Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 4

The correct answer is B, Kalibangan. Kalibangan stands on the dry bed of the Ghaggar in the Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan. A field there, belonging to the pre-Harappan level, carries two sets of furrows crossing each other at right angles, showing that two crops were grown in the same plot at the same time. Kalibangan also gave a row of fire altars and bones of the camel.

Option A, Dholavira in Kutch, is known for its division into three parts and for the stone reservoirs that stored rainwater. Option C, Rakhigarhi in Haryana, is the largest Harappan site in India but is not associated with the ploughed field. Option D, Alamgirpur in Uttar Pradesh, marks the eastern limit of the civilisation. The examiner pairs a site with a single famous find, so learn them together.

The correct answer is A, Warren Hastings. The Regulating Act of 1773 created the post of Governor-General of Bengal, and Warren Hastings, then Governor of Bengal, became the first holder from 1774 to 1785, with a council of four and a Supreme Court at Calcutta set up in 1774. He ended the dual system of Robert Clive, shifted the treasury from Murshidabad to Calcutta, set up civil and criminal courts in each district, and founded the Calcutta Madrasa in 1781; the Asiatic Society of Bengal was founded in 1784 during his time. After returning to England he faced a long impeachment trial from 1788 to 1795 and was acquitted. Option B is wrong because William Bentinck was the first Governor-General of India under the Charter Act of 1833 and abolished sati in 1829. Option C is wrong because Charles Metcalfe (1835 to 1836) freed the press. Option D is wrong because John Shore (1793 to 1798) followed Cornwallis and is known for non-intervention. Exam tip: first Governor-General of Bengal = Warren Hastings (1773 Act), first Governor-General of India = William Bentinck (1833 Act).

The correct answer is A, Seleucus Nicator. Seleucus, a general of Alexander who came to rule the eastern part of his empire, sent Megasthenes as his ambassador to Chandragupta Maurya's court at Pataliputra. This followed their war around 305 BCE, after which Seleucus gave up the regions around Kandahar and Kabul and received 500 war elephants in return. Megasthenes wrote 'Indica', a description of Mauryan India, its capital and its people; the book itself is lost and survives only in quotations by later Greek writers such as Strabo and Arrian. B is wrong because Amyntas II was an early king of Macedon, long before the Mauryas. C is wrong because Amyntas III was a Macedonian king and the father of Philip II. D is wrong because Philip II was the king of Macedon and the father of Alexander the Great, and he died in 336 BCE. Exam tip: Seleucus sent Megasthenes to Chandragupta, and Megasthenes wrote 'Indica'.

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, Kharavela. The Hathigumpha or ‘elephant cave’ inscription is carved in the Udayagiri hills near Bhubaneswar in Odisha and is the main record of Kharavela, the Jain king of Kalinga of the Mahameghavahana (Chedi) dynasty, who ruled around the first century BCE. Written in Prakrit in the Brahmi script, it describes his reign year by year: repairs to his capital, campaigns against rulers in the north and south, gifts to Jain monks, and the extension of a canal first dug by a Nanda king. That Nanda reference makes it an important source for older history too. Option B is wrong because Ashoka is known from his own rock and pillar edicts; his Kalinga war is described in Rock Edict XIII. Option C is wrong because Harshavardhana is known from Banabhatta’s Harshacharita and the Banskhera and Madhuban copper plates. Option D is wrong because Kanishka’s key record is the Rabatak inscription found in Afghanistan. Exam tip: Hathigumpha → Kharavela; Junagadh → Rudradaman; Nasik → Gautamiputra Satakarni.

The correct answer is D, Jyotirao Govindrao Phule. Jyotiba Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj at Pune on 24 September 1873 to fight caste discrimination and the hold of priests over society. The same year he published Gulamgiri (Slavery), attacking Brahmanical domination, and earlier, in 1848, he and his wife Savitribai had opened one of the first schools for girls in Pune. The Samaj promoted education for Shudras, Dalits and women, marriages without priests, and equality; Phule was given the title Mahatma in 1888, and Dr Ambedkar counted him among his three gurus. A is wrong because Savitribai Phule, though a pioneer of women's education and a member of the Samaj, was not its founder. B is wrong because E. V. Ramasamy Periyar led the Self-Respect Movement in Tamil Nadu from 1925. C is wrong because Ayyankali was a Dalit reformer of Kerala who set up the Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham in 1907. Exam tip: Satyashodhak Samaj, Pune, 1873, Jyotiba Phule, book Gulamgiri.

