Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 43

The correct answer is C, Annie Besant. The Irish-born theosophist, who had made India her home and led the Theosophical Society from Adyar, presided over the Calcutta session of the Congress in 1917, the year in which the Government interned her for her Home Rule agitation. She had founded the Home Rule League in 1916 and edited the papers New India and Commonweal. Option A is wrong because Kasturba Gandhi took part in satyagraha but never held office in the Congress. Option B is wrong because Sarojini Naidu, who presided at the Kanpur session of 1925, was the first Indian woman president, which is the distinction examiners test against this question; Besant was the first woman of any nationality. Option D is wrong because Aruna Asaf Ali belongs to a later generation, famous for hoisting the flag at the Gowalia Tank maidan during the Quit India movement of 1942 and for working underground.

The correct answer is B, Cholas. Puhar, also called Kaveripattinam, was the great port of the early Cholas of the Sangam age.

The town stood where the Kaveri meets the Bay of Bengal, and Karikala, the best known early Chola ruler, is credited with developing it. Sangam poetry and the Tamil epic Silappadikaram describe its warehouses, its separate quarter for foreign merchants and its trade in pepper, pearls and fine cloth with Rome and South East Asia. Uraiyur was the inland capital of the early Cholas while Puhar served as the coastal capital and port.

A is wrong: the Cheras of the Kerala coast used Muziris and Tondi as their ports. C is wrong: the Pandyas ruled from Madurai and their port was Korkai, famous for pearls. D is wrong: the Vakatakas ruled in the Deccan and had no port on this coast.

Exam tip: pair them up, Chola with Puhar and Uraiyur, Chera with Muziris and Vanji, Pandya with Korkai and Madurai.

The correct answer is A, the Nagpur session of December 1920. The programme of non-cooperation was first approved at the special session held in Calcutta in September 1920 and was ratified at the regular annual session at Nagpur in December 1920, which also changed the Congress constitution and made provincial committees on a linguistic basis. Option B is wrong because the Lucknow session of 1916 is remembered for the reunion of the Moderates and the Extremists and for the Lucknow Pact with the Muslim League. Option C is wrong because the Lahore session of December 1929, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru, adopted the goal of Purna Swaraj and called for the observance of Independence Day on 26 January 1930. Option D is wrong because the Karachi session of 1931, presided over by Vallabhbhai Patel, endorsed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact and passed the resolution on fundamental rights and the national economic programme.

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 D, Government of India Act 1858. This Act ended the rule of the East India Company and placed India directly under the British Crown. It was passed right after the Revolt of 1857, and is therefore also called the Act for the Good Government of India. It abolished the Company and the Board of Directors, created the office of the Secretary of State for India assisted by a 15-member Council of India, and renamed the Governor-General as the Viceroy of India. Lord Canning thus became the first Viceroy. A is wrong because the Charter Act of 1833 made the Governor-General of Bengal the Governor-General of India and centralised the administration, but power stayed with the Company. B is wrong because the Regulating Act of 1773 was the first step of parliamentary control over the Company, not a transfer of power. C is wrong because Pitt’s India Act of 1784 set up the Board of Control for political matters while the Company kept trade. Exam tip: remember the pair - Revolt of 1857 and the Act of 1858 that made Canning the first Viceroy.

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, W. C. Bonnerjee, that is Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee, a Calcutta barrister who presided over the first session at Bombay in December 1885. Option A is wrong because Dadabhai Naoroji presided over the second session at Calcutta in 1886 and again at Lahore in 1893 and Calcutta in 1906, so he was president three times but not the first. Option C is wrong because Badruddin Tyabji presided at Madras in 1887 and is remembered as the first Muslim president of the Congress. Option D is wrong because Surendranath Banerjea, who had founded the Indian Association in 1876 and is called the Indian Burke, presided at Poona in 1895 and at Ahmedabad in 1902; he was among the most important Moderates but not the first president. The order to remember for the early years is Bonnerjee in 1885, Naoroji in 1886, Tyabji in 1887 and George Yule in 1888.

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 B, the Chauri Chaura incident. On 5 February 1922 a crowd at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district of the United Provinces set fire to a police station and twenty two policemen died. Gandhi concluded that the people were not yet trained in non-violence and had the Congress Working Committee withdraw the movement at Bardoli on 12 February 1922, a decision that angered many younger leaders. Option A is wrong because the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 13 April 1919 was among the causes that led to the movement, not its ending. Option C is wrong because the Kakori conspiracy case of 1925 belongs to the revolutionary stream of the Hindustan Republican Association and came three years after the withdrawal. Option D is wrong because the protests against the Simon Commission took place in 1928 and 1929 and led towards the Civil Disobedience Movement.

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, Indian Councils Act, 1909. It is called the Morley-Minto Reforms after Lord Morley, the Secretary of State for India, and Lord Minto, the Viceroy at the time. The Act enlarged the legislative councils at the centre and in the provinces and, for the first time, allowed Indians to be appointed to the executive councils, Satyendra Prasad Sinha becoming the first Indian member of the Viceroy’s executive council. Its most lasting effect was separate electorates for Muslims, which is why Minto is remembered as the father of communal electorates. A is wrong because the Act of 1935 introduced provincial autonomy and a federal scheme. C is wrong because the Rowlatt Act of 1919 allowed detention without trial and led to the protests before Jallianwala Bagh. D is wrong because there was no Government of India Act in 1912. Exam tip: pair the names - Morley-Minto with 1909 and separate electorates, Montagu-Chelmsford with 1919 and dyarchy.

