Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 51

The correct answer is C, Aihole. Aihole, on the Malaprabha river in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, was the first capital of the early Chalukyas, the dynasty founded by Pulakeshin I in the sixth century. Its cluster of more than a hundred temples has earned it the name of the cradle of Indian temple architecture, and the Aihole inscription of Ravikirti records the victories of Pulakeshin II, the greatest ruler of the line, who defeated Harshavardhana on the Narmada. The dynasty later shifted its seat to Vatapi, today's Badami, while Pattadakal served as its coronation city. Option A is wrong because Kanchipuram was the capital of the Pallavas, the southern rivals of the Chalukyas. Option B is wrong because Raichur, in the Krishna-Tungabhadra doab, is known for its fort and for the later Vijayanagara and Bahmani struggle over the Raichur doab. Option D is wrong because Kolar in Karnataka is famous for its gold fields. Exam tip: Aihole the cradle, Badami the capital, Pattadakal the coronation city.

The correct answer is D, He was the first recipient of the Padma Shree Award. C. Rajagopalachari was one of the first three recipients of the Bharat Ratna in 1954, along with C. V. Raman and S. Radhakrishnan, not of the Padma Shri, so this statement is not true. Known as Rajaji, he took charge in 1948 as the last Governor General of India and the only Indian to hold that post, after Lord Mountbatten left. He had earlier been Premier of the Madras Presidency, Governor of West Bengal, Union Home Minister and Chief Minister of Madras State. A is true, since no other Indian held the office. B is true, because he founded the Swatantra Party in 1959 to oppose Nehru's policy of state control and land ceilings. C is true, as he was a close associate of Gandhi and a senior Congress leader. Exam tip: the first Bharat Ratna went to Rajaji, Raman and Radhakrishnan in 1954.

The correct answer is D, Ghiyasuddin Balban. Balban sat on the throne of the Delhi Sultanate from 1266 to 1287. He had been a slave of Iltutmish and one of the Chalisa, the band of forty Turkish nobles, and served as naib to the weak Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud before taking power himself. He broke the strength of the Chalisa, raised the dignity of the crown by calling himself the deputy of God on earth, brought in the Persian court customs of sijda and paibos, and built up a strong spy system and a separate military department, the diwan-i-arz. Option A is wrong because Qutub-ud-din Aibak, who founded the Slave dynasty, ruled from 1206 to 1210. Option B is wrong because Aram Shah held the throne for only about a year after Aibak. Option C is wrong because Iltutmish, the real consolidator of the Sultanate, ruled from 1211 to 1236. Exam tip: the Slave dynasty order is Aibak, Aram Shah, Iltutmish, Raziya and then Balban from 1266 to 1287.

The correct answer is A, uzhavar. In the Tamil region of ancient India the ordinary ploughmen, the men who actually tilled the fields, were called uzhavar.

Inscriptions and Sangam poems show a graded village society there. At the top stood the vellalar, the large landowners; below them came the uzhavar, the ploughmen or small cultivators; and at the bottom were the landless labourers, including slaves. These words come from early Tamil literature of roughly the third century BCE to the third century CE, the Sangam age, whose poems describe the chiefdoms of the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas and call their rulers the muvendar, the three crowned kings.

B is wrong: adimai means slaves, people owned by others. C is wrong: kadaisiyar were the landless labourers who worked in other people's fields. D is wrong: vellalar were the large landowners, the richest group in the village.

Exam tip: the Tamil village order was vellalar as big landowners, uzhavar as ploughmen, and kadaisiyar and adimai as landless labourers and slaves.

The correct answer is A, Dantidurga. Dantidurga founded the Rashtrakuta dynasty in the middle of the eighth century, threw off the overlordship of the Chalukyas of Badami by defeating Kirtivarman II, and took imperial titles; his successors ruled from Manyakheta, the modern Malkhed. Option B is wrong because Harihara I founded the Vijayanagara empire with his brother Bukka in 1336, six centuries later and in a different part of the Deccan. Option C is wrong because Uttama was a Chola ruler who came between Parantaka II and Rajaraja I, and belonged to the Tamil country, not Karnataka. Option D is wrong because Bindusara was the second Mauryan emperor, the son of Chandragupta Maurya and the father of Ashoka, and has nothing to do with the Rashtrakutas. Remember the chain: the Chalukyas of Badami were overthrown by the Rashtrakutas, who were later displaced by the Chalukyas of Kalyani. Krishna I of the Rashtrakutas is remembered for the Kailasa temple at Ellora, and Amoghavarsha I for the Kannada work Kavirajamarga.

The correct answer is A, Badruddin Tyabji. The Bombay Presidency Association was founded in 1885 by Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozeshah Mehta and Kashinath Trimbak Telang, three lawyers of Bombay who are often called the city's triumvirate.

The body was formed to press Indian political demands before the British Parliament, especially after the anger caused by the Ilbert Bill, and it came up in the very year the Indian National Congress was founded. Badruddin Tyabji later became the third president of the Congress at its Madras session in 1887, the first Muslim to hold that office.