The correct answer is C, Cher. The Cheras ruled in Kerala and took no part in the fight over Kannauj. The Tripartite Struggle was a long contest in the 8th to 10th centuries among three powers for control of Kannauj, the old capital of Harshavardhana in the Ganga valley. Whoever held Kannauj was seen as the master of north India, so the three kept attacking it for nearly two centuries. In the end the Gurjara-Pratiharas held Kannauj the longest, and the fight wore out all three powers. Option A is wrong because the Palas of Bengal, founded by Gopala, were one of the three sides; Dharmapala even placed his own nominee on the Kannauj throne. Option B is wrong because the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan, under kings like Dhruva and Govinda III, raided the north and joined the struggle. Option D is wrong because the Gurjara-Pratiharas of western India, with rulers like Nagabhata II and Mihira Bhoja, were the third side. Exam tip: Pala (east), Pratihara (west) and Rashtrakuta (south) fought for Kannauj.

The correct answer is D, Annie Besant. Annie Besant, an Irish-born theosophist, was the first woman to preside over the Indian National Congress, at its Calcutta session in 1917. She had started the Home Rule League in 1916, founded the newspaper 'New India', and set up the Central Hindu College at Banaras, which later grew into Banaras Hindu University. The first Indian woman to become Congress president was Sarojini Naidu, at the Kanpur session of 1925. A is wrong because Indira Gandhi became Congress president much later, in 1959. B is wrong because Sucheta Kripalani was India's first woman Chief Minister, of Uttar Pradesh in 1963, and never headed the Congress. C is wrong because Nellie Sengupta presided over the Calcutta session of 1933, making her the third woman president, not the first. Exam tip: first woman Congress president Annie Besant, Calcutta 1917; first Indian woman Sarojini Naidu, Kanpur 1925.

The correct answer is D, Alauddin Khilji. Amir Khusro was the court poet and musician of Alauddin Khalji, and he lived in the courts of several Delhi sultans from Balban's time to Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq. He was a disciple of the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya and is buried near his dargah in Delhi. He wrote in Persian and in Hindavi, the early form of Hindi and Urdu, and is called Tuti-e-Hind, the Parrot of India. Tradition credits him with the qawwali and with ragas and forms such as tarana, and his Khazain-ul-Futuh describes Alauddin's campaigns. Popular belief also links him to the sitar and the tabla, though historians doubt this. A is wrong because Shah Jahan was a Mughal emperor who ruled about three centuries later. B is wrong because Aurangzeb, also a Mughal, banned music at his court. C is wrong because Jahangir was a Mughal emperor known for his love of painting. Exam tip: Amir Khusro = Alauddin Khalji's court, disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, Parrot of India, father of qawwali.

The correct answer is C, Lord Chelmsford. Chelmsford was Viceroy from 1916 to 1921, and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre happened on 13 April 1919, the day of Baisakhi, in Amritsar. A peaceful crowd protesting the Rowlatt Act and the arrest of Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satyapal was fired upon on the orders of General Dyer, with Michael O'Dwyer as Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab. Rabindranath Tagore returned his knighthood in protest, and the Hunter Commission was set up to inquire into the firing. The Montagu–Chelmsford reforms of the same year and the Government of India Act 1919 are also from his term. A is wrong because Lord Irwin (1926–31) is linked with the Simon Commission boycott, the Dandi March and the Gandhi–Irwin Pact. B is wrong because Dalhousie (1848–56) was a Governor-General famous for the Doctrine of Lapse. D is wrong because Ripon (1880–84) is remembered for local self-government and the Ilbert Bill. Exam tip: 1919 means Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh and Montagu–Chelmsford reforms, all under Chelmsford.

