Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 20

The correct answer is C, Avanti. Chanda Pradyota ruled Avanti, the mahajanapada of western and central India whose capital was Ujjayini, the modern Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. He founded the Pradyota dynasty and was a contemporary of the Buddha, of Bimbisara of Magadha and of Udayana of Vatsa, and his fiery temper earned him the name Chanda, the cruel. Avanti was one of the four strong powers, with Magadha, Kosala and Vatsa, that swallowed the smaller states in the sixth century BCE, and it was finally absorbed by Magadha under the Shishunaga dynasty. Option A is wrong because Kashi, with its capital at Varanasi, was ruled by kings such as Brahmadatta. Option B is wrong because Anga had its capital at Champa and was annexed by Bimbisara. Option D is wrong because Vajji was a confederacy of clans led by the Lichchhavis with its centre at Vaishali, not a monarchy. Exam tip: Avanti, Ujjayini, Chanda Pradyota.

The correct answer is D, Dharmapala. Dharmapala, the second and greatest ruler of the Pala dynasty of Bengal and Bihar, founded Vikramshila Vishwavidyalaya in the late eighth century at a site in present-day Bhagalpur district of Bihar. He also founded the monastery at Odantapuri, and under the Palas these became the great Buddhist seats of learning after Nalanda. Vikramshila specialised in Tantric Buddhism, and its best-known head was Atisha Dipankara Srijnana, who carried Buddhism to Tibet. The university was destroyed around 1193 during Bakhtiyar Khalji's raids. Dharmapala also fought the tripartite struggle for Kannauj and placed Chakrayudha on its throne. Option C is wrong because Mahipala I only revived Pala power and repaired monasteries. Option A is wrong because Ramapala was a much later Pala king, the subject of Sandhyakar Nandi's Ramacharitam. Option B is wrong because Govindapala was the last ruler of the line. Exam tip: Nalanda goes to Kumaragupta I, Odantapuri and Vikramshila to Dharmapala.

The correct answer is C, Bimbisara. Bimbisara belonged to the Haryanka dynasty of Magadha, not to the Mauryas. He ruled from Rajagriha in the sixth century BC, was a contemporary of the Buddha and Mahavira, and enlarged Magadha through marriage alliances and by annexing Anga. The Mauryan line came much later: Chandragupta Maurya founded it around 321 BC with the help of Chanakya after overthrowing the Nandas, his son Bindusara followed, and Ashoka, the greatest of the family, ruled from about 268 BC and spread Buddhism through his rock and pillar edicts. Option A is wrong because Ashoka was the Mauryan ruler who fought the Kalinga war and then turned to dhamma. Option B is wrong because Bindusara was Chandragupta's son and Ashoka's father. Option D is wrong because Chandragupta founded the dynasty itself. Exam tip: the Magadha dynasties run Haryanka, Shishunaga, Nanda and then Maurya, so Bimbisara and Ajatashatru come long before Chandragupta.

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, Kanishka. 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. Kanishka's court also held the physician Charaka and the philosopher Nagarjuna, and the group is a favourite one-line question.

Option A, Ashoka, ruled in the third century BCE, about three hundred years earlier, and is linked with Moggaliputta Tissa and the Third Buddhist Council. Option B, Bindusara, was Ashoka's father and received the Greek ambassador Deimachus, not Ashvaghosha. Option D, Gautamiputra Satakarni, was the Satavahana king praised in the Nasik prashasti and had no connection with the Buddhacharita.

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, Chandragupta I. The first two members of the family, Sri Gupta and Ghatotkacha, used only the modest title Maharaja, which historians read as a sign that they were subordinate rulers. Chandragupta I was the first to assume the imperial title Maharajadhiraja, king of great kings, and the Gupta era of 319 to 320 CE is counted from his accession. His marriage to the Lichchhavi princess Kumaradevi is celebrated on the king and queen type gold coins.

Option A, Ramagupta, is a shadowy figure known mainly from the play Devichandraguptam and a few inscriptions, and he never raised the family's status. Option C, Samudragupta, was Chandragupta I's son and inherited the imperial title rather than introducing it. Option D, Skandagupta, ruled almost a century and a half later and is remembered for checking the Hunas.

