Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 40

The correct answer is C, 1856. The General Service Enlistment Act of 1856, passed while Lord Canning was Governor General, required new recruits of the Bengal Army to serve wherever they were sent, including overseas. Crossing the sea was held to involve loss of caste, so the law was read as an attack on religion and became one of the military causes of the revolt.

Option A is wrong because 1850 is the year of the Religious Disabilities Act, which allowed a convert to Christianity to inherit ancestral property. Option B is wrong because 1853 is the year of the Charter Act and of the first railway line and telegraph line in India. Option D is wrong because 1859 is the year of the Peel Commission, which reorganised the army after the revolt. Three army related years are worth keeping apart: 1856 for enlistment, 1857 for the revolt and 1859 for the commission.

The correct answer is A, Slave Dynasty. Razia Sultan was the daughter of Iltutmish, and Iltutmish belonged to the Slave dynasty, also called the Mamluk dynasty or the Ilbari Turks. She ruled Delhi from 1236 to 1240 and is the only woman to have sat on the throne of the Delhi Sultanate. Iltutmish named her his successor over his own sons, and she took the administration in hand, gave up the veil, held open court and led the army in person. The Turkish nobles, the group of forty, would not accept a woman ruler; she was overthrown and killed in 1240. B is wrong because the Khilji dynasty came to power only in 1290 under Jalaluddin Khilji. C is wrong because the Lodhi dynasty ruled from 1451 to 1526 and was the last house of the Sultanate. D is wrong because the Mughal empire was founded by Babur in 1526, nearly three centuries after her. Exam tip: Razia, daughter of Iltutmish, Slave dynasty, 1236 to 1240.

The correct answer is B, Adyar near Madras. The Theosophical Society was founded at New York in 1875 by Madame H. P. Blavatsky and Colonel H. S. Olcott, and in 1882 it moved its international headquarters to Adyar, from where it spread the study of ancient Indian philosophy and revived pride in Hindu and Buddhist thought. Option A is wrong because Belur Math is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission, established in 1898. Option C is wrong because Banaras is where Annie Besant, a later president of the Society, founded the Central Hindu School in 1898, out of which the Banaras Hindu University grew; the school was an offshoot and not the headquarters. Option D is wrong because Aligarh is associated with Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's college of 1875. Colonel Olcott was the Society's first president, and Annie Besant, who led it later, linked its work in India with national awakening and with education.

The correct answer is D, Dadabhai Naoroji. Dadabhai Naoroji set up the East India Association in London in 1866 to place Indian questions before the British public and members of Parliament, and branches of it were soon opened in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. He had already started the London Indian Society a year earlier. Called the Grand Old Man of India, he wrote Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, in which he explained the drain of wealth from India to Britain, became the first Indian elected to the British House of Commons in 1892 and presided over the Indian National Congress three times. Option A is wrong because Gopal Krishna Gokhale founded the Servants of India Society in 1905. Option B is wrong because George Yule was the first English president of the Congress, at Allahabad in 1888. Option C is wrong because Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee was the first president of the Congress in 1885. Exam tip: London Indian Society 1865 and East India Association 1866, both of Dadabhai Naoroji.

The correct answer is A, Rangoon. The last Mughal emperor was captured at Delhi in September 1857, tried by the British, deprived of his title and sent to Rangoon in Burma, where he died in 1862. His sons were shot, and with his removal the Mughal dynasty came to a formal end.

Option B is wrong because Singapore was not the place of his exile, though other political prisoners of the empire were sent to distant colonies. Option C is wrong because Aden, then administered from Bombay, held prisoners of later years and not the emperor. Option D is wrong because Mauritius received indentured labourers from India rather than state prisoners of 1857. One more pair often asked with this is the exile of the deposed ruler of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah, who was sent to Calcutta.

