Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 17

The correct answer is A, only those who left their homes could gain true knowledge. Both the Buddha and Mahavira taught that a person had to leave home and family and live as a monk or nun before true knowledge could be gained. That is why both faiths built up sanghas, organised groups of monks and nuns who begged for food, owned almost nothing and spent their time in study and meditation. Mahavira left home at thirty and the Buddha left Kapilvastu as a young prince, and both of them taught in Prakrit, the language of ordinary people. B is wrong because it was Jainism that drew its support mainly from traders, while Buddhism spread among kings, farmers and craftspersons as well. C is wrong because going without clothes was a rule for Jaina monks, not for Buddhist ones. D is wrong because the middle path was the Buddha's teaching, whereas Jainism asked for very hard penance. Exam tip: sangha and renunciation are common to both; the middle path is only Buddhist.

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 A, Ajatashatru. The First Buddhist Council met at Rajgriha soon after the death of the Buddha, with Ajatashatru of the Haryanka dynasty as its patron and Mahakassapa presiding, and it settled the Vinaya Pitaka and the Sutta Pitaka as recited by Upali and Ananda.

Option B, Kalashoka of the Shishunaga dynasty, patronised the Second Council at Vaishali, which split the order into the Sthaviravadins and the Mahasanghikas. Option C, Ashoka the Maurya, patronised the Third Council at Pataliputra under Moggaliputta Tissa, after which missionaries were sent abroad. Option D, Kanishka the Kushana, patronised the Fourth Council in Kashmir under Vasumitra and Ashvaghosha, where the Mahayana school took shape. Learn the four councils as a chain of place, king and president, because a question may give any one of the three and ask for another.

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 B, Samaharta. In the Arthashastra the Samaharta is the officer in charge of assessing and collecting the revenue of the realm from land, mines, forests, trade routes and city dues, and of keeping the accounts of income and expenditure on which the state ran.

Option A, the Sannidhata, was the chief treasurer, the officer who looked after the storehouses and the treasury into which that revenue was paid; the pair is the standard trap in this question. Option C, the Rajuka, was a rural officer with authority over the countryside, who in Ashoka's Pillar Edict IV is given powers of reward and punishment and is told to work for the welfare of the people. Option D, the Pradeshika, was a district level official, associated in the edicts with touring on circuit every five years along with the Rajukas and the Yuktas.

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, Vajji. The Vajji confederacy had its centre at Vaishali in north Bihar and was the best known gana-sangha, a state governed not by a single king but by an assembly of the heads of ruling families. The Licchavis, the Videhas and the Jnatrikas were its leading clans, and Mahavira was born into the Jnatrika clan of this confederacy.

Option A, Anga, was a monarchy with its capital at Champa and was annexed by Bimbisara of Magadha. Option C, Kasi, was a monarchy centred on Varanasi and was absorbed by Kosala before Magadha took it. Option D, Kuru, was the old monarchy of the Delhi and Haryana region with Indraprastha as its capital, famous from the Mahabharata. The Mallas of Kushinagar, the Shakyas of Kapilavastu and the Koliyas were other republics, but Vaishali is the name always paired with the Vajjis.

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, the minor rock edict at Maski. Almost all of Ashoka's inscriptions call him only Devanampiya Piyadasi, the beloved of the gods, of amiable appearance. The Maski edict in Karnataka is the famous exception that uses the personal name Ashoka and confirmed that the Piyadasi of the edicts is the Ashoka of Buddhist tradition; Gujarra, Nettur and Udegolam carry the name as well.

Option B, the Girnar rock in Gujarat, carries the set of fourteen major rock edicts, all of them under the royal titles only. Option C, the Sarnath pillar edict, is the so called schism edict warning monks and nuns against dividing the order, and again uses the titles. Option D, the Barabar cave inscriptions, record the gift of caves to the Ajivikas, and they too use the title Devanampiya rather than the name.

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 C, Mahapadma Nanda. He founded the Nanda dynasty and the Puranas describe him as a ruler of humble birth who destroyed all the Kshatriya houses, calling him Ekarat, the sole sovereign. He raised an enormous army, taxed heavily and carried Magadhan power into Kalinga, where the later Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela recalls a canal dug by a Nanda king.

Option A, Dhana Nanda, was the last ruler of the same dynasty, not its founder; he was on the throne when Alexander reached the Beas and was overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya. Option B, Udayin, belonged to the earlier Haryanka dynasty and is remembered for founding Pataliputra. Option D, Shishunaga, founded the dynasty that came between the Haryankas and the Nandas and is remembered for annexing Avanti. Keep the founder and the last ruler of the Nandas clearly apart, since both names appear together in option sets.

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 C, Brihadratha. He was the last of the Mauryas and was killed about 185 BCE by his own commander-in-chief Pushyamitra Sunga, who then founded the Sunga dynasty with its capital at Pataliputra. The event closes the Mauryan period in every standard chronology.

Option A, Dasharatha, was a grandson of Ashoka who ruled soon after him and who, like his grandfather, granted caves in the Nagarjuni hills to the Ajivikas. Option B, Samprati, is remembered in Jain tradition as a patron of that faith and is placed among the later Mauryas. Option D, Shalishuka, was another of the weak successors named in the Puranic lists. All three belong to the decline of the dynasty, but the ruler on the throne when it ended was Brihadratha.

