Set 32 of the Indian History mixed quiz has 20 multiple-choice questions from 17 different topics of the subject: Harsha and the South Indian Kingdoms, Viceroys of India (1858–1947) and Major Events, Bhakti and Sufi Movements and more. 18 of them were asked in real previous-year papers. A topic quiz checks one chapter; this set revises the whole subject at once, the way an exam paper does, where the next question can come from any chapter. Every question carries an explanation of why the correct option is right and why the others are wrong. Keep to the timer, read the explanations at the end, and go back to the notes of any topic where you slipped.
20 questions with answers and explanations
Which power were the Badami (or Vatapi) Chalukyas originally subjects of?
The Chalukyas of Badami began as feudatories of the Kadambas of Banavasi and broke away as the Kadamba power declined.
Read the full explanation →In which year was the partition of Bengal carried out by the British Viceroy Lord Curzon?
Lord Curzon announced the partition of Bengal on 19 July 1905 and it came into effect on 16 October 1905, splitting the province into a Muslim-majority eastern half and the rest of Bengal.
Read the full explanation →Basavanna, who composed vachanas and founded the Virashaiva or Lingayat tradition, belonged to which region?
Basavanna was a minister in the Kalachuri court in twelfth-century Karnataka and led the Virashaiva or Lingayat movement, whose followers wore the linga on their body, rejected temple ritual, Brahmanical authority and caste, and composed short prose-poems called vachanas in Kannada; Akka Mahadevi and Allama Prabhu belong to the same…
Read the full explanation →At which of the following sites, the evidence of earliest villages have been formed?
Mehrgarh, on the Bolan river in the Kachi plain of Baluchistan, is the earliest known farming village in the Indian subcontinent, occupied from about 7000 BCE.
Read the full explanation →By which treaty did Maharaja Ranjit Singh accept the Sutlej as the limit of his expansion?
By it Ranjit Singh and the East India Company agreed that the river Sutlej would divide their spheres, so the cis-Sutlej Sikh chiefs passed under Company protection and Ranjit Singh turned his energy westwards towards Multan, Kashmir and Peshawar.
Read the full explanation →By which act did the British Government abolish the monopoly of East India Company on the trading of tea and China?
This Act ended the last trading rights of the East India Company, its monopoly of trade with China and of the tea trade, and turned the Company into a purely administrative body holding India in trust for the British Crown.
Read the full explanation →In which year was Sri Lanka discovered by the Portuguese?
A Portuguese fleet under Lourenco de Almeida, son of the first Portuguese Governor in India, was driven to the coast of Ceylon in 1505, and the Portuguese soon made a treaty with the ruler of Kotte and built a fort at Colombo.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following was a fishing colony that was used as a port for trading with the Romans and the Greco-Romans in ancient India?
Arikamedu, on the Ariyankuppam river near Puducherry on the Coromandel coast, began as a small fishing settlement and grew into a busy port that traded with the Romans and the Greco Roman world in the first centuries of the common era.
Read the full explanation →In which of the following years was the Treaty of Salbai signed?
The Treaty of Salbai ended the First Anglo-Maratha War, fought during the term of Warren Hastings. By its terms Salsette remained with the Company, Raghunathrao's claim to the Peshwaship was dropped and Madhavrao II was recognised as Peshwa.
Read the full explanation →The category of 'erstwhile princely states' were those states A. whose prince agreed to merger with India B. whose prince agreed to merger with Pakistan C. which were retained as administrative units until statehood D. which were retained as European colonies such as Goa and Pondicherry.
When the British left in 1947, India had, besides the provinces under direct British rule, about 565 princely states whose rulers had accepted British paramountcy.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following events in the history of India: 1. Rise of Pratiharas under King Bhoja 2. Establishment of Pallava power under Mahendravarman I 3. Establishment of Chola power by Parantaka I 4. Pala dynasty founded by Gopala What is the correct chronological order of the above events, starting from the earliest time?
Mahendravarman I came first, Gopala next, then Bhoja and finally Parantaka I, which is exactly this order. Mahendravarman I ruled the Pallavas of Kanchi in the early seventh century and is remembered for the rock-cut temples at Mandagapattu and for his play Mattavilasa Prahasana.
Read the full explanation →The dissolution of the Soviet Union began in which of the following years?
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.
Read the full explanation →With reference to Mughal India, what is/are the difference/differences between Jagirdar and Zamindar? 1. Jagirdars were holders of land assignments in lieu of judicial and police duties, whereas Zamindars were holders of revenue rights without obligation to perform any duty other than revenue collection. 2. Land assignments to Jagirdars were hereditary and revenue rights of Zamindars were not hereditary. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Both statements describe the two offices wrongly, so neither can be accepted.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following was the President of the Indian National Congress during the 1915 session?
The 1915 session of the Indian National Congress, held at Bombay, was presided over by Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, later Lord Sinha of Raipur.
Read the full explanation →Indigo cultivation in India declined by the beginning of the 20th century because of
Indigo lost its market when chemists learned to make the dye in a factory, so the Indian crop became unprofitable and cultivation shrank.
Read the full explanation →Which of the movements against caste discrimination is correctly linked with the region of their influence?
Jyotirao Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj, the Truth Seekers' Society, at Pune in 1873 to fight caste rank and priestly control in Maharashtra.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following was associated as Secretary with Hindu Female School which later came to be known as Bethune Female School?
Vidyasagar served as the secretary of the Hindu Female School, and the school was renamed after John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune, who had founded it in Calcutta in 1849.
Read the full explanation →'Piklihal' and 'Utnur' are important ______ sites.
Piklihal and Utnur are South Indian Neolithic settlements, famous for the ash mounds their cattle-keeping people left behind.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following statements about 'the Charter Act of 1813': 1. It ended the trade monopoly of the East India Company in India except for trade in tea and trade with China. 2. It asserted the sovereignty of the British Crown over the Indian territories held by the Company. 3. The revenues of India were now controlled by the British Parliament. Which of the statements given above are correct?
The Act of 1813 broke the Company's trade monopoly and asserted the Crown's sovereignty, but left the revenues where they were, so the first two statements stand and the third does not.
Read the full explanation →Nkrumah was one of the five leaders, who comprised the core of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). He was the leader of which country in Africa?
Kwame Nkrumah led Ghana and was one of the five founders of the Non-Aligned Movement. He took Ghana to independence in 1957, the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to break free of colonial rule, and served first as its Prime Minister and then as its President.
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