blue dye in demand abroad, and the planters paid the farmers very little for it. When cheap German synthetic dye made indigo less profitable, the planters demanded higher rents and illegal dues instead. A local farmer, Raj Kumar Shukla, persuaded Gandhiji to visit Champaran in 1917. This became Gandhi's first satyagraha in India, and the Champaran Agrarian Act of 1918 ended the tinkathiya system. A is wrong because sugarcane was not the crop forced on the peasants under this system. C is wrong because the Champaran planters were indigo planters, and cotton was not imposed there. D is wrong because jute is a crop of Bengal and was not linked with the Champaran struggle. Exam tip: Gandhi's first three struggles in India: Champaran 1917 (indigo), Ahmedabad mill strike 1918 (wages), Kheda 1918 (land revenue).

The correct answer is A, Cyril Radcliffe. The British lawyer Sir Cyril Radcliffe chaired both the Punjab and the Bengal Boundary Commissions in 1947. Each commission had four judges, two named by the Congress and two by the Muslim League, and when they could not agree the final decision fell to Radcliffe. He had never been to India before and was given only about five weeks for the job. His award was made public on 17 August 1947, two days after independence, and the line he drew is still called the Radcliffe Line on India's borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. Option B is wrong because Moon was a British civil servant in Punjab who later wrote about Partition; he did not head the commissions. Option C is wrong because A. V. Alexander came to India in 1946 as a member of the Cabinet Mission. Option D is wrong because one person, Radcliffe, headed both commissions. Exam tip: Cabinet Mission 1946 was Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps and Alexander; the 1947 border was Radcliffe's.

The correct answer is C, (a), (b) and (c). Statements (a), (b) and (c) describe the Subsidiary Alliance correctly, while (d) does not. Lord Wellesley, Governor-General from 1798 to 1805, turned the Subsidiary Alliance into the main tool of British expansion. An Indian ruler who signed it had to keep a British force in his state and pay for it, either in cash or by giving up territory. He also had to accept a British Resident at his court, and he could not deal with other powers or employ other Europeans without British consent. The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to sign, in 1798, and Awadh had to give up about half its territory in 1801 to meet the cost. Statement (d) is wrong because the British promised protection from outside enemies as well as internal revolts. So option A misses (a) and (c), option B misses (c), and option D wrongly includes (d). Exam tip: Subsidiary Alliance means Wellesley, 1798, Hyderabad first; Doctrine of Lapse means Dalhousie.

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 D, Satara. Satara was the first state annexed under Lord Dalhousie’s Doctrine of Lapse, in 1848. Under this policy, if the ruler of a dependent state died without a natural male heir, the state lapsed to the East India Company, and an adopted son could not inherit the throne. Dalhousie, Governor-General from 1848 to 1856, used it to take Satara (1848), Jaitpur and Sambalpur (1849), Baghat (1850), Udaipur in Chhattisgarh (1852), Jhansi (1853) and Nagpur (1854). The anger it caused among rulers such as Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi fed directly into the revolt of 1857. Option A is wrong because Jaitpur was annexed in 1849, a year after Satara. Option B is wrong because Sambalpur was also taken in 1849. Option C is wrong because Jhansi was annexed in 1853, when the Company refused to recognise the adopted son of Raja Gangadhar Rao. Exam tip: the lapse list runs Satara 1848, Jaitpur and Sambalpur 1849, Jhansi 1853, Nagpur 1854.

The correct answer is D, The Dandi March by Mahatma Gandhi. On the morning of 6 April 1930 Gandhi picked up a lump of natural salt on the beach at Dandi and broke the salt law, and with that the Civil Disobedience Movement began. He had set out from Sabarmati Ashram on 12 March 1930 with 78 chosen followers and walked about 240 miles in 24 days, reaching Dandi on the Gujarat coast on 5 April. Salt was chosen because the salt tax hit every Indian, rich or poor, so one small act turned into a protest across the whole country. Option A is wrong because the Quit India Movement began in August 1942, after the Congress resolution of 8 August. Option B is wrong because Lord Curzon’s Partition of Bengal took effect on 16 October 1905. Option C is wrong because the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in Amritsar on 13 April 1919. Exam tip: Dandi March from 12 March to 5 April 1930, salt law broken on 6 April 1930.