Indian History Mixed Quiz: Set 9

The correct answer is A, Dholavira. This Harappan city in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, is famous for its dams, channels and chain of stone reservoirs. Dholavira stands on Khadir Bet island between two seasonal streams, the Manhar and the Mansar. Its people built check dams across the streams, led the water through channels and stored it in large rock-cut reservoirs around the city, a clever answer to a very dry climate. The site, excavated by R.S. Bisht, also has a signboard of ten large Harappan letters, and it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. Option B is wrong because Kalibangan in Rajasthan is known for its ploughed field and fire altars. Option C is wrong because Rakhigarhi in Haryana is known as one of the largest Harappan sites, not for water works. Option D is wrong because Ropar in Punjab is known for a burial of a dog with its master. Exam tip: Dholavira means reservoirs and a signboard; Lothal means a dockyard.

The correct answer is B, Minto-Morley Reforms, 1909. The Indian Councils Act of 1909, known as the Morley-Minto Reforms, first gave Muslims separate electorates, in which only Muslim voters could elect Muslim members. It followed the Simla Deputation of 1906, when the Aga Khan led Muslim leaders to Lord Minto to ask for separate representation, and the Muslim League was founded the same year. That is why Lord Minto is called the Father of Communal Electorate. The Act also enlarged the legislative councils, and Satyendra Prasanna Sinha became the first Indian on the Viceroy’s Executive Council. Option A is wrong because the 1892 Act only brought indirect elections and let members discuss the budget. Option C is wrong because the 1919 Act widened communal representation to Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans; it did not start it. Option D is wrong because the 1935 Act extended it further to the depressed classes, women and labour. Exam tip: separate electorates began in 1909 under Minto and grew in 1919 and 1935.

The correct answer is C, Panch Mahal. The Panch Mahal is a five-storeyed open pavilion in which each floor is smaller than the one below, ending in a single domed kiosk at the top. This stepped, pyramid-like plan recalls the Buddhist vihara, which is why it is described as following Buddhist architecture. It stands on 176 carved pillars and has no walls on its floors, so it catches the breeze, and it was used by the royal ladies for leisure and to watch the palace courtyards. The mix of Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic styles in Fatehpur Sikri reflects Akbar's open-minded taste. Option A is wrong because Shaikh Salim Chishti's tomb is a white marble Sufi shrine famous for its fine stone screens, or jalis. Option B is wrong because the Buland Darwaza is a huge gateway built to mark Akbar's conquest of Gujarat. Option D is wrong because the Turkish Sultana's palace is a small pavilion known for the rich carving on its walls, not for a Buddhist plan. Exam tip: Panch Mahal = five storeys, Buddhist vihara style; Buland Darwaza = Gujarat victory.

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, 1856. Lord Dalhousie annexed Awadh in February 1856, in the last weeks of his term as Governor-General from 1848 to 1856. The ground given was misgovernment, not the Doctrine of Lapse: Nawab Wajid Ali Shah had heirs, so the British simply declared his rule corrupt and removed him, sending him to Calcutta. The move angered the many sepoys of the Bengal Army who came from Awadh, and it became one of the causes of the Revolt of 1857, in which Begum Hazrat Mahal led the fight at Lucknow. A is wrong because 1857 is the year of the Revolt itself, which broke out a year after the annexation. B is wrong because in 1850 Dalhousie was taking smaller states under the Doctrine of Lapse, such as Satara in 1848 and Jhansi in 1853, but Awadh was not yet touched. D is wrong because 1858 is the year the Government of India Act ended Company rule and the Crown took over. Exam tip: Awadh 1856 on the charge of misgovernment; Satara, Jhansi and Nagpur under the Doctrine of Lapse.

The correct answer is B, Tax. In the Later Vedic age, bali had become a regular tax collected by the king. In the Rig Vedic period, bali was a voluntary offering that the people or defeated tribes gave to the chief, often in the form of cattle or grain. As kingdoms grew larger after about 1000 BCE and settled farming spread in the Ganga plains, this gift turned into a compulsory payment. The texts of this period name royal officers linked to it, such as the bhagadugha, who collected the king's share, and the sangrihitri, the treasurer. With this income the king could maintain a court and a standing force. Option A is wrong because a sacrifice was called a yajna, and bali in this context was a payment to the ruler. Option C is wrong because bali never meant a person; it refers to what was paid. Option D is wrong because 'income' is too general, while bali was specifically the share paid to the king. Exam tip: Rig Vedic bali was a voluntary gift; Later Vedic bali became a compulsory tax, and the bhagadugha collected it.