The correct answer is B, 1565. The Battle of Talikota, also called Rakshasi-Tangadi, was fought in January 1565 and broke the power of Vijayanagara. Rama Raya was the real ruler behind the throne of Sadashiva Raya. He had played the Deccan Sultanates against one another, so Bijapur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda finally joined hands against him. Rama Raya was captured and killed, and the winning armies plundered the capital Vijayanagara (Hampi) for months. The ruins of Hampi, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, date from this sack. The empire lived on under the Aravidu dynasty but never regained its glory. Option A is wrong because 1585 is twenty years after the battle. Option C is wrong because in 1545 Rama Raya's long control of the empire had only just begun; the decisive battle came twenty years later. Option D is wrong because 1525 was the reign of Krishnadeva Raya, the empire's golden age. Exam tip: Vijayanagara founded 1336, peak under Krishnadeva Raya (1509–1529), fall at Talikota 1565.

The correct answer is A, Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla. Both were sentenced to death in the Kakori case and hanged in December 1927. On 9 August 1925, members of the Hindustan Republican Association stopped a train at Kakori near Lucknow and took away government money to fund their fight. Four of them were hanged: Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Roshan Singh, while Chandrashekhar Azad escaped arrest. The friendship of Bismil, a Hindu, and Ashfaqulla, a Muslim, is still remembered as a symbol of unity. Option B is wrong because Vasudev Chapekar was hanged for the 1897 killing of the plague commissioner Rand in Pune, and Savarkar was sent to the Cellular Jail, not hanged. Option C is wrong because Khudiram Bose was hanged in 1908 for the Muzaffarpur bomb attack in Bihar, and Prafulla Chaki shot himself at Mokama to avoid arrest. Option D is wrong because Surya Sen was hanged for the Chittagong armoury raid and Udham Singh for killing Michael O'Dwyer in London. Exam tip: Kakori 1925 means Bismil, Ashfaqulla, Lahiri and Roshan Singh.

The correct answer is B, Rajputs. Akbar won over the Rajput rulers through marriage alliances and high ranks, turning old rivals into pillars of the Mughal empire. In 1562 he married the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber, and her family rose to the top of the nobility: Raja Man Singh of Amber became one of his greatest generals and governors. Raja Todar Mal, his finance minister, built the land revenue system, and Raja Birbal was among his closest companions. Akbar abolished the pilgrim tax in 1563 and the jizya in 1564, and his idea of sulh-i-kul, peace with all, shaped his rule. A is wrong because Muslim nobles already held high posts; giving them rank was not a sign of tolerance. C is wrong because the Sikhs were a small community under their Gurus then and held no court ranks. D is wrong because Christian Jesuits visited his court for debates but were not given high posts. Exam tip: Akbar's tolerance = Rajput alliances, jizya abolished in 1564, sulh-i-kul, Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri.

The correct answer is C, Atharvaveda. The Atharvaveda calls the Sabha and the Samiti the two daughters of Prajapati, which shows that they were seen as two separate popular bodies. The Sabha was a smaller council of elders and nobles that also did judicial work, while the Samiti was a larger assembly of the common people that discussed policy and could even have a say in choosing the king. Both are first named in the Rigveda, but it is the Atharvaveda that sets them apart and says the king needs their support to rule well. Together with the Vidatha and the Gana, they were the tribal assemblies of the Vedic age. Option A is wrong because the Rigveda mentions both bodies but does not present them as twin institutions. Option B is wrong because the Samaveda is a book of chants set to music for rituals. Option D is wrong because the Yajurveda deals with the rules and formulas of sacrifice. Exam tip: Sabha and Samiti, the two daughters of Prajapati, in the Atharvaveda.

The correct answer is C, the statement about Madhvacharya. It is the wrong statement, because Madhvacharya worshipped a personal god, Vishnu, with form and qualities, so his path was saguna bhakti, not nirguna. Madhva, a 13th-century teacher from Udupi in Karnataka, taught Dvaita, or dualism: God and the soul are always separate, and the soul is freed only through devotion and God's grace. He set up the Krishna temple at Udupi, still the centre of his tradition. Nirguna bhakti, devotion to a formless god, is linked with saints such as Kabir, Nanak and Dadu. Option A is a correct statement because Vallabhacharya founded the Pushtimarga, the 'path of grace', centred on Krishna worshipped as Shrinathji. Option B is correct because Nimbarka taught Dvaitadvaita, dualism with non-dualism. Option D is correct because Ramananda spread Rama bhakti in north India and took disciples from all castes, Kabir and Raidas among them. Exam tip: Shankara Advaita, Ramanuja Vishishtadvaita, Madhva Dvaita, Nimbarka Dvaitadvaita, Vallabha Shuddhadvaita.

