Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 28

The correct answer is A, Humayun Shah. Humayun Shah Bahmani ruled from 1458 to 1461 and the chronicles of the Deccan record his punishments as so savage that he was nicknamed Zalim, the cruel or the tyrant. His short reign is remembered mainly for that title and for the fact that Mahmud Gawan served on his council. Option B is wrong because Firuz Shah Bahmani, who ruled from 1397 to 1422, was the most learned sultan of the line, a patron of astronomy who built an observatory at Daulatabad and married a daughter of Deva Raya I. Option C is wrong because Mujahid Shah, who ruled from 1375 to 1378, is known for his campaign against Vijayanagara and his murder by his uncle, not for tyranny. Option D is wrong because Ahmad Shah Wali, who ruled from 1422 to 1436, is remembered for shifting the capital from Gulbarga to Bidar and for his reputation as a saintly figure.

The correct answer is A, Satyendra Prasanna Sinha. The 1915 session of the Indian National Congress, held at Bombay, was presided over by Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, later Lord Sinha of Raipur. He was the first Indian appointed to the Governor-General's Executive Council, in 1909, and went on to become Under-Secretary of State for India and Governor of Bihar and Orissa, the first Indian to govern a province. His presidency came in the year Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Pherozeshah Mehta died and Gandhi returned from South Africa, so the session marks a turning point for the party. Option B is wrong because Ambica Charan Mazumdar presided at Lucknow in 1916, where the Congress and the Muslim League signed their pact and the moderates and extremists reunited. Option C is wrong because Bhupendra Nath Bose presided at Madras in 1914. Option D is wrong because Madan Mohan Malaviya presided at Lahore in 1909 and at the Delhi special session in 1918. Exam tip: 1914 Madras Bose, 1915 Bombay Sinha, 1916 Lucknow Mazumdar.

The correct answer is C, Muhammad Shah. Muhammad Shah, who ruled from 1719 to 1748, was nicknamed Rangila for his love of music, painting and pleasure while the empire fell apart around him. His reign saw the Marathas press into north India and Nadir Shah of Persia win the Battle of Karnal in 1739 and sack Delhi, carrying away the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor. Option A is wrong because Farrukhsiyar, who ruled from 1713 to 1719, is remembered instead for the farman of 1717 that gave the English trading privileges in Bengal. Option B is wrong because Rafi-ud-Darajat held the throne for only a few months in 1719 and carries no such nickname. Option D is wrong for the same reason: Rafi-ud-Daula, also called Shah Jahan II, ruled briefly in 1719 under the control of the Sayyid brothers.

The correct answer is D, B R Ambedkar. On 20 March 1927 Dr B R Ambedkar led thousands of Dalits to the Chavdar tank at Mahad in Maharashtra and drank its water, asserting the right of the depressed classes to use a public water source. Upper-caste groups later purified the tank with cow dung and curd, and in December that year Ambedkar returned to Mahad and publicly burnt the Manusmriti. The day is remembered as Social Empowerment Day, and Mahad is called the first collective act of Dalit assertion in modern India. Option A is wrong because Jyotirao Phule died in 1890, long before 1927, though his Satyashodhak Samaj of 1873 prepared the ground. Option B is wrong because E V Ramaswamy Naicker, called Periyar, led the Self-Respect Movement and the Vaikom Satyagraha in the south. Option C is wrong because K Kelappan, known as Kerala Gandhi, led the Guruvayur Satyagraha of 1931. Exam tip: Mahad 1927 and Kalaram temple 1930 — both led by Ambedkar.

The correct answer is A, 1928. The Bardoli Satyagraha began in February 1928 in Bardoli taluka of Surat district in Gujarat, after the Bombay government raised the land revenue by about twenty-two per cent in a year when the crop had already been poor. Vallabhbhai Patel led the peasants, who refused to pay a single rupee, held together across castes and communities, and faced the seizure of land, cattle and carts without answering back. The government at last appointed the Broomfield and Maxwell enquiry, which found the increase unjustified and cut it to roughly six per cent. It was the women of Bardoli who gave Vallabhbhai the title Sardar. B is wrong because 1934 is the year the Congress Socialist Party was founded. C is wrong because 1919 is the year of the Rowlatt Satyagraha and Jallianwala Bagh. D is wrong because 1943 is the year of the Bengal famine. Exam tip: Bardoli 1928, Sardar Patel, a no-tax satyagraha, Broomfield and Maxwell enquiry.

