Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 6

The correct answer is B, Iron. The Harappan Civilisation is a Bronze Age culture, and no iron object has been recovered from any of its levels. Iron comes into use in the subcontinent only in the later Vedic period, centuries after the cities were abandoned, which is why the word iron in a question of this kind is almost always the answer to a negative stem.

Option A, copper, was mined at Khetri in Rajasthan and used for tools, vessels and the famous bronze Dancing Girl, which is an alloy of copper and tin. Options C and D, gold and silver, were both worked into ornaments, and hoards of jewellery have been found at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Lead was known as well. Remember also what else the Harappans lacked: coins, temples and a script that can be read.

The correct answer is D, The Charter Act of 1833. This Act turned the Governor-General of Bengal into the Governor-General of India, with full civil and military powers over all British territory in India. Lord William Bentinck became the first Governor-General of India under it. The Act was the high point of centralisation: it took away the law-making powers of the Bombay and Madras governments, ended the East India Company's commercial activities so that it became a purely administrative body, and added a Law Member, Macaulay, to the Governor-General's Council. Option A is wrong because the Regulating Act of 1773 created the post of Governor-General of Bengal, first held by Warren Hastings. Option B is wrong because Pitt's India Act of 1784 set up the Board of Control and the system of dual control. Option C is wrong because the Charter Act of 1793 mainly renewed the Company's charter for twenty years. Exam tip: 1773 Governor-General of Bengal (Hastings), 1833 Governor-General of India (Bentinck), 1858 Viceroy (Canning).

The correct answer is B, Tabaqat-i Nasiri. Minhaj-us-Siraj wrote this Persian history in Delhi around 1260 and gave the first account of Bakhtiyar Khilji's raid on Bihar. Minhaj dedicated the book to Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud, which is where its name comes from. He describes how Bakhtiyar's men attacked what they took to be a fort, only to find it was a Buddhist monastery full of shaven-headed monks, and he notes that such a place was called a vihara, the word behind the name Bihar. Paper setters also link Bakhtiyar with the ruin of Odantapuri, Nalanda and Vikramashila, and with his later capture of Nadia in Bengal. Option A is wrong because Al-Biruni wrote about India in the eleventh century, long before this raid. Option C is wrong because Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul Maasir is the court history of Muhammad Ghori and Qutbuddin Aibak. Option D is wrong because Yahya Sirhindi's Tarikh-i Mubarak Shahi is a fifteenth-century work of the Sayyid period. Exam tip: Bakhtiyar's Bihar raid is told by Minhaj in Tabaqat-i Nasiri.

The correct answer is A, Cyril Radcliffe. The British lawyer Sir Cyril Radcliffe chaired both the Punjab and the Bengal Boundary Commissions in 1947. Each commission had four judges, two named by the Congress and two by the Muslim League, and when they could not agree the final decision fell to Radcliffe. He had never been to India before and was given only about five weeks for the job. His award was made public on 17 August 1947, two days after independence, and the line he drew is still called the Radcliffe Line on India's borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. Option B is wrong because Moon was a British civil servant in Punjab who later wrote about Partition; he did not head the commissions. Option C is wrong because A. V. Alexander came to India in 1946 as a member of the Cabinet Mission. Option D is wrong because one person, Radcliffe, headed both commissions. Exam tip: Cabinet Mission 1946 was Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps and Alexander; the 1947 border was Radcliffe's.

The correct answer is C, William Finch. Finch was the English traveller who described Akbar's palace of forty pillars in the Allahabad fort and the huge labour force behind it. He was an agent of the English East India Company and landed at Surat in 1608 with Captain William Hawkins, who went on to the court of Jahangir. Finch then travelled through northern India and wrote detailed notes on Agra, Lahore and Allahabad, which is why his account is used as a source for Akbar's buildings. Akbar founded the Allahabad fort in 1583 at the meeting point of the Ganga and the Yamuna. Option A is wrong because Niccolao Manucci was a Venetian who served the Mughals in Aurangzeb's time and wrote Storia do Mogor. Option B is wrong because Tavernier was a French jewel merchant who described Shah Jahan's Peacock Throne. Option D is wrong because Abdul Hamid Lahori was Shah Jahan's court historian and wrote the Padshahnama. Exam tip: Hawkins and Finch came under Jahangir; Tavernier and Bernier saw Shah Jahan; Manucci served under Aurangzeb.