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 D, Dantidurga. Dantidurga founded the Rashtrakuta kingdom in the Deccan in about 753 CE.

Dantidurga was a feudatory of the Chalukyas of Badami and overthrew the Chalukya ruler Kirtivarman II to set up independent rule, with Manyakheta, today's Malkhed in Karnataka, becoming the capital. The Rashtrakutas were one of the three powers in the long tripartite struggle for Kannauj, along with the Palas and the Pratiharas. Arab traveller Al-Masudi called their ruler one of the great kings of the world.

A is wrong: Ashoka was a Mauryan emperor of the third century BCE. B is wrong: Amoghavarsha was a later Rashtrakuta king, the author of Kavirajamarga in Kannada. C is wrong: Krishna I was Dantidurga's successor and is remembered for the rock-cut Kailasa temple at Ellora.

Exam tip: Rashtrakutas - founded by Dantidurga about 753 CE, capital Manyakheta, Kailasa temple built by Krishna I.

The correct answer is D, 1878. The Vernacular Press Act was passed in 1878, when Lord Lytton was Viceroy of India.

The Act was aimed at Indian-language newspapers, which had grown sharply critical of British rule after the famine of 1876-78. It allowed a magistrate to demand a bond from a printer or publisher, and to seize the press if seditious matter appeared. Because English papers were left untouched, it was nicknamed the 'Gagging Act'. Surendranath Banerjea and others protested strongly, and the Amrita Bazar Patrika switched overnight from Bengali to English to escape it. Lord Ripon repealed the Act in 1882.

A is wrong: 1876 is the year of the Royal Titles Act, which made Queen Victoria Empress of India. B is wrong: no press law was passed in 1874. C is wrong: 1872 saw the first non-synchronous all-India census, not a press law.

Exam tip: Vernacular Press Act - passed by Lytton in 1878, repealed by Ripon in 1882.

The correct answer is A, Hicky's Bengal Gazette. It was started in Calcutta in 1780 and was the first printed newspaper in India.

James Augustus Hicky brought it out as a weekly and called it the Bengal Gazette or Calcutta General Advertiser. It carried sharp attacks on Warren Hastings and the officials of the East India Company, so the government stopped its postal circulation and shut the paper down in 1782, jailing Hicky. It remains the starting point of press history in India and of the long fight over press freedom.

Option B, The Madras Courier, appeared in 1785, five years later, as the first paper in Madras. Option C, The Bombay Herald, began in 1789. Option D, Maratha, was an English weekly founded by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1881, a century later.

Exam tip: 1780 Bengal Gazette, 1785 Madras Courier, 1789 Bombay Herald; Tilak ran Kesari in Marathi and Maratha in English.

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.

The correct answer is A, Third battle of Panipat. Ahmad Shah Abdali, also called Ahmad Shah Durrani, defeated the Marathas in the Third Battle of Panipat on 14 January 1761. The Maratha army was led by Sadashivrao Bhau with the young Vishwasrao, while Abdali was joined by Najib-ud-Daula of the Rohillas and Shuja-ud-Daula of Awadh. The Marathas lost a whole generation of commanders, and the defeat ended their march towards supremacy in north India, clearing the field for the British. Option B is wrong because the Battle of Khanwa in 1527 was fought between Babur and Rana Sanga of Mewar. Option C is wrong because the Battle of Buxar in 1764 saw the English under Hector Munro beat the combined forces of Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daula and Shah Alam II. Option D is wrong because the First Battle of Tarain in 1191 was won by Prithviraj Chauhan against Muhammad Ghori. Exam tip: Panipat 1526 Babur beat Ibrahim Lodi, 1556 Akbar beat Hemu, 1761 Abdali beat the Marathas.

The correct answer is A, Akbar. Akbar introduced the mansabdari system in the closing years of the sixteenth century to grade every officer of the empire. Mansab means rank, and each mansabdar held two numbers: zat, which fixed his personal status and pay, and sawar, the number of armed horsemen he had to keep ready. Ranks ran from ten to five thousand, with higher ones kept for princes of the royal house. Akbar also brought in the dagh system of branding state horses and the chehra, a written description of each soldier, to stop officers from showing borrowed men at muster. Option D is wrong because Jahangir only added the du-aspa sih-aspa device, which raised a noble's cavalry without raising his zat. Option B is wrong because Shah Jahan merely introduced the month-scale, or mahana, to adjust pay. Option C is wrong because Aurangzeb continued the system as he found it. Exam tip: Akbar gave the mansabdari ranks and Todar Mal's dahsala revenue settlement.

