Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 55

The correct answer is D, Satavahana. Gautamiputra Satakarni was the greatest ruler of the Satavahana dynasty, which held the Deccan in the 2nd century CE.

He ruled roughly from 106 to 130 CE, with Pratishthana (modern Paithan on the Godavari) as his capital. The Nashik cave inscription issued by his mother, Gautami Balashri, praises him as the destroyer of the Shakas, Pahlavas and Yavanas; his best known victory was over the Western Kshatrapa ruler Nahapana. Satavahana coins and inscriptions are in Prakrit, and the Puranas call the line the Andhras.

Option A, the Cheras, were a Sangam-age power of the Tamil country, not the Deccan. Option B, the Rashtrakutas, rose in the Deccan much later, in the 8th century CE under Dantidurga. Option C, the Cholas, ruled the Coromandel coast and peaked under Rajaraja I and Rajendra I around 1000 CE.

Exam tip: Gautamiputra Satakarni, Satavahana, Nashik inscription of Gautami Balashri, defeated Nahapana.

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, Narasimhavarman I. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang reached Kanchi around 640 CE, when Narasimhavarman I was on the Pallava throne.

Narasimhavarman I, who ruled about 630 to 668 CE, took the title Mamalla, meaning great wrestler, and gave his name to Mamallapuram. He avenged his father by defeating the Chalukya king Pulakeshin II and occupying the Chalukya capital Vatapi, which earned him the title Vatapikonda. The rock-cut rathas at Mamallapuram belong to his reign, and Hiuen Tsang described Kanchi as a large, prosperous city of Buddhist and Jain learning.

Option A, Mahendravarman I, was his father, defeated by Pulakeshin II. Option B, Mahendravarman II, ruled only briefly after Narasimhavarman I. Option C, Narasimhavarman II, called Rajasimha, came much later and built the Shore Temple and the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchi.

Exam tip: Hiuen Tsang at Kanchi, about 640 CE, under Narasimhavarman I, the conqueror of Vatapi.

The correct answer is D, Bhulabhai Desai. Bhulabhai Desai led the defence at the Red Fort trials of the Indian National Army officers, and his argument that the soldiers of a recognised army were fighting for their country's freedom turned the trials into a public cause. The first trial, held from November 1945, was of Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sahgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, charged with waging war against the King. The Congress set up an INA Defence Committee whose members included Jawaharlal Nehru, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Asaf Ali and Kailash Nath Katju. The men were convicted but the sentences were remitted after countrywide protests. A is wrong because Sardar Patel organised relief and funds, and did not appear in court. B is wrong because Aruna Asaf Ali was a leader of the 1942 movement, not a lawyer in the case. C is wrong because K. M. Munshi, though a lawyer, is remembered for his work in the Constituent Assembly. Exam tip: Red Fort trials 1945-46, defence led by Bhulabhai Desai.

The correct answer is A, Indian National Congress and All India Muslim League. The Lucknow Pact of 1916 was an agreement between the Congress and the Muslim League.

It was signed at the Lucknow session, where Ambika Charan Mazumdar presided for the Congress. Under it the Congress accepted separate electorates for Muslims, and the two bodies put forward a joint demand for self government. Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Muhammad Ali Jinnah were the chief architects, and Jinnah was then called the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity. The same session also readmitted the extremists to the Congress, ending the split made at Surat in 1907.

Option B describes that reunion of the moderates and extremists, which happened at the session but was not the pact itself. Option C is wrong because the British government was not a party to it. Option D is wrong for the same reason; the pact was between two Indian organisations.

Exam tip: Lucknow Pact, 1916, Congress and Muslim League, Tilak and Jinnah, separate electorates accepted.

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, 1961. Indian forces entered Goa in December 1961 in Operation Vijay, ending four and a half centuries of Portuguese rule.

The Portuguese had held Goa since 1510, when Afonso de Albuquerque took it, and they refused to leave after 1947 even though the French had handed over their settlements. The action began on 18 December 1961 and the Portuguese Governor General surrendered on 19 December, which Goa still marks as Liberation Day. Goa, Daman and Diu were then made a single Union Territory; Goa became the twenty-fifth state of India on 30 May 1987, while Daman and Diu stayed a Union Territory.

