Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 15

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 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 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 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 A, Assaka. Of the sixteen mahajanapadas only Assaka lay in the Deccan, on the banks of the Godavari, with its capital at Potana, also written Potali. Every other state of the list belonged to the northern plains, the Malwa plateau or the north-west, which is why this single exception is asked so often.

Option B, Chedi, lay in the Bundelkhand region of central India with its capital at Suktimati, north of the Vindhyas. Option C, Matsya, covered the Jaipur area of Rajasthan with its capital at Viratnagar, and is remembered as the land where the Pandavas spent their year of concealment. Option D, Surasena, had Mathura as its capital in the Yamuna valley of western Uttar Pradesh, and its ruler Avantiputra is described in Buddhist texts as a follower of the Buddha. Fix the pair Assaka and Godavari firmly, because the distractors are always northern states.

The correct answer is A, England and France. The Hundred Years' War was fought between England and France from 1337 to 1453, so it actually ran for 116 years with long truces in between. It began when Edward III of England pressed his claim to the French throne, and behind that lay English lands in France and control of the wool trade of Flanders. England won the famous early battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt, helped by the longbow, but France recovered after Joan of Arc raised the siege of Orleans in 1429, and by 1453 the English held only Calais. B is wrong because England and Italy fought no such war. C is wrong because England and Germany faced each other in the twentieth-century world wars, not in the fourteenth century. D is wrong because the German-French clash was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, far later and far shorter. Exam tip: Hundred Years' War 1337 to 1453, England against France, turned by Joan of Arc in 1429.

The correct answer is B, Major Rock Edict XIII. It is the longest of the fourteen major rock edicts and the only source in Ashoka's own words for the war on Kalinga, the number of people killed, deported and dead of other causes, and the remorse that turned him from conquest by arms to conquest by Dhamma. The edict also names the Greek kings of the west and the southern peoples beyond his frontier.

Option A, Major Rock Edict XII, is the edict on tolerance, which asks the followers of every sect to honour one another and to avoid praising their own sect while running down others. Option C, Pillar Edict VII, is Ashoka's late review of the measures he had taken for Dhamma, not a record of the war. Option D, Minor Rock Edict I, records his personal commitment to Buddhism and his effort since joining the order, and in a few copies it gives his personal name.

The correct answer is D, Kashmir. Lalitaditya Muktapida was the most powerful king of the Karkota dynasty of Kashmir in the eighth century, ruling roughly from 724 to 760 CE. He is remembered for building the Martand Sun Temple near Anantnag, whose ruins still stand, and for founding the town of Parihaspora as his capital. Almost everything we know about him comes from Kalhana's Rajatarangini, the twelfth-century Sanskrit chronicle of the kings of Kashmir, which credits him with campaigns against Yashovarman of Kannauj and with wide conquests. The words Karkota, Martand and Rajatarangini all point to Kashmir, so any one of them settles the question. A, Gujarat, was ruled at that time by the Maitrakas of Valabhi and later the Chaulukyas. B, Sikkim, had no such king; its Namgyal kingdom began only in 1642. C, Kerala, was under the Cheras and never had a Karkota ruler. Exam tip: Lalitaditya, Karkota, Martand temple, Rajatarangini all mean Kashmir.

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 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 C, Minhaj-i-Siraj. Minhaj-i-Siraj was the chronicler of the Delhi Sultanate who wrote the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri. He recorded that Raziyya, the daughter of Iltutmish, was more able and qualified than all her brothers, yet he added that he was uneasy about a woman ruling, because it went against the order in which God had placed men above women. Raziyya became Sultan in 1236 and was removed in 1240, and the nobles of the court never accepted her. A is wrong because Al-Biruni came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni in the eleventh century and wrote the Kitab-ul-Hind, long before Raziyya. B is wrong because Badayuni was a historian of Akbar's time who wrote the Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh. D is wrong because Ziyauddin Barani, author of the Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, wrote later and was sharply critical of any departure from high birth and of Raziyya's rule. Exam tip: Minhaj-i-Siraj, Tabaqat-i-Nasiri; Barani, Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi.