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 C, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the Extremist leader from Maharashtra whom the people called Lokmanya. He edited Kesari in Marathi and Maratha in English, used the Ganapati festival from 1893 and the Shivaji festival from 1895 to take politics to the streets, was sentenced in 1908 to six years of transportation at Mandalay, where he wrote Gita Rahasya, and founded his Home Rule League in 1916. Option A is wrong because Bipin Chandra Pal, who edited New India, is remembered as the father of revolutionary thought in India rather than for this slogan. Option B is wrong because Lala Lajpat Rai, the Punjab Kesari, is associated with the protest against the Simon Commission and with the words that the blows struck at him would be the nails in the coffin of British rule. Option D is wrong because Aurobindo Ghose wrote in Bande Mataram and gave the Doctrine of Passive Resistance before turning to spiritual life at Pondicherry.

The correct answer is C, Razia Sultana. Razia was the only woman to sit on the throne of Delhi, so she was both the first and the last woman ruler of the Sultanate. She was the daughter of Iltutmish, who chose her over his sons, and she ruled from 1236 to 1240. She held court unveiled, rode an elephant and took the title Jalalat-ud-din Razia. The Turkish nobles of the Chalisa resented a woman on the throne, and she was overthrown and killed in 1240. A is wrong because Chand Bibi was a regent of Ahmednagar and Bijapur in the Deccan in the sixteenth century, not a Delhi sultan. B is wrong because Nur Jahan was the wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir and wielded influence through him, but never ruled as sovereign. D is wrong because Rani Durgavati ruled Gondwana and fought Akbar’s general Asaf Khan in 1564. Exam tip: remember the pair - Iltutmish named his daughter Razia, who ruled Delhi from 1236 to 1240.

The correct answer is A, the Sabarmati Ashram at Ahmedabad. Gandhi set out from the Sabarmati Ashram on 12 March 1930 with 78 chosen volunteers and walked about 385 kilometres in twenty four days to the coastal village of Dandi, where he picked up a lump of natural salt on 6 April 1930 and broke the salt law, opening the Civil Disobedience Movement. Option B is wrong because the Sevagram Ashram near Wardha became Gandhi's base only after 1936 and was the centre of his constructive programme, not the starting point of the march. Option C is wrong because Porbandar is Gandhi's birthplace and has no part in the march. Option D is wrong because Surat lay on the route to Dandi but was not the starting point; the march passed through villages of Kheda and Surat districts on its way to the sea.

The correct answer is C, Bronze/Copper. Muhammad bin Tughlaq issued token coins of bronze and copper in 1329-30 that were to pass at the value of the silver tanka. The idea itself was sound and had worked in China and Persia, but the sultan did not keep the minting of these coins in state hands. Goldsmiths across the empire forged them in their homes, the treasury was flooded with fake coins, and traders refused to accept them. The sultan had to withdraw the issue and exchange the token coins for silver, which drained the treasury. A is wrong because Rupak was a coin name of the ancient period, not of this experiment. B is wrong because the rupee was introduced much later by Sher Shah Suri as a silver coin. D is wrong because the tanka was the standard silver coin whose value the token coins were meant to carry. Exam tip: link the pair - Muhammad bin Tughlaq and the failed bronze token currency of 1329.

The correct answer is B, Surat. The session of December 1907 on the bank of the Tapti broke up in disorder when the two groups could not agree on the president or on how far the Swadeshi and boycott resolutions of the previous year should be pushed; Rashbehari Ghosh was declared president and the Extremists were excluded from the organisation. Option A is wrong because the Calcutta session of 1906, under Dadabhai Naoroji, is remembered for the opposite reason, as the session that accepted swaraj as the goal and approved swadeshi and boycott. Option C is wrong because Lucknow in 1916 is the session of the reunion of the two wings and of the Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the Muslim League. Option D is wrong because the Nagpur session of 1920 adopted the non-cooperation programme and changed the Congress constitution, well after the split had been healed.

The correct answer is C, 1931. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact, also called the Delhi Pact, was signed on 5 March 1931 between Gandhi and the Viceroy Lord Irwin. By it the government agreed to release political prisoners not convicted of violence and to permit the making of salt for domestic use in coastal areas, and the Congress agreed to suspend civil disobedience and to attend the Second Round Table Conference. Option A is wrong because 1929 is the year of the Lahore session and the Purna Swaraj resolution. Option B is wrong because 1930 is the year the movement began with the Dandi March and of the First Round Table Conference, which the Congress boycotted. Option D is wrong because 1932 is the year of the Communal Award and of the Poona Pact with Dr Ambedkar, by which time civil disobedience had already been resumed and Gandhi was again in prison.

The correct answer is A, Badruddin Tyabji, a Bombay barrister and one of the founders of the Bombay Presidency Association, who presided over the Madras session of 1887 and was the first Muslim to hold the office. Option B is wrong because Rahimtulla Sayani was the second Muslim president, at Calcutta in 1896, the session at which Vande Mataram was first sung, which is why the two names are often confused. Option C is wrong because Hakim Ajmal Khan presided at Ahmedabad in 1921 during the non-cooperation years and is remembered as a founder of the Jamia Millia Islamia. Option D is wrong because Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who first presided at Delhi in 1923 at the age of 35, the youngest president, held the office again from 1940 to 1946, through the Quit India movement and the transfer of power negotiations.

The correct answer is B, Dr B. R. Ambedkar. The Poona Pact was signed on 24 September 1932 while Gandhi was on a fast unto death in Yerwada jail against the separate electorates granted to the depressed classes by the Communal Award. Under the pact the separate electorates were given up and a larger number of seats was reserved for the depressed classes within a joint electorate. Option A is wrong because Lord Willingdon was the Viceroy at the time but was not a party to the agreement, which was between Indian leaders. Option C is wrong because Jinnah signed the Lucknow Pact of 1916 with the Congress and had no part in the Poona Pact. Option D is wrong because Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister, announced the Communal Award in August 1932, and the pact was the Indian answer to that award, not an agreement with him.