Option A, 1967, was the year of the Goa opinion poll on merger with Maharashtra. Option C, 1952, is wrong because the Portuguese were still in control. Option D, 1969, is after the liberation.

Exam tip: Goa liberated in 1961 by Operation Vijay; statehood on 30 May 1987.

The correct answer is C, China. The Panchsheel agreement was signed on 29 April 1954 between India and China, as part of the treaty on trade between India and the Tibet region of China. Jawaharlal Nehru and Zhou Enlai gave it the name Panchsheel, the five principles: respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. The slogan Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai belongs to those years, and the five principles later shaped the Non-Aligned Movement. The war of 1962 showed how little the agreement held. Option A is wrong because India's main agreements with Pakistan are the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 and the Simla Agreement of 1972. Option B is wrong because Bangladesh came into being only in 1971. Option D is wrong because the India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed in 1950. Exam tip: Panchsheel - India and China, 29 April 1954, five principles.

The correct answer is B, the Chandelas. The Chandelas ruled Jejakabhukti, the Bundelkhand region, from Khajuraho and Mahoba, and built the Khajuraho group of temples in the Nagara style between about 950 and 1050; the Lakshmana temple belongs to Yasovarman, the Vishvanatha temple to Dhanga and the great Kandariya Mahadeva temple to Vidyadhara. Option A is wrong because the Paramaras ruled Malwa from Dhara and are remembered for the Bhojashala and the Bhojpur temple and lake. Option C is wrong because the Chaulukyas or Solankis of Gujarat built the Sun temple at Modhera and patronised the Dilwara temples at Mount Abu. Option D is wrong because the Gahadavalas of Kannauj and Varanasi are remembered for Jayachandra's defeat at Chandawar in 1194, not for temple building on this scale.

The correct answer is A, 1905. 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. The reason given in public was that Bengal had grown too large to administer, but the real aim was to weaken the nationalist movement there by dividing Hindus and Muslims. The protest against it began the Swadeshi and boycott movement, in which foreign cloth was burnt and Indian goods, schools and banks were promoted, and Rabindranath Tagore's song Amar Sonar Bangla belongs to those days. The anger was so wide that the partition was finally cancelled in 1911, when the capital was also moved from Calcutta to Delhi. B is wrong because 1901 is the year Queen Victoria died. C is wrong because 1907 is the year of the Surat split in the Congress. D is wrong because 1911 is the year the partition was revoked, not made. Exam tip: announced in 1905 by Curzon, revoked in 1911 under Hardinge.

The correct answer is B, Rajaraja I. Rajaraja I, who ruled from 985 to 1014, is regarded as the most powerful Chola ruler. He annexed the northern part of Sri Lanka, led a naval raid on the Maldives, defeated the Cheras at Kandalur Salai, carried out a survey of land for revenue, and built the Rajarajesvara or Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur, completed in 1010. Option A is wrong, though Rajendra I was a great conqueror who reached the Ganga and defeated Srivijaya; he is called Gangaikonda Chola, but the empire's foundation of power was laid by his father. Option C is wrong because Dantidurga was not a Chola at all; he was the founder of the Rashtrakuta dynasty of the Deccan. Option D is wrong because Vijayalaya only founded the imperial line about 850 by capturing Thanjavur and ruled a small kingdom.

The correct answer is D, Kolkata. The Supreme Court set up in 1774 sat at Fort William in Calcutta, the city now called Kolkata.

It was created by the Regulating Act of 1773, the first British law to take direct notice of the Company's rule in India. That Act made the Governor of Bengal the Governor General, gave him a council of four members, and established a Supreme Court of judicature at Fort William with one chief justice and three other judges. Sir Elijah Impey was its first chief justice. The court could hear civil, criminal, admiralty and ecclesiastical cases, and its long quarrel with the Governor General's council led to the Act of Settlement of 1781.

A is wrong: Delhi was then under the Mughals and became the British capital only in 1911. B is wrong: Shimla served later as a summer capital and was never the seat of this court. C is wrong: Mumbai, then Bombay, got a supreme court of its own only in 1823.

Exam tip: the Regulating Act of 1773 created the Governor General of Bengal and the Supreme Court at Fort William, Calcutta, which opened in 1774.