The correct answer is C, Ahmad Shah Abdali. On 14 January 1761 the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali, also called Ahmad Shah Durrani, crushed the Maratha army at Panipat in present-day Haryana. The Marathas were led by Sadashivrao Bhau, and Vishwasrao, the young son of Peshwa Balaji Bajirao, was killed in the fighting. Abdali was backed by the Rohilla chief Najib-ud-daula and by Shuja-ud-daula, the Nawab of Awadh. The defeat checked Maratha expansion in north India for about a decade and made it easier for the British to rise to power. Option A is wrong because Hemu lost the Second Battle of Panipat to Akbar's forces in 1556. Option B is wrong because Muhammad Ghori fought the battles of Tarain in 1191 and 1192, not at Panipat. Option D is wrong because Babur won the First Battle of Panipat against Ibrahim Lodi in 1526 and founded the Mughal empire. Exam tip: Panipat I 1526 Babur vs Ibrahim Lodi; Panipat II 1556 Akbar vs Hemu; Panipat III 1761 Abdali vs Marathas.

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 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 C, Ramanuja. Ramanuja, born at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in the eleventh century, taught Vishishtadvaita, or qualified non-dualism. He held that the soul, even when it becomes one with the supreme God Vishnu, keeps its own separate existence, and that the surest way to salvation is intense devotion, bhakti, to Vishnu. Deeply influenced by the Alvar saints, he opened temple worship and devotion to people of every caste, and his ideas later inspired Ramananda and the Bhakti saints of the north. B is wrong because Shankara, of eighth century Kerala, taught Advaita, pure non-dualism, in which Brahman alone is real and the world is maya. A and D are wrong because Allama Prabhu and Basavanna belonged to the Virashaiva or Lingayat movement of Karnataka, which worshipped Shiva in the form of the linga and rejected caste and ritual rather than framing this school. Exam tip: Shankara for Advaita, Ramanuja for Vishishtadvaita and Madhvacharya for Dvaita.

The correct answer is A, Nahar Singh. Raja Nahar Singh was the last ruler of Ballabhgarh, a small Jat state in what is now Faridabad district of Haryana, just south of Delhi. During the revolt of 1857 he sided with the rebels and with the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. After the British recaptured Delhi, he was arrested and tried, and he was hanged at Chandni Chowk in Delhi on 9 January 1858; his state was then annexed. Faridabad still remembers him, as its cricket stadium and the Delhi Metro station at Ballabhgarh carry his name. Option B is wrong because Balram Singh, also called Balu, was the 18th-century founder of the Ballabhgarh state, long before 1857. Option C is wrong because Ajit Singh was not the ruler of Ballabhgarh at the time of the revolt. Option D is wrong because Gopal Singh was not its last ruler either; the throne in 1857 was held by Nahar Singh. Exam tip: Haryana's 1857 leaders include Rao Tula Ram of Rewari, Raja Nahar Singh of Ballabhgarh and Nawab Abdur Rahman Khan of Jhajjar.

The correct answer is B, Third. The Third Anglo-Maratha War, fought in 1817-18 under Lord Hastings, ended Maratha power. Peshwa Baji Rao II was beaten at Khadki, Koregaon and Ashti, the office of Peshwa was abolished, and his lands around Poona were taken over and joined to the Bombay Presidency. Baji Rao II was pensioned off to Bithur near Kanpur, and a small kingdom was carved out at Satara for a descendant of Shivaji. With this the East India Company became the paramount power in India. Option A is wrong because there was no fourth Anglo-Maratha war; the Marathas fought three. Option C is wrong because the Second War of 1803-05 followed the Treaty of Bassein and cost the Marathas Orissa, Delhi and Agra, but the Peshwa stayed on his seat. Option D is wrong because the First War of 1775-82 ended in the Treaty of Salbai, which restored the position as it was before the war. Exam tip: Salbai 1782, Bassein 1802, Peshwaship abolished 1818.

The correct answer is C, Kesari. Bal Gangadhar Tilak started Kesari in 1881 and used it to carry the message of swaraj to Marathi readers.

Tilak brought out two papers from Pune in the same year, Kesari in Marathi and Maratha in English. His writings in Kesari on the Bengal partition and on the Muzaffarpur bomb case led to a charge of sedition, and in 1908 he was sentenced to six years of transportation to Mandalay in Burma. It was Tilak who declared that swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it, and he began the public Ganapati and Shivaji festivals to reach ordinary people.

Option A is wrong because Yugantar was started in Bengali by Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Bhupendranath Datta. Option B is wrong because the Bengalee was edited by Surendranath Banerjee. Option D is wrong because Amrita Bazar Patrika was founded by Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh.

Exam tip: Tilak - Kesari in Marathi and Maratha in English; Gandhi - Young India and Navajivan.

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 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.