The correct answer is D, 3, 4, 2, 1. The four dates run 1828, 1849, 1875 and 1897. Raja Rammohan Roy founded the Brahmo Sabha in Calcutta in 1828, which later came to be called the Brahmo Samaj. The Paramhans Mandali was set up in Bombay in 1849 as a secret society that opposed caste rules and idol worship. Swami Dayanand Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj in Bombay in 1875, with the call "Go back to the Vedas". Swami Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897, after his return from the Parliament of Religions held at Chicago in 1893. Option A is wrong because it puts the Ramakrishna Mission, the latest of the four, first. Option B is wrong because it places the Arya Samaj of 1875 before the Brahmo Samaj of 1828. Option C is wrong because it puts the Ramakrishna Mission of 1897 before the Arya Samaj of 1875. Exam tip: Brahmo Samaj 1828, Paramhans Mandali 1849, Arya Samaj 1875, Ramakrishna Mission 1897.

The correct answer is B, 2 and 3 only. Shakyamuni and Tathagata are titles of the Buddha, while Nayaputta is a name of Mahavira. Shakyamuni means 'the sage of the Shakyas', the clan of Kapilavastu into which Siddhartha was born. Tathagata means 'the one who has thus gone', and the Buddha used it for himself in the Pali texts. Nayaputta (Nataputta) means 'son of the Naya or Jnatrika clan', and Buddhist texts call Mahavira Nigantha Nataputta. Option A is wrong because Nayaputta is the one name in the list that does not belong to the Buddha. Option C is wrong because it adds Nayaputta to the two real epithets. Option D is wrong because two of the three names are genuine epithets of the Buddha. Other titles of the Buddha include Sugata and Bhagavat, while Mahavira is also called Jina and Vardhamana. Exam tip: Shakyamuni and Tathagata for the Buddha, Nigantha Nataputta for Mahavira.

The correct answer is A, Shri Krishna Singh. Shri Krishna Singh, better known as Sri Krishna Sinha, led the formation of the Bihar branch of the Swaraj Dal in 1923. The Swaraj Party itself was founded on 1 January 1923 by Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru, who wanted to enter the councils and oppose the government from inside. The split that led to it came at the Congress session held at Gaya in Bihar in December 1922, where Das was president and his council-entry plan was voted down. Sri Krishna Sinha, called Bihar Kesari, later became the first Chief Minister of Bihar and held the post from 1946 until his death in 1961. Option B is wrong because Ramlal Shah did not found the Swaraj Dal in Bihar. Option C is wrong because Bankim Chandra Mitra is not the person credited with it either. Option D is wrong because Sachindra Nath Sanyal was a revolutionary who founded the Hindustan Republican Association in 1924. Exam tip: Gaya session 1922, Swaraj Party 1923, Bihar unit under Sri Krishna Sinha.

The correct answer is C, Gandhar. Buddhist texts list sixteen mahajanapadas of the sixth century BCE, and Gandhara, in the north-west covering the Peshawar and Rawalpindi region, had its capital at Taxila (Takshashila), near present-day Islamabad in Pakistan. Taxila stood on the Uttarapatha trade route and grew into a famous centre of learning linked in tradition with Panini, Chanakya and the physician Jivaka. Its ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Gandhara later became famous for the Gandhara school of art under the Kushanas. A, Kuru, had its capital at Indraprastha, near Delhi, with Hastinapur as another centre. B, Kasi, had Varanasi as its capital. D, Avanti, in Malwa, had Ujjain as its capital, with Mahishmati in the south. Exam tip: learn them in pairs, Gandhara with Taxila, Avanti with Ujjain, Kosala with Shravasti, Vatsa with Kaushambi, and Magadha with Rajgir and later Pataliputra.