The correct answer is C, 1991. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics broke up in 1991: a failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in August that year destroyed the centre's authority, the republics declared independence one after another, and on 25 December 1991 Gorbachev resigned. The next day the Soviet flag came down from the Kremlin and fifteen separate countries took the place of the USSR, with Russia as its successor state. Most of them joined the Commonwealth of Independent States formed by the Alma-Ata declaration of December 1991. Option A is wrong because 1990 saw only the reunification of Germany and the first stirrings of sovereignty in the republics. Option B is wrong because 1989 was the year the Berlin Wall fell and eastern Europe turned away from communism, while the Soviet Union itself stayed intact. Option D is wrong because by 1992 the break-up was already complete. Exam tip: Berlin Wall falls 1989 → Germany reunited 1990 → USSR dissolved 1991, ending the Cold War.

The correct answer is A, 1896 INC session. Vande Mataram was first sung on a political occasion at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress in 1896, and it was Rabindranath Tagore who set the tune and sang it there. The song had been written earlier by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in Sanskritised Bengali and placed in his novel Anandamath, published in 1882. After the partition of Bengal in 1905 it became the cry of the Swadeshi movement, and the Constituent Assembly later gave it the status of the national song, to be honoured equally with the national anthem. B is wrong because the 1903 session came seven years after that first singing. C is wrong because the Calcutta session of 1911 is remembered for the first singing of Jana Gana Mana. D is wrong because the 1900 session has no such first to its name. Exam tip: Vande Mataram was written in 1882 in Anandamath and first sung in 1896; Jana Gana Mana was first sung in 1911.

The correct answer is D, Vijayalaya. Vijayalaya founded the line known as the Imperial Cholas around 850 CE by taking Thanjavur from the Muttaraiyar chiefs, who held it as feudatories of the Pallavas. He built a temple to the goddess Nishumbhasudini in the captured town, and Thanjavur stayed the Chola capital until Rajendra I shifted to Gangaikonda Cholapuram. The dynasty he began reached its height under Rajaraja I, who raised the Brihadeshwara temple, and under Rajendra I, who carried Chola arms to Sri Lanka and across the sea to Srivijaya. A is wrong because Dantidurga founded the Rashtrakuta dynasty of the Deccan. B is wrong because Simhavishnu was an early Pallava king of Kanchipuram. C is wrong because Upendrarai has no place in the Chola genealogy. Exam tip: Vijayalaya founded the Cholas at Thanjavur around 850 CE, Rajaraja I built the Brihadeshwara temple, and Rajendra I founded Gangaikonda Cholapuram.

The correct answer is B, Ahmad Shah Wali. In 1425 Ahmad Shah Wali moved the Bahmani capital from Gulbarga to Bidar, which he renamed Muhammadabad, and Bidar remained the seat of the kingdom until it broke up. The move pushed the centre of power north-east, closer to the Telangana frontier and away from the Vijayanagara border. Option A is wrong because Firuz Shah Bahmani, his predecessor, ruled from Gulbarga and is remembered for learning and for his observatory, not for moving the capital. Option C is wrong because Muhammad Shah III ruled from Bidar half a century later; the capital he inherited was already there, and his reign is known instead for Mahmud Gawan's reforms and conquests. Option D is wrong because Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah, the founder, made Gulbarga his capital in 1347 and renamed it Ahsanabad. The pair to remember is Gulbarga in 1347 and Bidar in 1425.

The correct answer is C, Subhash Chandra Bose. Both slogans belong to Netaji and to the Azad Hind Fauj, the Indian National Army he led from 1943. He gave the call of Dilli Chalo to set the march on Delhi as the army's goal, and asked for blood in return for freedom in his famous appeal to Indians in South East Asia. He also gave the greeting Jai Hind, set up the Provisional Government of Free India at Singapore in October 1943, and formed the Rani of Jhansi Regiment of women soldiers. Option A is wrong because Gandhi's slogans were Quit India and Do or Die, given in 1942. Option B is wrong because Nehru is remembered for his Tryst with Destiny speech, not these slogans. Option D is wrong because Patel, the Iron Man of India, is linked to the Bardoli movement and the merger of the princely states. Exam tip: Dilli Chalo, Jai Hind and Give me blood all point to Subhash Chandra Bose.