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 B, Ajatashatru. Buddhist and Jain traditions credit him with two engines used in the long war against the Vajji confederacy: the rathamusala, a chariot fitted with a swinging mace that cut down men as it was driven through them, and the mahashilakantaka, a catapult that hurled heavy stones. He also sent his minister Vassakara to Vaishali to divide the Licchavis before the attack.

Option A, Bimbisara, his father, expanded Magadha mainly by annexing Anga and by marriage alliances, not by these engines. Option C, Prasenajit, was the king of Kosala and a contemporary rival whose sister was married to Bimbisara; he fought Ajatashatru but is not linked with the engines. Option D, Pradyota, ruled Avanti from Ujjain and was known for his temper rather than for siege machines. Attach both unusual weapon names to Ajatashatru and the Vajji war.

The correct answer is D, It was founded in 1928 at Amritsar in Punjab. This is the untrue statement, because the HSRA was founded at Firozeshah Kotla in Delhi, not at Amritsar. In 1928 Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and other young revolutionaries met at the Firozeshah Kotla ground in Delhi and turned the Hindustan Republican Association into the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. The word 'Socialist' showed that they wanted freedom along with a society free from exploitation. In December 1928 its members shot the police officer Saunders at Lahore to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. A is a true statement, since Saunders was killed by Bhagat Singh and Rajguru. B is true, because Bhagat Singh and his comrades set up the organisation. C is true, because Firozeshah Kotla in Delhi is exactly where it was founded. Exam tip: HRA founded 1924 at Kanpur; HSRA founded 1928 at Firozeshah Kotla, Delhi.

The correct answer is A, Rudradaman I at Junagadh. The Junagadh rock inscription of the Shaka ruler Rudradaman, the earliest long inscription in polished Sanskrit, records that the embankment of the Sudarshana lake in Saurashtra was originally built by Pushyagupta, a governor of Chandragupta Maurya, and that conduits were added by Tushaspha in Ashoka's reign; it then describes the repair of the dam in Rudradaman's own time.

Option B, the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela of Kalinga, describes that king's campaigns and public works, not the Saurashtra lake. Option C, the Prayag prashasti of Samudragupta, composed by Harisena, lists the Gupta ruler's conquests. Option D is wrong because the Kandahar inscriptions of Ashoka are bilingual Greek and Aramaic texts on Dhamma, and the same rock at Junagadh, not Kandahar, carries Ashoka's major rock edicts in Gujarat.

The correct answer is A, Kosala. Shravasti was the capital of Kosala in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Ayodhya and Saketa were its other important towns. Its king Prasenajit was a contemporary of the Buddha, who spent many rainy seasons at the Jetavana monastery in Shravasti, which is why the town appears so often in Buddhist literature.

Option B, Malla, was a republic with two centres, Kushinagar, where the Buddha died, and Pava, where Mahavira died. Option C, Chedi, lay in Bundelkhand with its capital at Suktimati. Option D, Magadha, had Girivraja or Rajgriha as its first capital and Pataliputra later. A common trap pairs Shravasti with Magadha or with the Mallas, so remember the chain Kosala, Shravasti, Prasenajit, Jetavana. Kosala also absorbed the neighbouring state of Kasi before it was itself taken by Magadha, and the long struggle between Prasenajit and Ajatashatru over the Kashi village given in dowry to Bimbisara is a favourite statement question in the same set.

The correct answer is B, Moggaliputta Tissa. Buddhist tradition places the Third Council at Pataliputra in Ashoka's reign under the presidency of Moggaliputta Tissa, who is credited with settling disputes in the order and with the compilation of the Kathavatthu, a work of the Abhidhamma Pitaka. Missions were sent out after the council, including that of Mahinda to Sri Lanka.

Option A, Vasumitra, presided over the Fourth Council held in Kashmir in the reign of Kanishka, with Ashvaghosha as his deputy. Option C, Mahakassapa, presided over the First Council at Rajagriha soon after the death of the Buddha, when Ananda and Upali recited the teachings. Option D, Sabakami, presided over the Second Council at Vaishali about a century after the Buddha, called over disputes about monastic discipline.

The correct answer is C, Dhana Nanda. He was the last of the Nanda kings of Magadha and ruled when Alexander invaded the Punjab; Greek writers describe the vast army of the Gangaridai and Prasii that waited beyond the Beas. His heavy taxation and unpopularity gave Chandragupta Maurya, guided by Chanakya, the opening to overthrow him and found the Mauryan empire at Pataliputra.

Option A, Kalashoka, belonged to the earlier Shishunaga dynasty and is remembered for the Second Buddhist Council at Vaishali. Option B, Udayin, belonged to the Haryanka dynasty and founded Pataliputra. Option D, Bindusara, came after the change of dynasty altogether: he was the son of Chandragupta Maurya and the father of Ashoka, so he cannot be a Nanda. Fix the sequence Haryanka, Shishunaga, Nanda, Maurya and the last name in each line. Note also that Dhana Nanda is remembered chiefly through the accounts of Alexander's companions and through later Sanskrit drama, so the same name may be asked as the contemporary of Alexander rather than as the last Nanda.