The correct answer is C, Kashmir. Rajatarangini, meaning the river of kings, is a Sanskrit verse chronicle of the rulers of Kashmir written by Kalhana around 1148–1150 CE. It runs to about 8,000 verses arranged in eight books called tarangas, or waves, and traces Kashmir's kings from legendary times down to Kalhana's own day in the reign of Jayasimha. Because Kalhana used inscriptions, coins, older records and his own judgement, it is often called the first real work of history written in India. Later authors Jonaraja, Srivara and Prajyabhatta continued the story into the Mughal period. A is wrong because Bengal's rulers are recorded in works like Ramacharita of Sandhyakara Nandi, not in Rajatarangini. B is wrong because Bihar was the seat of Magadha and the Palas, who are not the book's subject. D is wrong because the Delhi Sultans are covered by Persian chronicles such as Tabaqat-i-Nasiri. Exam tip: Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Kashmir, 12th century, eight tarangas.

The correct answer is C, Warren Hastings. Warren Hastings was the first Governor-General of Bengal under the Regulating Act of 1773 and held office from 1773 to 1785. After he returned to England, the House of Commons impeached him in 1787 on charges of corruption and misrule, including his treatment of Raja Chait Singh of Banaras and the Begums of Awadh. Edmund Burke led the prosecution, and the trial before the House of Lords ran from 1788 to 1795, ending in his acquittal on every charge. It remains the most famous impeachment in British history. A, Robert Clive, was Governor of Bengal, faced a parliamentary inquiry in 1773 but was never impeached, and died in 1774. B, Henry Vansittart, was Governor of Bengal from 1760 to 1764 and faced no impeachment. D, Lord Cornwallis, succeeded Hastings and is known for the Permanent Settlement of 1793. Exam tip: Hastings, first Governor-General of Bengal, impeached 1787, acquitted 1795.

The correct answer is A, Amuktamalyada. Krishnadevaraya wrote this Telugu poem, and a part of it sets out his ideas on how a king should rule. Krishnadevaraya of the Tuluva dynasty ruled Vijayanagara from 1509 to 1529 and was himself a poet, which earned him the title Andhra Bhoja. Amuktamalyada tells the story of Andal, the Tamil woman saint, and her marriage to Lord Vishnu, but history books quote it for its advice on statecraft: a king should rule with an eye to dharma, improve the harbours of his country, encourage trade and look after his subjects. His court had eight Telugu poets known as the Ashtadiggajas. B is wrong, because Jambavati Kalyanam is a Sanskrit drama by him, not a Telugu work on statecraft. C is wrong, because Rayavachakamu is a later Telugu prose account of his reign, written by others. D is wrong, because Satyavadu Parinaya is a Sanskrit work credited to him, not a Telugu text on polity. Exam tip: Krishnadevaraya in Telugu, Amuktamalyada; in Sanskrit, Jambavati Kalyanam.

The correct answer is D, Jyotiba Phule. Jyotirao (Jyotiba) Phule founded the Satya-Shodhak Samaj, the 'Society of Seekers of Truth', on 24 September 1873 in Pune. The Samaj fought caste discrimination and worked for the education and rights of Shudras, Dalits and women, without the help of priests. In the same year Phule published his book 'Gulamgiri' (Slavery), which he dedicated to those in America who fought to end slavery. He and his wife had opened a school for girls in Pune in 1848. A is wrong because Govindrao Phule was Jyotiba's father, from the Mali community. B is wrong because Gopal Hari Deshmukh, known as 'Lokahitawadi', was a reformer famous for his letters called 'Shatapatre'. C is wrong because Savitribai Phule was Jyotiba's wife and India's first woman teacher; she worked with the Samaj but did not found it. Exam tip: Satya-Shodhak Samaj, 1873, Pune, Jyotiba Phule, book 'Gulamgiri'.