The correct answer is A, Nizam Shahis : Bijapur, which is the mismatched pair. The Nizam Shahis ruled from Ahmadnagar, founded by Malik Ahmad in 1490, while Bijapur belonged to the Adil Shahis of Yusuf Adil Shah. All five Deccan Sultanates grew out of the break-up of the Bahmani kingdom between about 1490 and 1518, and four of them joined hands to crush Vijayanagara at the battle of Talikota in 1565. Bijapur is remembered for the Gol Gumbaz, Golconda for its fort and diamonds, and Ahmadnagar for Chand Bibi’s defence against the Mughals. Option B is a correct pair, because the Barid Shahis held Bidar, the last Bahmani capital. Option C is a correct pair, because the Qutb Shahis of Quli Qutb Shah ruled Golconda and later founded Hyderabad. Option D is a correct pair, because the Imad Shahis held Berar, the first province to break away and the first to be annexed by Ahmadnagar. Exam tip: Ahmadnagar Nizam Shahi, Bijapur Adil Shahi, Golconda Qutb Shahi, Bidar Barid Shahi, Berar Imad Shahi.

The correct answer is B, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. He led the Aligarh Movement, held that the Quran was compatible with reason and modern science, founded the Scientific Society in 1864 and the journal Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq, and in 1875 opened the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, which became the Aligarh Muslim University in 1920. Option A is wrong because Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi founded the Deoband seminary in 1866, which took an orthodox line opposed to Sir Syed's approach. Option C is wrong because Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founded the Ahmadiya movement in 1889. Option D is wrong because Maulana Abul Kalam Azad belongs to the twentieth-century nationalist movement and edited Al-Hilal, long after the college was founded. Sir Syed also started the Mohammedan Educational Conference, and his movement is remembered as an attempt to reconcile Islam with English education and modern science.

The correct answer is C, which is the statement that is not correct. The Kushana gold coins were struck on the same weight standard as the Roman aureus of the time, not on a different one, because the dynasty traded briskly with the Roman world and found it convenient to match that standard. The other three statements are sound. The Indo-Greeks issued the first Indian coins that carry the ruler’s name along with his portrait, a sharp change from the earlier punch-marked coins, which bore only symbols. The Kushanas, from Vima Kadphises and Kanishka onwards, issued the first gold coins in India in any quantity, with deities such as Shiva and the Buddha on the reverse. And their gold coins have indeed been found at many sites across north India and Central Asia, which is the clearest proof of how far their trade reached. Exam tip: punch-marked coins are the earliest, Indo-Greek coins the first with royal portraits, Kushana coins the first gold, and the Guptas issued the most gold coins.

The correct answer is B, Hugh Rose. Sir Hugh Rose led the central India campaign, took Jhansi in April 1858 and pursued the rebels to Kalpi and Gwalior, where Rani Lakshmibai died fighting in June 1858. Tantia Tope escaped from that campaign and was captured and executed the next year.

Option A is wrong because Sir Colin Campbell commanded in Awadh, relieving and then retaking Lucknow. Option C is wrong because John Nicholson led the assault on Delhi in September 1857 and was killed there. Option D is wrong because Henry Havelock marched on Kanpur and Lucknow and died at Lucknow in 1857. The commander and centre pairs are examinable in the same way as the Indian leaders, so learn Jhansi with Hugh Rose, Delhi with Nicholson and Lucknow with Campbell.

The correct answer is D, Kakatiya. Rudramadevi ruled the Kakatiya kingdom from Warangal, called Orugallu then, in what is now Telangana, in the second half of the thirteenth century. Her father Ganapatideva had no son and named her his successor, so she governed in her own right, took the male title Rudradeva in inscriptions and led her armies herself, holding off rebel nobles and the Yadavas of Devagiri. She was followed by her grandson Prataparudra II, the last Kakatiya ruler, whose Warangal fell to the armies of Delhi in the fourteenth century. Option A is wrong because the Cholas ruled from Thanjavur in the Tamil country. Option B is wrong because the Vakatakas were an early Deccan dynasty of the third to fifth centuries, linked to the Guptas by marriage. Option C is wrong because the Western Gangas ruled from Talakad in Karnataka and built the Gommateshwara statue at Shravanabelagola. Exam tip: Kakatiyas means Warangal, Ganapatideva, Rudramadevi and the thousand-pillar temple at Hanamkonda.