The correct answer is B, Shah Alam II. The Third Battle of Panipat was fought in 1761 between Ahmad Shah Abdali of Afghanistan and the Marathas, who were defeated. Shah Alam II was the reigning Mughal emperor from 1759 to 1806, though he held little real power and was away from Delhi at the time. Option A is wrong because Akbar II ruled from 1806 to 1837, long after 1761, and is remembered for giving Ram Mohan Roy the title of Raja. Option C is wrong because Bahadur Shah I, the son of Aurangzeb, ruled from 1707 to 1712, half a century before the battle. Option D is wrong because Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last emperor, came to the throne in 1837 and was deposed after the revolt of 1857. Tie the three Panipats to 1526, 1556 and 1761 to avoid this trap.

The correct answer is A, Charles Cornwallis. Cornwallis, Governor General from 1786 to 1793, introduced the Permanent Settlement in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha in 1793, with John Shore doing much of the groundwork. It recognised the zamindars as owners of the land and fixed for all time the revenue they had to pay the Company, so any later rise in output went to the zamindar and not to the state. The sunset clause meant that a zamindar who had not paid by sunset on the appointed day lost his estate at auction, which ruined many old families and created a new class of landlords, while the peasant got no security of tenure. B is wrong because Bentinck came in 1828 and is remembered for abolishing sati. C is wrong because Mountbatten was the last Viceroy, in 1947. D is wrong because Ripon, in the 1880s, is known for local self-government. Exam tip: Permanent Settlement 1793 Cornwallis, Ryotwari Munro and Read, Mahalwari Holt Mackenzie.

The correct answer is C, 1565. On 26 January 1565 the combined armies of the Deccan sultanates of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda and Bidar defeated the Vijayanagara forces led by Aliya Rama Raya at Talikota, a battle also named Rakshasi-Tangadi after two nearby villages. Rama Raya was captured and killed, and the capital was sacked over several months and never reoccupied. Option A is wrong because 1526 is the first Battle of Panipat, in which Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi and founded Mughal rule. Option B is wrong because 1556 is the second Battle of Panipat, fought between Akbar's forces under Bairam Khan and Hemu. Option D is wrong because 1576 is the Battle of Haldighati between Akbar's army and Maharana Pratap. Examiners often place Talikota among these Panipat dates precisely because the years look alike, so fix 1565 firmly.

The correct answer is D, Santhal Revolt. The Santhal rebellion, called the Hool, was led by the brothers Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu. It broke out in 1855 in the Rajmahal hills of the Damin-i-Koh tract, in what is now Jharkhand, when Santhal peasants rose against moneylenders, zamindars, contractors and the police who had taken their land and pushed them into bonded debt. Thousands gathered at Bhagnadih, declared their own rule and marched on the plains; the British put the rising down by 1856 after heavy fighting, and Sidhu and Kanhu were killed. The government then created the separate Santhal Parganas district with special protective rules. Option A is wrong because the Bhil risings of Khandesh were led by Sewaram and later Govind Guru. Option B is wrong because the Khasi revolt in the Meghalaya hills was led by Tirot Sing. Option C is wrong because the Munda rebellion, the Ulgulan of 1899, was led by Birsa Munda. Exam tip: Hool 1855 means Sidhu and Kanhu; Ulgulan 1899 means Birsa Munda.

The correct answer is B, Ibrahim Lodi. At the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last sultan of the Lodi dynasty of Delhi, who was killed on the field. The victory ended the Delhi Sultanate and founded Mughal rule in India, and Babur owed it largely to his field artillery and the tulughma tactic of encircling flanks. Option A is wrong because Rana Sanga of Mewar was defeated the next year, in 1527, at the Battle of Khanwa. Option C is wrong because Hemu was the Afghan commander defeated at the Second Battle of Panipat in 1556 by Akbar's regent Bairam Khan, thirty years later. Option D is wrong because Medini Rai was defeated at Chanderi in 1528. Learning these four names with their years and battles settles a whole family of questions.