Option B, Behramji M Malabari, was a social reformer and journalist who campaigned against child marriage. Option C, AK Fazlul Haq, was a Bengal leader who moved the Lahore Resolution in 1940. Option D, Zakir Husain, was the third President of India.

Exam tip: Bombay triumvirate — Tyabji, Mehta and Telang; Bombay Presidency Association 1885.

The correct answer is B, the Samaveda. Its name comes from saman, a melody, and it arranges hymns, most of them taken from the Rigveda, in the form in which the priest was to sing them at a sacrifice, so the earliest Indian system of musical notes is traced to it. Option A is wrong because the Rigveda is the oldest Veda and a collection of 1,028 hymns of praise, not of melodies. Option C is wrong because the Yajurveda gives the formulae and the procedure for performing sacrifices, in prose as well as verse, and is the handbook of the officiating priest. Option D is wrong because the Atharvaveda is a collection of charms, spells and remedies that reflects popular belief and early medicine. The pairing most often asked is Samaveda with music and Atharvaveda with magic and medicine.

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, Tomar Rajputs. Delhi first became a capital under the Tomar Rajputs, who founded the town of Dhillika, or Dilli, and built Lal Kot near present day Mehrauli, the earliest of the seven cities of Delhi. Anangpal Tomar is remembered for Lal Kot and for the Anangtal reservoir, and the Iron Pillar of the Gupta age was brought to this site. Coins and inscriptions of the Tomars are the first records to treat Delhi as a seat of power. Option A is wrong because the Chauhans of Ajmer took Delhi from the Tomars in the middle of the twelfth century and enlarged Lal Kot into Qila Rai Pithora, so they held it later and not first. Option C is wrong because Iltutmish made Delhi the capital of the Sultanate in 1211, long after the Tomars. Option D is wrong because the Khiljis came to power in 1290 and built Siri. Exam tip: the order at Delhi is Tomars with Lal Kot, Chauhans with Qila Rai Pithora, then the Delhi Sultanate.

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, Marathi. Jyotiba Phule wrote Gulamgiri, which means slavery, in Marathi in 1873, the same year in which he founded the Satyashodhak Samaj at Pune. The book attacks the caste order and the priestly domination it rested on, and Phule dedicated it to the people of the United States who had worked to end the slavery of Black people, drawing a direct parallel with the condition of the lower castes in India. With his wife Savitribai Phule he had already opened some of the first schools for girls and for Dalit children in the country, and his other well known work is Shetkaryacha Asud. Option A is wrong because Phule wrote in his own language and the English translations of Gulamgiri came much later. Option C is wrong because Hindi was not the language of his region. Option D is wrong because Phule, who lived and worked in Pune in the Bombay Presidency, never wrote in Gujarati. Exam tip: Phule wrote Gulamgiri in Marathi in 1873 and founded the Satyashodhak Samaj the same year.

The correct answer is B, Arikamedu. 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. Excavations there have brought out Roman amphorae that carried wine and olive oil, red glazed Arretine ware, glass and stone beads, lamps and Roman coins, along with the local rouletted pottery, which is why the site is identified with the Poduke named in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. A is wrong because Badami in Karnataka was the inland capital of the Chalukyas, known for its rock cut cave temples. C is wrong because Lothal in Gujarat is a Harappan site with a dockyard, far older and on the western coast. D is wrong because tulapurushadana was a ritual of weighing oneself against gold and giving it away, not a place at all. Exam tip: Arikamedu near Puducherry is the Poduke of Roman trade; Lothal is the Harappan dock in Gujarat.

The correct answer is B, Yugoslavia. The first summit of the Non-Aligned Movement was held in September 1961 at Belgrade, then the capital of Yugoslavia, and twenty-five countries took part in it. The movement grew out of the understanding between Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Sukarno of Indonesia, who wanted the newly independent nations of Asia and Africa to keep out of the two Cold War blocs. The Bandung Conference of 1955 in Indonesia had prepared the ground for it. Option A is wrong because India hosted the seventh summit, at New Delhi in 1983, not the first. Option C is wrong because New York is the seat of the United Nations and no summit of the movement was held there. Option D is wrong because Egypt hosted the second summit, at Cairo in 1964. Exam tip: first NAM summit Belgrade 1961, and the five founders were Nehru, Tito, Nasser, Nkrumah and Sukarno.

The correct answer is A, Chalukya. Vikramaditya VI ruled the Western Chalukya kingdom of Kalyani, and his court poet Bilhana wrote the Vikramankadevacharita on his life. Vikramaditya VI reigned from about 1076 to 1126 CE from Kalyani in present-day Karnataka, and he started the Chalukya-Vikrama era, a new reckoning counted from his accession, which very few Indian rulers ever did. Another scholar of his court was Vijnaneshwara, who wrote the Mitakshara, the best known commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti and a key text of Hindu law. B is wrong because the Pallavas ruled from Kanchi and had faded away by the tenth century. C is wrong because the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta were displaced by these very Chalukyas in 973 CE. D is wrong because the Western Gangas ruled Talakad in southern Karnataka and are remembered for Shravanabelagola, not for Bilhana. Exam tip: Bilhana wrote Vikramankadevacharita for Vikramaditya VI, and Vijnaneshwara wrote the Mitakshara at the same court.