The correct answer is A, Sri Narayana Guru. Working among the Ezhavas of Kerala, he preached that caste had no place in religion, consecrated temples open to all castes, and in 1903 founded the Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, the SNDP Yogam, to carry the work forward. Option B is wrong because Ayyankali, also of Kerala, led the struggle of the Pulayas for the right to walk on public roads and to enter schools; he was a contemporary but the motto is not his. Option C is wrong because Dayanand Saraswati's watchword was 'back to the Vedas' and his field was north and western India. Option D is wrong because M. G. Ranade was a leader of the Prarthana Samaj and of the Indian National Social Conference in Maharashtra.

The correct answer is C, 17. Mahmud of Ghazni, who ruled the Ghaznavid kingdom from 998 to 1030, is recorded as having led seventeen raids into India between about 1000 and 1027. His aim was plunder and not permanent rule, so he carried away treasure and left no settled administration east of the Punjab. The best known of the raids destroyed the Somnath temple in Gujarat in 1025; earlier he had defeated Jayapala of the Hindu Shahi dynasty in 1001 and sacked the rich temple towns of Mathura, Thanesar and Kanauj. The scholar Al-Beruni, who wrote the Kitab-ul-Hind, and the poet Firdausi belonged to his court. A is wrong because five is far short of the recorded total. B is wrong because fifteen is the figure most often confused with the right one. D is wrong because seven is not the accepted count either. Exam tip: Mahmud of Ghazni made 17 raids and struck Somnath in 1025, while Muhammad Ghori's win at Tarain in 1192 began Turkish rule.

The correct answer is B, Government of India Act of 1858. Known as the Act for the Better Government of India, it abolished the East India Company along with the Board of Directors and the Board of Control, vested the government of India in the Crown, created the office of Secretary of State for India with a Council of India of fifteen members and gave the Governor General the additional title of Viceroy.

Option A is wrong because the Charter Act of 1853 was the last of the charter acts and introduced open competition for the civil service. Option C is wrong because the Indian Councils Act of 1861 came later and began the association of Indians with legislative work. Option D is wrong because the Act of 1919, the Montagu Chelmsford reforms, introduced dyarchy in the provinces. The word Crown in the question is the signal for 1858.

The correct answer is B, Nagabhata-I. Nagabhata I founded the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty in the middle of the eighth century, with his power centred on Avanti and Ujjain in western India. He is remembered mainly for stopping the Arab armies that pushed in from Sindh, a check that the Pratiharas were praised for long after. His successors Vatsaraja, Nagabhata II and Mihira Bhoja made the dynasty one of the three great powers of the age, and the Pratiharas, the Palas of Bengal and the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan fought the long tripartite struggle for Kannauj, which the Pratiharas finally held. A is wrong because Narasimhadeva I was an Eastern Ganga ruler of Odisha who built the Sun Temple at Konark. C is wrong because Harshavardhana belonged to the Vardhana dynasty of Thanesar and Kannauj. D is wrong because Ramachandra was the last important Yadava king of Devagiri. Exam tip: Nagabhata I founded the Pratiharas; Mihira Bhoja was their greatest ruler.

The correct answer is C, Lord William Bentinck. Persuaded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy's campaign and by the evidence collected from the shastras, he issued the Regulation of 1829 that declared the burning or burying alive of Hindu widows to be culpable homicide, first in Bengal and then in the other presidencies. Option A is wrong because Lord Dalhousie, who came much later, is remembered for the doctrine of lapse, the railways and the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856. Option B is wrong because Lord Cornwallis, of the 1790s, is associated with the Permanent Settlement and the reform of the services. Option D is wrong because Lord Curzon, Viceroy from 1899, is associated with the partition of Bengal in 1905 and with the Universities Act of 1904. Bentinck's term is remembered for reform generally, including the suppression of thuggee and the decision of 1835 to spend education funds on English, so he is called the reforming Governor-General.