The correct answer is D, Pala. The Palas ruled eastern India, that is Bengal and Bihar, so their capital was never in the south. The line was founded by Gopala around 750 CE, who was chosen by the chiefs of Bengal to end a long spell of disorder. Dharmapala and Devapala after him ruled from Pataliputra and Monghyr, and they built and endowed the great Buddhist monastery at Vikramashila, which drew students from Tibet. A is wrong because the Cholas ruled the Tamil country, with their capital first at Thanjavur and later at Gangaikonda Cholapuram. B is wrong because the Cheras held the Malabar coast of present-day Kerala and had their seat at Vanji, usually identified with Karur. C is wrong because the Pallavas ruled from Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu and gave India the shore temples of Mahabalipuram. Exam tip: Chola at Thanjavur, Chera at Vanji and Pallava at Kanchipuram are all southern; the Pala kingdom of Bengal and Bihar is the odd one out.

The correct answer is B, Krishnadevaraya. Amuktamalyada is a Telugu poem on the life of the Tamil saint Andal that also sets out the duties of a king, and it was composed by Krishnadevaraya himself, which is why he is remembered as a poet-king with the title Andhra Bhoja. Option A is wrong because Allasani Peddana, the foremost of the eight court poets called the Ashtadiggajas, wrote Manucharitam and is honoured as Andhra Kavita Pitamaha, the grandfather of Telugu poetry, but not Amuktamalyada. Option C is wrong because Deva Raya II of the Sangama dynasty, known as Gajabetekara, ruled almost a century earlier and is remembered for recruiting Muslim archers into his army and for the visit of Abdur Razzaq. Option D is wrong because Harihara I was the founder of the empire in 1336 and left no literary work. Remember the pair Krishnadevaraya with Amuktamalyada and Peddana with Manucharitam.

The correct answer is D, 1582. Akbar proclaimed the Din-i-Ilahi, an order of ethical devotion drawing on several faiths, in 1582, after years of discussion with scholars of different religions. Option A is wrong because 1564 is the year he abolished the jizya, the tax on non-Muslim subjects, a year after he ended the pilgrimage tax in 1563. Option B is wrong because 1571 is when he began building his new capital at Fatehpur Sikri. Option C is wrong because 1575 is the year he opened the Ibadat Khana, the hall of worship at Fatehpur Sikri where the debates were held; the Din-i-Ilahi came seven years later and is the usual trap in this question. Akbar's guiding principle through all of it was sulh-i-kul, peace with all, which examiners also ask by name.

The correct answer is B, Deva Raya II. Abdur Razzaq was sent by Shah Rukh, the Timurid ruler of Herat, and reached Vijayanagara in 1443, when Deva Raya II of the Sangama dynasty was on the throne. His account describes the seven concentric walls of the capital, its bazaars and the wealth of the court, and it is one of the main outside sources for the empire in the fifteenth century. Option A is wrong because Harihara II ruled at the close of the fourteenth century, before Razzaq's embassy. Option C is wrong because the travellers at Krishnadevaraya's court were the Portuguese Domingo Paes and Duarte Barbosa, not the Persian envoy. Option D is wrong because Aliya Rama Raya belongs to the middle of the sixteenth century and to the defeat at Talikota. The standard pairs are Conti with Deva Raya I, Razzaq with Deva Raya II, Paes with Krishnadevaraya and Nuniz with Achyuta Deva Raya.

The correct answer is A, Raja Todar Mal. Raja Todar Mal, Akbar's revenue minister, completed the dahsala or zabti settlement in 1580. It measured the cultivated land, classified it by how regularly it was cropped, and fixed the state demand in cash from the average produce and prices of the previous ten years, which is what dahsala means. Option B is wrong because Abul Fazl was the court historian who wrote the Akbarnama and the Ain-i-Akbari, the very book that records Todar Mal's system. Option C is wrong because Bairam Khan was Akbar's regent in his early years and the victor of the Second Battle of Panipat in 1556, not a revenue officer. Option D is wrong because Raja Man Singh of Amber was a general who led the imperial army at Haldighati in 1576. All four were figures of Akbar's court, which is why the question works.