The correct answer is A, (i) and (iv). Anekantavada and Syadvada are the two central Jain ideas about knowledge and truth. Anekantavada means 'many-sidedness': reality has many aspects, and no single point of view can capture all of it. Syadvada, the doctrine of 'may be', puts this into language; every statement should carry the word 'syat', meaning 'in some respect', and Jain thinkers built on it a sevenfold way of stating a thing, called saptabhangi. The story often used to explain it is that of the blind men and the elephant, each touching one part and describing a different animal. Option B is wrong because Sarvastivada ('everything exists') was an early Buddhist school, and Shunyavada ('emptiness') is the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism founded by Nagarjuna. Option C is wrong because it pairs a Buddhist school with a Jain doctrine. Option D is wrong because it adds two Buddhist schools and leaves out Syadvada. Exam tip: Anekanta and Syad are Jain; Sarvasti and Shunya are Buddhist.

The correct answer is B, 2 and 3 only. Goa was taken from Bijapur and the Madras site came from a Vijayanagara Nayak, but the Dutch did not get their east coast land from the Gajapatis. Albuquerque captured Goa in 1510 from the Adil Shahi Sultanate of Bijapur, and it became the centre of Portuguese power in the East. In 1639 Francis Day obtained the site of Madras from Damarla Venkatadri Nayaka, a local chief under the Vijayanagara ruler, and Fort St. George was built there. Statement 1 is wrong because the Dutch set up their east coast factories, such as Masulipatnam (1605) and Pulicat (1610), with grants from the Golconda Sultanate and from Vijayanagara and its Nayaks, long after Gajapati power in Odisha had ended. So A, C and D, which include statement 1, are wrong. Exam tip: Goa 1510 from Bijapur, Madras 1639 from a Vijayanagara Nayak, the Dutch at Masulipatnam and Pulicat.

The correct answer is C, Lord Hastings. This sentence comes from the NCERT Class 8 history chapter 'From Trade to Territory'. Lord Hastings, Governor-General from 1813 to 1823, declared that the Company's authority was paramount, so it could annex or threaten any Indian state to protect its interests. Under him the Company fought the Anglo-Nepal War (1814 to 1816), ended by the Treaty of Sugauli, crushed the Pindaris, and won the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817 to 1818), after which the Peshwa's office was abolished; Thomas Munro's ryotwari system in Madras (1820) also belongs to his time. Do not confuse him with Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal. Option A is wrong because Lord Amherst (1823 to 1828) fought the First Anglo-Burmese War, ended by the Treaty of Yandabo. Option B is wrong because Lord Cornwallis (1786 to 1793) is known for the Permanent Settlement. Option D is wrong because Lord Auckland (1836 to 1842) is linked with the First Anglo-Afghan War. Exam tip: Wellesley = subsidiary alliance, Lord Hastings = paramountcy, Dalhousie = doctrine of lapse.

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 A, Dhondo Keshav Karve. Maharshi Karve, a social reformer from Maharashtra, founded India's first women's university at Pune in 1916, inspired by the Japan Women's University. In 1920 the industrialist Sir Vithaldas Thackersey donated fifteen lakh rupees, and the university was renamed after his mother as Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women's University; it later moved to Mumbai. Karve had earlier married a widow in 1893, started the Widow Remarriage Association and, in 1896, a home and school for widows at Hingne near Pune. He received the Bharat Ratna in 1958, in his hundredth year. B is wrong because Ashutosh Mukherjee was the famous Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, known as the 'Tiger of Bengal'. C is wrong because William Hunter headed the Hunter Commission of 1882 on education. D is wrong because Sayed Ahmed Khan founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh in 1875, which became Aligarh Muslim University. Exam tip: first women's university, Pune 1916, D.K. Karve, later SNDT; Bharat Ratna 1958.