The correct answer is D, Thanjavur. Vijayalaya, who founded the line of the imperial Cholas in the middle of the ninth century, captured the Kaveri delta from the Muttaraiyar chiefs and built Thanjavur, which became the Chola capital and later the site of Rajaraja I's Brihadeeswara temple. Option A is wrong because Tiruchirappalli, with its rock fort, is associated with the Pallavas and later the Nayakas of Madurai rather than with Vijayalaya. Option B is wrong because Tiruppur is a modern textile town of western Tamil Nadu with no place in Chola history. Option C is wrong because Madurai was the capital of the Pandyas, the rivals the Cholas fought repeatedly in the far south. Remember the Chola capitals in order: Thanjavur under Vijayalaya and Rajaraja I, and Gangaikonda Cholapuram built by Rajendra I.

The correct answer is C, Ibrahim Lodi. Khatoli, fought in 1517 near Bundi in present-day Rajasthan, was the first clash between Rana Sanga of Mewar and Ibrahim Lodi, who had just succeeded to the throne of Delhi, and the Rajputs won. Rana Sanga, or Rana Sangram Singh, ruled Mewar from 1509 to 1528 and made it the strongest Rajput power of its time, defeating the Lodis again at Dholpur in 1518 and the Malwa forces at Gagron in 1519. His career ended at Khanwa in 1527, where Babur's guns defeated him. A is wrong because Sikandar Lodi died in 1517 before the battle and had made peace with the Rajputs. B is wrong because Babur reached India only in 1526. D is wrong because Mahmud Lodi, Ibrahim's brother, fought later at Ghaghra in 1529. Exam tip: Rana Sanga's run goes Khatoli 1517, Dholpur 1518, Gagron 1519 and Khanwa 1527.

The correct answer is B, James Prinsep. He was an officer of the East India Company mint and secretary of the Asiatic Society, and in 1837 he worked out the values of the Brahmi letters, which made the edicts of the king who called himself Devanampiya Piyadassi legible for the first time. Option A is wrong because Alexander Cunningham was the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India and surveyed sites rather than decipher scripts. Option C is wrong because John Marshall led the Archaeological Survey much later and is remembered for announcing the discovery of the Indus civilisation. Option D is wrong because William Jones founded the Asiatic Society in 1784 and worked on Sanskrit and comparative language, before the Brahmi problem was solved. Fix the year 1837 with the name Prinsep.

The correct answer is D, Pallava. Mahendravarman I ruled the Pallava kingdom from Kanchipuram in the early seventh century, fought Pulakeshin II of Badami, began the rock-cut mandapas of the Tamil country and bore the titles Vichitrachitta and Mattavilasa, the second being the name of the Sanskrit farce attributed to him. Option A is wrong because the Pandyas ruled from Madurai and are remembered for rulers such as Nedunjeliyan and, much later, Maravarman Sundara Pandya. Option B is wrong because the Chola line of this period begins with Vijayalaya in the ninth century, two centuries after Mahendravarman. Option C is wrong because the Chalukyas of Badami were the Pallavas' chief enemies; it was Pulakeshin II who defeated Mahendravarman I and Narasimhavarman I who later sacked Badami in revenge. Keep the Pallava rulers in order: Simhavishnu, Mahendravarman I, Narasimhavarman I and Narasimhavarman II Rajasimha.

The correct answer is B, the Mundaka Upanishad. The words were adopted as the national motto and are inscribed in Devanagari below the lion capital on the state emblem of India. Option A is wrong because the Rigveda, though the oldest text, is not the source of this phrase; what comes from it to public life is the Gayatri mantra. Option C is wrong because the Bhagavad Gita is a part of the Mahabharata and supplies no national symbol. Option D is wrong because the Manusmriti is the earliest of the Dharmashastras and deals with law and social duty. Keep the three emblem facts together: the lion capital of Ashoka at Sarnath was adopted as the state emblem, the wheel on it became the chakra of the national flag, and the motto below it comes from the Mundaka Upanishad.

The correct answer is C, Pallava. Kanchipuram in northern Tamil Nadu was the Pallava capital from about the fourth century until the dynasty fell to the Cholas in the ninth, and it was there that Hiuen Tsang was received by Narasimhavarman I and that the Kailasanatha temple was raised by Narasimhavarman II Rajasimha. Option A is wrong because the Pandya capital was Madurai, with Korkai as its port. Option B is wrong because the Cheras of the Sangam age ruled the Kerala coast with Vanji as their capital and Muziris and Tondi as their ports. Option D is wrong because the imperial Cholas ruled from Thanjavur and later from Gangaikonda Cholapuram; they took Kanchipuram from the Pallavas only at the end of this period. Fix the pairs: Kanchi for the Pallavas, Madurai for the Pandyas, Thanjavur for the Cholas.