The correct answer is A, Basavanna. Basavanna led the Virashaiva or Lingayat movement in Karnataka in the twelfth century. He served as a minister at the court of King Bijjala at Kalyana. His followers worship Shiva in the form of a linga, usually worn in a small case on the body, and they questioned caste, rituals and the theory of rebirth, and supported the remarriage of widows. Basavanna and fellow saints such as Allama Prabhu and Akka Mahadevi taught through vachanas, short sayings in simple Kannada, and met in the Anubhava Mantapa to discuss spiritual questions. The other three names all belong to the Tamil country. B is wrong, because Appar was a Tamil Nayanar saint devoted to Shiva, not a leader in Karnataka. C is wrong, because Sambandar was also a Tamil Nayanar, whose hymns are collected in the Tevaram. D is wrong, because Sundarar was another Tamil Nayanar saint. Exam tip: Virashaiva, Basavanna, Kannada vachanas; Nayanars Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar, Tamil Tevaram.

The correct answer is B, Surat. The Congress split into Moderates and Extremists at its Surat session of December 1907. The two groups had clashed over the choice of president and over how far to push the Swadeshi and boycott programme started after the Partition of Bengal in 1905. The Moderates, led by Pherozeshah Mehta and Gopal Krishna Gokhale, backed Rash Behari Ghosh as president, while the Extremists, led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal, wanted to keep the stronger resolutions of 1906. The session broke up in chaos, and the Extremists returned only at the Lucknow session of 1916. Option A is wrong because Bombay hosted the first session in 1885, not the split. Option C is wrong because the Calcutta session of 1906 under Dadabhai Naoroji avoided a split and first adopted the goal of Swaraj. Option D is wrong because the Nagpur session of 1920 approved the Non-Cooperation programme. Exam tip: Surat 1907 split, Lucknow 1916 reunion, with Tilak at the centre of both.

The correct answer is C, First Anglo-Maratha War. The Treaty of Salbai, signed in May 1782, closed that war between the English East India Company and the Marathas. The war had begun in 1775 when the Company backed Raghunath Rao for the Peshwa's seat through the Treaty of Surat. After the British defeat at Wadgaon in 1779 the fighting dragged on until Mahadji Scindia mediated the peace at Salbai. The treaty gave Salsette to the British, recognised Madhav Rao Narayan as Peshwa, and bought about twenty years of peace between the two powers. A is wrong because the Third Battle of Panipat, 1761, was fought between the Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali and ended in a single day, not with a treaty. B is wrong because the Battle of Buxar, 1764, was followed by the Treaty of Allahabad in 1765. D is wrong because the Second Anglo-Maratha War ended with the treaties of Deogaon and Surji-Arjangaon in 1803. Exam tip: remember the Maratha treaty chain Surat 1775, Purandar 1776, Wadgaon 1779, Salbai 1782.

The correct answer is B, 1934. Gandhi formally withdrew the Civil Disobedience Movement in April 1934, after it had lost momentum under heavy repression. The movement had begun on 12 March 1930 with the Dandi March and the breaking of the salt law on 6 April 1930. It was suspended after the Gandhi–Irwin Pact of 5 March 1931, when Gandhi agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London. The conference failed, Gandhi was arrested on his return, and the movement was restarted in January 1932, but by 1934 most leaders were in jail and it was called off. So the movement has three dates to keep apart: 1930 launch, 1931 pause, 1934 end. A, 1917, is the year of the Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhi's first movement in India. C, 1923, is when the Swaraj Party was formed by C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru. D, 1943, is the year Subhas Chandra Bose set up the Azad Hind Government in Singapore. Exam tip: Civil Disobedience 1930 to 1934, with the 1931 pact in between.

The correct answer is C, Bahadur Shah. The Sultan of Gujarat let the Portuguese take Diu in return for their help against the Mughal emperor Humayun. By the Treaty of Bassein (1534) Bahadur Shah handed Bassein to the Portuguese, and in 1535, with Humayun invading Gujarat, he allowed them to build a fort at Diu. Relations soon turned sour, and Bahadur Shah was killed in 1537 on a Portuguese ship off Diu. The Portuguese then held Diu, along with Daman and Goa, until India took them back in December 1961 through Operation Vijay. Option A is wrong because Ahmad Shah I founded Ahmedabad in the fifteenth century, long before the Portuguese arrived. Option B is wrong because Mahmud Begarha fought the Portuguese, joining the Egyptian fleet at Chaul (1508) and losing the Battle of Diu (1509). Option D is wrong because Muhammad Shah is not linked with the grant of Diu. Exam tip: Bahadur Shah, the Humayun threat, Diu fort to the Portuguese in 1535.