The correct answer is D, the army department. The Mir Bakhshi was the head of the military establishment: he kept the muster rolls of the mansabdars, verified the horses and men at inspection, recommended candidates for rank and countersigned their pay orders, and the news writers and intelligence reporters of the provinces also sent their reports through his office. A, the karkhanas or royal workshops, came under the Mir Saman, who looked after the imperial household. B, revenue and finance, was the charge of the Wazir or Diwan-i-Ala, and that is the option most often chosen by mistake. C was headed by the chief qazi, while religious grants and charity were with the Sadr-us-Sudur. Hold the pair in memory as bakhshi for the sword and diwan for the purse, and the option can never confuse you.

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 D, Education. Wood Despatch of 1854 was a scheme of education, and it is often called the Magna Carta of English education in India.

It was sent by Sir Charles Wood, President of the Board of Control, to Lord Dalhousie. It asked the government to accept responsibility for educating the masses, proposed a graded system from vernacular primary schools up to colleges teaching in English, recommended universities on the model of London University, and called for grants-in-aid to private schools, teacher training and education for women. Universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were set up in 1857 as a result, and a department of public instruction was created in each province.

Option A is wrong because famine policy came later, with the commissions after 1880. Option B is wrong because army reorganisation followed the Revolt of 1857. Option C is wrong because the despatch said nothing about the textile trade.

Exam tip: Wood Despatch, 1854, Magna Carta of English education; universities in 1857.

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 B, Indian Opinion. Gandhi started Indian Opinion at Durban in 1903 to put the case of Indians settled in South Africa before the public.

The weekly was printed at the Phoenix Settlement near Durban and came out in English and Gujarati, with Tamil and Hindi sections in its early years. Gandhi later wrote that a struggle such as satyagraha could not be carried on without a journal of its own, and the paper carried his writings on the campaign against the Asiatic Registration Act.

Option A, Young India, was an English weekly Gandhi edited in India from 1919. Option C, Swaraj Hind, is not a paper associated with him. Option D, Navajivan, was his Gujarati weekly, also taken up in India in 1919.

Exam tip: Indian Opinion, 1903, South Africa; Young India and Navajivan, 1919, India.

The correct answer is B, Bhoja the Paramara, the eleventh-century ruler of Malwa who ruled from Dhara, the modern Dhar in Madhya Pradesh. He is credited with the Samaranganasutradhara on architecture and mechanics and the Saraswatikanthabharana on poetics, and with the Bhojashala at Dhar and the great lake and Shiva temple at Bhojpur. Option A is wrong because Mihir Bhoja was the ninth-century Gurjara-Pratihara ruler titled Adivaraha, and confusing the two Bhojas is the classic trap of this chapter. Option C is wrong because Munja, also called Vakpati II, was Bhoja's uncle and a patron of poets but not the author of this work. Option D is wrong because Jayasimha Siddharaja was a Chaulukya of Gujarat, remembered as the patron of the Jain scholar Hemachandra.

The correct answer is B, Rajaraja I. The temple at Thanjavur, known both as the Rajarajesvara temple after its builder and as the Brihadisvara temple, was completed in 1010 during the reign of Rajaraja I. Its vimana is one of the tallest of any medieval Indian temple and its walls carry long inscriptions recording grants, servants and revenue. Option A is wrong because Rajendra I built the temple at his new capital Gangaikonda Cholapuram, modelled on his father's temple but smaller. Option C is wrong because Kulottunga I is remembered for uniting the Chola and Eastern Chalukya lines and for the Kalinga war, not for this temple. Option D is wrong because Rajaraja II built the Airavatesvara temple at Darasuram. All three temples together form the World Heritage property called the Great Living Chola Temples.

The correct answer is A, statements (A) and (B) are true. The Ain-i-Akbari was written by Abul Fazl, the courtier and friend of Akbar, and it forms the third volume of the Akbarnama; it is an administrative gazetteer, listing departments and officers, the subas with their sarkars and parganas, measured areas, revenue rates, prices and wages, which is why historians use it for economic history. Statement (C) is false for this volume: the ancestry and early life of Akbar are dealt with in the first volume of the Akbarnama, not in the Ain. Hence B, C and D, each of which treats statement (C) as true, are wrong. The Akbarnama in three volumes, with the Ain as the third, is itself a fact worth carrying into the exam hall.