Set 100 of the Indian History mixed quiz has 20 multiple-choice questions from 12 different topics of the subject: Buddhism and Jainism, Ancient Universities: Takshashila, Nalanda and Vikramashila, World History: Revolutions and the World Wars and more. 11 of them were asked in real previous-year papers. A topic quiz checks one chapter; this set revises the whole subject at once, the way an exam paper does, where the next question can come from any chapter. Every question carries an explanation of why the correct option is right and why the others are wrong. Keep to the timer, read the explanations at the end, and go back to the notes of any topic where you slipped.
20 questions with answers and explanations
Who among the following was not a Jain Acharya ?
Khema was a Buddhist nun, not a Jain teacher; the other three are well-known Jain acharyas. Khema was a queen of King Bimbisara of Magadha who became a disciple of the Buddha and joined the order of nuns.
Read the full explanation →The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Xuan Zang, came to the Indian subcontinent about ______ years ago.
Xuan Zang, also written Hiuen Tsang, travelled in India in the seventh century of the Christian era, during the reign of Harshavardhana of Kannauj, which is roughly fourteen hundred years before our own time.
Read the full explanation →In which of the following years were passenger trains introduced in England?
The Stockton and Darlington Railway in north-east England opened on 27 September 1825 and was the first public railway to use steam locomotives and carry passengers.
Read the full explanation →The national Emergency of 1975 was proclaimed under Article 352 on which ground?
The proclamation of 25 June 1975 was issued under Article 352 on the ground of internal disturbance, an expression so wide that it became the main criticism of the Emergency, which lasted until 21 March 1977.
Read the full explanation →The Nalanda Mahavihara was founded by which ruler?
The Gupta ruler Kumaragupta I founded the Nalanda Mahavihara in the fifth century of the Christian era near Rajgir in present-day Bihar, and a seal bearing his name has been found at the site.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements with regard to the Moidams, built by the Tai-Ahom kingdom and inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, is/are correct ? 1. They acted as army fortresses. 2. They were recreation centres of the Royals and Nobles. 3. They were burial grounds of the Royals and Nobles. 4. They were battle drill centres of the Royals and Nobles. Select the answer using the code given below :
The Moidams are the mound-burials of the Ahom royal family and nobles at Charaideo in Assam. The Tai-Ahoms, who ruled the Brahmaputra valley for about six centuries from the 13th century, buried their kings, queens and nobles in vaulted chambers covered by large earthen mounds.
Read the full explanation →Rani Rudramadevi, who ruled from Warangal in the thirteenth century, belonged to which dynasty?
Rudramadevi was the daughter of the Kakatiya ruler Ganapatideva and ruled the Kakatiya kingdom of Warangal, in present Telangana, in the second half of the thirteenth century; she is one of the very few women to have governed a southern kingdom in her own name, and her grandson Prataparudra II…
Read the full explanation →Where the first conference of Non-Aligned Movement was held?
The first summit of the Non-Aligned Movement met at Belgrade, then the capital of Yugoslavia, in September 1961, and twenty-five countries took part.
Read the full explanation →Where did Gandhiji initially forge the techniques of Satyagraha?
Gandhiji first used and shaped Satyagraha there while fighting racial laws against Indians. Gandhiji went to South Africa in 1893 as a lawyer and stayed about 21 years.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following was the founder of the Suryavamsi Gajapati dynasty that ruled parts of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh in the 15th century?
He founded the Suryavamsi Gajapati dynasty of Odisha in 1435. Kapilendra Deva was a minister who took the throne when the Eastern Ganga line ended, and he built the largest empire Odisha ever had, stretching from the lower Ganga in the north to the Kaveri in the south.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following invented the flying shuttle?
He patented the flying shuttle in England in 1733. The flying shuttle let a single weaver send the thread across the loom by pulling a cord, so wider cloth could be woven much faster.
Read the full explanation →Ashvaghosha, a poet who composed a biography of the Buddha, the Buddhacharita, lived in the court of which ruler?
Ashvaghosha was a Buddhist monk and Sanskrit poet at the court of the Kushana ruler Kanishka I. He wrote the Buddhacharita, a life of the Buddha in Sanskrit verse, and the Saundarananda, and he acted as deputy to Vasumitra at the Fourth Buddhist Council held in Kashmir.
Read the full explanation →Initially, what was the purpose of setting up of the hill stations during the colonial period in India?
The first hill stations grew out of military needs: cantonments for troops and places where soldiers could be kept healthy.
Read the full explanation →Which dynasty ruled India between 320 AD and 550 AD?
Gupta imperial rule is conventionally dated from about 320 CE, the epoch of the Gupta era that begins with the accession of Chandragupta I, and it faded out by about 550 CE after the Huna invasions.
Read the full explanation →Vikramashila, the great centre of tantric Buddhist learning, was founded by which king?
The Pala king Dharmapala founded Vikramashila at Antichak in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar about the turn of the ninth century, and it became famous for tantric studies and for the scholars called dvarapanditas who examined candidates at its gates.
Read the full explanation →The integration of Hyderabad into the Indian Union was completed through a police action with which code name?
The Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, had signed a Standstill Agreement in November 1947 and then delayed accession while the Razakar militia under Kasim Razvi attacked villagers.
Read the full explanation →Rani Durgavati, who died fighting the Mughal commander Asaf Khan in 1564, ruled which kingdom?
Rani Durgavati ruled the Gond kingdom of Garha-Katanga, in the region of present Madhya Pradesh called Gondwana, and governed as regent for her young son after her husband death.
Read the full explanation →The ancient seat of learning Takshashila was situated in which region?
Takshashila, called Taxila by Greek and later English writers, was the capital of the Mahajanapada of Gandhara in the north-west of the subcontinent, in what is now the Rawalpindi district of Pakistan, and it was already a famous centre of learning in the time of the Buddha.
Read the full explanation →Ahilyabai Holkar, the ruler of the Holkar state of Indore, made which town on the Narmada her capital?
Ahilyabai Holkar ruled from 1767 to 1795 and shifted her seat to Maheshwar on the north bank of the Narmada, which became a centre of administration, temple building and handloom weaving; the Maheshwari sari is still named after it.
Read the full explanation →Who was the head of the Nalanda Mahavihara when Xuan Zang studied there?
The Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang studied the Yogachara philosophy at Nalanda under Shilabhadra, who was then the aged head of the monastery, during the reign of Harshavardhana in the seventh century.
Read the full explanation →