The correct answer is D, It was founded in 1928 at Amritsar in Punjab. This is the untrue statement, because the HSRA was founded at Firozeshah Kotla in Delhi, not at Amritsar. In 1928 Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and other young revolutionaries met at the Firozeshah Kotla ground in Delhi and turned the Hindustan Republican Association into the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. The word 'Socialist' showed that they wanted freedom along with a society free from exploitation. In December 1928 its members shot the police officer Saunders at Lahore to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. A is a true statement, since Saunders was killed by Bhagat Singh and Rajguru. B is true, because Bhagat Singh and his comrades set up the organisation. C is true, because Firozeshah Kotla in Delhi is exactly where it was founded. Exam tip: HRA founded 1924 at Kanpur; HSRA founded 1928 at Firozeshah Kotla, Delhi.

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 C, 1 and 3 only. The Act split subjects between the Centre and the provinces, but the reserved and transferred split applied only to provincial subjects. The Government of India Act, 1919 put the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms into law. Through the Devolution Rules it separated central and provincial subjects, and for the first time it separated provincial budgets from the central budget, giving provinces their own sources of revenue and the right to pass their own budgets. In the provinces it brought in dyarchy: transferred subjects such as education and local self-government went to ministers answerable to the legislature, while reserved subjects such as police and land revenue stayed with the Governor and his executive council. Statement 2 is wrong because the central subjects were never divided this way; dyarchy at the Centre was proposed only by the 1935 Act and was never brought into force. That rules out options A, B and D, which all contain statement 2. Exam tip: 1919 Act, dyarchy in the provinces; 1935 Act, dyarchy proposed at the Centre.

The correct answer is B, Rajagopalachari. C. Rajagopalachari, known as C.R. or Rajaji, drew up the formula in 1944 to end the Congress–League deadlock over Pakistan. Under the plan, the Muslim League would back the demand for independence and join the Congress in a provisional government. After the war, a commission would mark out the Muslim-majority districts of the north-west and east, and a plebiscite of all adults there would decide on separation. Gandhi used it as the basis of his talks with Jinnah in Bombay in September 1944, but Jinnah rejected it because he wanted the whole of Punjab and Bengal and a vote of Muslims alone. Option A is wrong because Jawaharlal Nehru did not draft this plan. Option C is wrong because Chittaranjan Das founded the Swaraj Party in 1923 and died in 1925, long before 1944. Option D is wrong because V. P. Menon drafted the June 1947 partition plan and later helped integrate the princely states. Exam tip: C.R. Formula 1944, Gandhi–Jinnah talks September 1944, Wavell Plan 1945.

The correct answer is C, 1885. The Bengal Tenancy Act was passed in 1885, under Viceroy Lord Dufferin, to protect tenants in Bengal and Bihar from their zamindars. The Permanent Settlement of 1793 had made the zamindars owners of the land and left the peasants open to rising rents and eviction. After the Pabna agrarian revolt that began in 1873, the government promised relief, and the 1885 Act gave occupancy rights to a ryot who had held land in a village for twelve years and put limits on raising his rent. The date is easy to hold because the Indian National Congress was also founded in 1885. Option A is wrong because in 1868 tenants still depended on the weak Rent Act of 1859. Option B is wrong because in 1881 the new law was still being prepared. Option D is wrong because the Act was passed in only one year, 1885. Exam tip: Permanent Settlement 1793, Pabna revolt 1873, Bengal Tenancy Act 1885.

The correct answer is C, Maharashtra. Daimabad lies on the Pravara, a tributary of the Godavari, in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, and it marks the southern limit of the Harappan world. The site is famous for a hoard of solid bronze figures, among them a chariot drawn by two oxen with a driver standing on it, along with a rhinoceros, an elephant and a buffalo.

Option A, Gujarat, holds Lothal, Dholavira, Surkotada and Rangpur, but none of them is the southernmost. Option B, Rajasthan, holds Kalibangan on the Ghaggar. Option D, Haryana, holds Rakhigarhi and Banawali. Learn the four outer sites as a set: Sutkagendor in the west on the Makran coast of Baluchistan, Alamgirpur in the east on the Hindon in Uttar Pradesh, Manda in the north on the Chenab in Jammu and Daimabad in the south on the Pravara in Maharashtra. Examiners often ask this set as a direction question, so fix the four names and their directions together.