The correct answer is D, Chin Khilich Khan. Chin Qilich Khan, better remembered by his title Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, was a Mughal noble appointed governor of the Deccan by Muhammad Shah. Tired of court intrigue at Delhi, he returned to the south, defeated his rival Mubariz Khan at Shakar Kheda in 1724 and from then on ruled the Deccan as an independent prince in all but name, founding the Asaf Jahi or Nizam dynasty of Hyderabad that lasted until 1948. He kept the forms of Mughal loyalty, struck coins in the emperor’s name, yet appointed his own officers and made war and peace on his own. Option A is wrong because Asaf Jah II, that is Nizam Ali Khan, was a later ruler of the same line, not its founder. Option B is wrong because Bahadur Shah was the Mughal emperor who ruled from 1707 to 1712. Option C is wrong because Alivardi Khan made himself independent in Bengal, not Hyderabad. Exam tip: Hyderabad 1724 Chin Qilich Khan, Awadh 1722 Saadat Khan, Bengal Murshid Quli Khan.

The correct answer is B, Lord Canning. Canning was Governor General when the revolt broke out and became the first Viceroy of India under the Act of 1858. He read the Queen's Proclamation at a durbar at Allahabad on 1 November 1858, which promised that treaties with the princes would be honoured, that annexation by the Doctrine of Lapse was at an end and that Indians would be admitted to office without distinction of race or creed.

Option A is wrong because Lord Dalhousie, the author of the Doctrine of Lapse, had left India in 1856. Option C is wrong because Lord Lytton came two decades later and held the Delhi Durbar of 1877. Option D is wrong because Lord Ripon, remembered for local self government and the repeal of the Vernacular Press Act, came in 1880. Canning's double distinction, last Governor General of the Company and first Viceroy, is itself a favourite question.

The correct answer is B, Atmaram Pandurang. He founded the Prarthana Samaj, the prayer society, at Bombay in 1867 on lines close to those of the Brahmo Samaj, and it worked for widow remarriage, the education of women, the raising of the age of marriage and the removal of caste barriers. Options A and C are the standard traps: M. G. Ranade and R. G. Bhandarkar were its most famous members and gave it intellectual weight, and Ranade also founded the Indian National Social Conference, but neither of them founded the Samaj. Option D is wrong because Dadabhai Naoroji belonged to the Parsi reform movement, the Rahnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha of 1851, and later to the Indian National Congress and the drain theory. The Prarthana Samaj built on the work of the Paramahansa Mandali of 1849, which had attacked caste and idol worship in the same region but in secret.

The correct answer is C, R. C. Majumdar. He held that the rising of 1857 was not the first armed challenge to British power, that it did not cover the whole country or unite its people, and that it was not fought for a clear idea of national independence; his summing up is quoted in this exact form in examinations.

Option A is wrong because V. D. Savarkar took the opposite view and called the revolt the First War of Indian Independence. Option B is wrong because S. N. Sen, who wrote the official centenary history, concluded that the revolt began as a fight for religion and ended as a war of independence. Option D is wrong because Benjamin Disraeli was a British politician, not a historian of India, and he described the events as a national rising in a parliamentary speech. Learn these four views as a match the following set.

The correct answer is A, Henry Vivian Derozio. An Anglo-Indian teacher at Hindu College, Calcutta, he encouraged his students to question every received belief, and the group of radicals who gathered round him came to be called Young Bengal. They attacked idolatry, caste and the subjection of women, and demanded free thought and women's education. Option B is wrong because David Hare was a philanthropist who helped to found Hindu College and promoted English education, but the radical ideas came from Derozio. Option C is wrong because Sir William Jones founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 and belongs to the orientalist study of Indian texts. Option D is wrong because Charles Wood gave his name to the Despatch of 1854 on education. Derozio was removed from Hindu College in 1831 for his radical influence and died the same year, aged only twenty-two, which is why the movement was short-lived.