Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 14

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 A, 1773. The Boston Tea Party took place on 16 December 1773, when American colonists threw British tea into Boston harbour. The protest was against the Tea Act of 1773, which let the East India Company sell tea in the colonies without paying the usual duties and undercut local merchants. Members of the Sons of Liberty, some dressed as Mohawk Indians, boarded three ships at Griffin's Wharf and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water. Britain replied with the Intolerable Acts, and the anger they caused led to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and to the American War of Independence from 1775. B is wrong because 1776 is the year the Declaration of Independence was adopted, on 4 July. C is wrong because 1775 is when fighting began at Lexington and Concord. D is wrong because 1774 is the year of the Intolerable Acts and the First Continental Congress. Exam tip: Boston Tea Party 1773, war begins 1775, independence declared 1776.

The correct answer is A, Rig Veda. The Rig Veda is the oldest of the four Vedas, so it describes the earliest Vedic culture. It is a collection of 1,028 hymns arranged in ten books called mandalas, composed in the land of the seven rivers in the north-west. Books II to VII form the oldest core, while the first and tenth were added later; the tenth holds the Purusha Sukta, the first mention of the four varnas. The Gayatri Mantra also comes from the Rig Veda. The society it shows is pastoral and tribal, with cattle as wealth and Indra, Agni and Varuna as the chief gods. Option B is wrong because the Yajurveda gives the formulas and rituals for sacrifices and belongs to the later Vedic period. Option C is wrong because the Atharvaveda, the last of the four, deals with charms, spells and cures. Option D is wrong because the Samaveda sets Rigvedic verses to music and is the root of Indian classical music. Exam tip: the order is Rig, Sama, Yajur, Atharva.

The correct answer is B, Surat. The Congress split into Moderates and Extremists at its Surat session of December 1907. The two groups had clashed over the choice of president and over how far to push the Swadeshi and boycott programme started after the Partition of Bengal in 1905. The Moderates, led by Pherozeshah Mehta and Gopal Krishna Gokhale, backed Rash Behari Ghosh as president, while the Extremists, led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal, wanted to keep the stronger resolutions of 1906. The session broke up in chaos, and the Extremists returned only at the Lucknow session of 1916. Option A is wrong because Bombay hosted the first session in 1885, not the split. Option C is wrong because the Calcutta session of 1906 under Dadabhai Naoroji avoided a split and first adopted the goal of Swaraj. Option D is wrong because the Nagpur session of 1920 approved the Non-Cooperation programme. Exam tip: Surat 1907 split, Lucknow 1916 reunion, with Tilak at the centre of both.

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 D, San Francisco. The Ghadar Party was formed in 1913 by Indian immigrants on the Pacific coast of the USA and Canada, most of them Punjabi Sikh farmers and workers. Sohan Singh Bhakna was its president and Lala Har Dayal its leading thinker. Its office, called the Yugantar Ashram, was in San Francisco, and from there it brought out the weekly paper ‘Ghadar’ from 1 November 1913 in Urdu and Punjabi, calling for armed revolt against British rule. When the First World War began, thousands of members sailed home, but the planned rising of February 1915 was betrayed, and many were tried in the Lahore Conspiracy Cases. Option A is wrong because Delhi became the capital of British India in 1911 but was never the party’s base. Option B is wrong because Lahore is linked to the trials of the Ghadar revolutionaries, not to their headquarters. Option C is wrong because Calcutta was the base of Bengal groups such as the Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar. Exam tip: Ghadar Party, 1913, Yugantar Ashram, San Francisco; president Sohan Singh Bhakna.

The correct answer is B, Anguttara Nikaya. It is a text of the Sutta Pitaka of the Buddhist canon and it names the sixteen great states of the age of the Buddha, from Magadha and Kosala in the east to Gandhara and Kamboja in the north-west. This is the list every standard textbook reproduces, and the Jain Bhagavati Sutra gives a rival list in which several names are replaced.

Option A, the Arthashastra, is Kautilya's manual of statecraft from the Mauryan age or later; it discusses how a state should be run but does not list the sixteen mahajanapadas. Option C, the Mahabhashya, is Patanjali's commentary on Sanskrit grammar of about the second century BCE and is used as a source for the Sunga period, not for this list. Option D, the Ashtadhyayi, is Panini's grammar and again a source for place names rather than the canonical list. Tie the number sixteen to the Anguttara Nikaya while revising.

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 B, Megasthenes. After the treaty of about 305 BCE between Chandragupta Maurya and Seleucus Nicator, the Greek ruler sent Megasthenes to Pataliputra as his ambassador. Megasthenes wrote an account of India called the Indica, which is lost and survives only in quotations by later Greek writers such as Arrian, Strabo and Diodorus; it describes the wooden walls of Pataliputra, the municipal boards that ran the city and a society said to be divided into seven classes.

Option A, Deimachus, was an ambassador too, but he was sent by the Seleucid king Antiochus I to the court of Chandragupta's son Bindusara, which is the usual trap in this question. Option C, Dionysius, was sent by Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt and belongs to a later reign. Option D, Ptolemy, was the ruler who sent Dionysius, not an ambassador himself.

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 B, Mathura. Mathura on the Yamuna became the second capital of the Kushanas, while Purushapura, today's Peshawar, was the main one. Under Kanishka, the greatest Kushana ruler, whose reign is usually dated from 78 CE, the empire stretched from Central Asia to the Ganga valley, and Mathura served as its eastern seat of power. The Mathura school of sculpture flourished here in red sandstone and made some of the earliest images of the Buddha, alongside the Gandhara school of the north-west. A famous headless statue of Kanishka was found at Mathura. The Kushanas also issued fine gold coins and Kanishka convened the fourth Buddhist council in Kashmir. Option A is wrong because Kannauj was the capital of Harshavardhana in the seventh century. Option C is wrong because Purushpur, or Peshawar, was the first and chief capital, not the second. Option D is wrong because Pataliputra was the Mauryan and later Gupta capital. Exam tip: Kushanas had Purushapura first and Mathura second, with Kanishka starting the Saka era in 78 CE.