The correct answer is D, Kapilendra Deva. 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. He fought the Bahmani sultanate and the Reddi chiefs of Andhra, and the word Gajapati means lord of elephants. His successors were Purushottama Deva and Prataparudra Deva, in whose reign the saint Chaitanya came to Puri; the dynasty weakened after him and the Bhoi line followed.

Options A, B and C are wrong. Bhanu Deva was a title used by rulers of the earlier Eastern Ganga dynasty, the builders of the Konark temple, while Vasu Deva and Surendra Deva are not rulers of this line at all.

Exam tip: Eastern Gangas - Konark and the Puri temple; Gajapatis from 1435 - Kapilendra Deva.

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 A, Dhamma-mahamatta. Ashoka created a new class of officers called Dhamma Mahamattas, mentioned in his fifth Rock Edict, in about the thirteenth year of his reign. Their work was to spread his Dhamma, look after the welfare of women, of prisoners, of the aged and of border peoples, and to see that different sects were treated fairly. Ashoka turned to Dhamma after the Kalinga war of 261 BCE, described in the thirteenth Rock Edict, and had his message carved on rocks and pillars in Prakrit using the Brahmi script. His edicts were first deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837. Options B, C and D are wrong because Dhammadhiraja, Dhammadhikari and Dhammadhyaksha are not titles used in Ashokan inscriptions; Ashoka calls himself Devanampiya, the beloved of the gods, and Piyadassi. Exam tip: Dhamma Mahamatta for spreading Dhamma, Rajukas for justice in the districts and Yuktas as revenue officers.

The correct answer is C, Prakrit. The Gathasaptasati, also written as Gatha Saptasati, is an anthology of seven hundred short verses compiled by the Satavahana king Hala. It is written in Maharashtri Prakrit, the spoken language the Satavahanas favoured for their inscriptions and literature, and its verses describe village love and daily life in the Deccan rather than royal deeds. The work matters in an examination because it shows that the Satavahanas, unlike the later Guptas, promoted Prakrit as the language of the court.

Option A, Sanskrit, became the normal language of royal inscriptions later, with the Junagadh record of Rudradaman I as the first long example. Option B, Pali, is the language of the Buddhist Tripitaka and of the Milindapanho, not of Hala's anthology. Option D, Hindi, developed more than a thousand years after Hala and cannot belong to a first or second century text.

The correct answer is B, Harishena. Harishena was the court poet and a high officer of Samudragupta, and he composed the Prayag Prashasti in ornate Sanskrit, partly in verse and partly in prose. The inscription is engraved on a pillar that already carried edicts of Ashoka, so the same stone preserves records separated by about six hundred years. It is the single most important source for Samudragupta's campaigns.

Option A, Kalidasa, was the greatest Sanskrit poet and dramatist of the age and is linked by tradition to the court of Chandragupta II, but he wrote no inscription. Option C, Banabhatta, belongs to the seventh century and was the court poet of Harshavardhana, for whom he wrote the Harshacharita; candidates often confuse Harishena with Harsha's poet because of the similar names. Option D, Vishakhadatta, wrote the plays Mudrarakshasa and Devichandraguptam.

The correct answer is D, blanket. The Arthashastra, a book on statecraft attributed to Kautilya or Chanakya, the minister of Chandragupta Maurya, lists what each part of the empire supplied to the state. It names the north-west as the source of blankets, along with horses, and this is the line NCERT's history chapter on the Mauryas quotes. The north-west also mattered because the road from Taxila carried trade towards Central Asia and West Asia, and Taxila was one of the four provincial capitals of the empire. B is wrong because the same text places gold and precious stones in south India, the region Ashoka's family valued for its mines. A is wrong because cotton is linked with the black soil tracts of the Deccan and Gujarat, not with the north-west. C is wrong because copper and silver came from mines in Rajasthan and elsewhere, and the text does not tie them to this region. Exam tip: Arthashastra, north-west for blankets and horses, south India for gold and precious stones.