The correct answer is C, Gandhar. Buddhist texts list sixteen mahajanapadas of the sixth century BCE, and Gandhara, in the north-west covering the Peshawar and Rawalpindi region, had its capital at Taxila (Takshashila), near present-day Islamabad in Pakistan. Taxila stood on the Uttarapatha trade route and grew into a famous centre of learning linked in tradition with Panini, Chanakya and the physician Jivaka. Its ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Gandhara later became famous for the Gandhara school of art under the Kushanas. A, Kuru, had its capital at Indraprastha, near Delhi, with Hastinapur as another centre. B, Kasi, had Varanasi as its capital. D, Avanti, in Malwa, had Ujjain as its capital, with Mahishmati in the south. Exam tip: learn them in pairs, Gandhara with Taxila, Avanti with Ujjain, Kosala with Shravasti, Vatsa with Kaushambi, and Magadha with Rajgir and later Pataliputra.

The correct answer is B, 1240. Razia Sultan was removed from the throne of Delhi in 1240 and killed the same year. She was the daughter of Iltutmish, who named her his successor over his sons, and she ruled from 1236 to 1240, the only woman ever to sit on the throne of the Delhi Sultanate. She gave up the veil, held court in men's dress and rode into battle herself, and she raised Jamaluddin Yaqut, an Abyssinian noble, to high office, which the Turkish nobles of the Chalisa resented. Altunia, the governor of Bhatinda, rose in revolt; Razia married him, but both were defeated by the supporters of her brother Bahram Shah and killed near Kaithal. Option A is wrong because 1244 falls in the reign of Alauddin Masud Shah. Option C is wrong because 1238 falls in the middle of her own rule. Option D is wrong because 1236 is the year she came to the throne. Exam tip: Razia ruled 1236-1240; the Turkish nobles of the Chalisa brought her down.

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.

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 A, 390. Chandragupta II extended Gupta rule to Gujarat around 390 AD by defeating the Western Kshatrapas, the Saka rulers of Malwa, Gujarat and Kathiawar. The victory handed the Guptas the western ports and the sea trade with West Asia and Rome, and it won him the title Vikramaditya; his silver coins also call him Sakari, the destroyer of the Sakas. Chandragupta II ruled from about 380 to 415 AD, made Ujjain his second seat of power, and the Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hien travelled through India in his reign. B is wrong because 309 AD falls before the dynasty itself began, as Chandragupta I took the throne only around 319 AD. C is wrong because 903 AD is several centuries after the Gupta empire had ended. D is wrong because 930 AD belongs to the Rajput age, far later than any Gupta king. Exam tip: Chandragupta II - Vikramaditya and Sakari, Ujjain, Fa-Hien's visit, Saka conquest about 390 AD.

The correct answer is D, Dargah. A dargah is the tomb of a Sufi saint, built over his grave and visited by people of every faith who tie threads, offer flowers and pray for their wishes. The gathering held on the anniversary of the saint's death is called urs, when qawwali is sung at the shrine. The dargah of Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti at Ajmer and that of Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi are the best known in India, and Mughal emperors from Akbar onwards walked to Ajmer as pilgrims. A is wrong because an idgah is the open walled ground outside a town where the community gathers for the Id prayer. B is wrong because a khanqah was the hospice in which a living Sufi master stayed with his disciples, taught them and fed travellers. C is wrong because ibadatgah simply means a place of worship in general. Exam tip: khanqah is where the saint lived, dargah is where he lies, and urs is the yearly gathering there.

The correct answer is C, 1784. Pitt's India Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1784, named after Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, and it separated the commercial work of the East India Company from its political work. Trade stayed with the Court of Directors, while a Board of Control of six members, answerable to the British government, took charge of civil, military and revenue matters in India. This began the dual government of the Company and the Crown, which lasted until the Government of India Act of 1858, and the term British possessions in India was used for the first time. The Act corrected the weaknesses of the Regulating Act of 1773, which had made Warren Hastings the Governor-General of Bengal. Option A is wrong because 1818 is the year the Third Anglo-Maratha War ended. Option B is wrong because no India Act was passed in 1792. Option D is wrong because 1802 is the year of the Treaty of Bassein. Exam tip: Regulating Act 1773, then Pitt's India Act 1784 with its Board of Control and dual government.

The correct answer is A, Chahamana. The Bijolia rock inscription, at Bijolia in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan, is dated to 1170 CE, in the reign of Someshvara, and it sets out the family line of the Chahamanas, the Chauhans of Shakambhari. Written in Sanskrit, it was engraved near a Parshvanatha temple by the Jain merchant Lolaka, and it names the rulers from Samantaraja down to Someshvara, the father of Prithviraj Chauhan. Historians value it because it calls the Chahamanas Brahmins of the Vatsa gotra and gives the old names of places such as Ajayameru for Ajmer. Option B is wrong because the Chandelas of Bundelkhand, builders of Khajuraho, are known from the Khajuraho and Mau inscriptions. Option C is wrong because the Paramaras of Malwa appear in the Udaipur Prashasti. Option D is wrong because the Gahadavalas of Kannauj are known from the Chandrawati and other copper plates. Exam tip: Bijolia - Chahamanas; Khajuraho - Chandelas; Udaipur Prashasti - Paramaras.

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.