The correct answer is B, I-a, II-d, III-b, IV-c. Sairishaka is the old name of Sirsa, a town mentioned in the Mahabharata. Kanaud, also written Kanod, was the earlier name of Mahendragarh; the town got its present name in the 1860s, when Maharaja Narendra Singh of Patiala renamed its fort after his son Mahendra Singh. Kapisthal, meaning the abode of Kapi, or Hanuman, is the ancient name of Kaithal. Panduprastha, the town of the Pandavas, is the old name of Panipat, which tradition counts among the five villages the Pandavas asked for to avoid war; Sonipat was Swarnaprastha. Option A is wrong because it matches Sairishaka with Kaithal and Panduprastha with Sirsa. Option C is wrong because it gives Sairishaka to Mahendragarh and Kanaud to Sirsa. Option D is wrong because it matches Sairishaka with Panipat and Kapisthal with Sirsa. Exam tip: Sirsa = Sairishaka, Mahendragarh = Kanaud, Kaithal = Kapisthal, Panipat = Panduprastha, Sonipat = Swarnaprastha.

The correct answer is C, Prakrit and Brahmi. Most of Ashoka's edicts were written in Prakrit, the language people spoke, in the Brahmi script, so that ordinary subjects could understand his message of Dhamma. Brahmi was first deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837, and the edicts call the king 'Devanampiya Piyadasi', beloved of the gods. In the north-west, near today's Pakistan, the same Prakrit was written in the Kharosthi script, and at Kandahar in Afghanistan edicts were written in Greek and Aramaic. A is wrong because Ashoka did not use Sanskrit for his edicts, and the Devanagari script developed many centuries later. B is wrong because Kharosthi was used only in a few north-western edicts such as Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra, and Pali is the language of the Buddhist canon, not of the edicts. D is wrong because Greek appears only at Kandahar and Latin was never used. Exam tip: Ashoka's edicts, Prakrit language in Brahmi script; Prinsep read them in 1837.

The correct answer is D, a-iii, b-iv, c-i, d-ii. These are names found in Mesopotamian cuneiform texts for the lands that traded with the Harappans. Meluha is generally identified with the Indus region, including Sindh; the texts speak of its ships bringing carnelian, lapis lazuli, copper, gold and fine wood. Dilmun is identified with Bahrain island in the Persian Gulf, which served as a halfway station, and Harappan-style seals and weights have been found there. Magan, or Makan, is placed on the Makran coast and nearby Oman, a source of copper. Ur was a Sumerian port city in Mesopotamia where Indus seals and carnelian beads have been dug up. Option A is wrong because it makes Dilmun a Mesopotamian port and puts Meluha on the Makran coast. Option B is wrong because it places Dilmun on the Makran coast and Magan in Sindh. Option C is wrong because it places Dilmun in Mesopotamia and Ur on the Makran coast. Exam tip: Meluha = Indus land, Dilmun = Bahrain, Magan = Makran or Oman; the dockyard at Lothal shows the Harappans traded by sea.

The correct answer is B, Nagasena. The Pali text Milindapanho, ‘The Questions of King Milinda’, records a long question-and-answer session between the Buddhist monk Nagasena and King Milinda. Milinda is the Indo-Greek king Menander I, who ruled in the second century BCE from Sakala, today’s Sialkot. Nagasena answers his doubts on the soul, rebirth and karma with simple examples; the best known is the chariot, which is only a name for its parts, just as a ‘self’ is only a name for changing parts. Buddhist tradition says Menander became a follower of the Buddha. Option A is wrong because Nagarjuna was the Mahayana thinker of about the second century CE who founded the Madhyamika school. Option C is wrong because Kumarila Bhatta was a Mimamsa philosopher of the seventh or eighth century who defended Vedic ritual. Option D is wrong because Nagabhata was a king, the founder of the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty, not a monk. Exam tip: Milinda = Menander (Indo-Greek, capital Sakala); his teacher in the text = Nagasena.

The correct answer is C, Holt Mackenzie. Holt Mackenzie, a Company official, devised the Mahalwari system in 1822 for the North-Western Provinces of the Bengal Presidency. Under it, the whole village or estate, called a mahal, was treated as one unit, and the revenue was fixed with the village community or its headmen, who were jointly responsible for paying it. Unlike the Permanent Settlement, the demand was revised from time to time. Under Lord William Bentinck the system was improved and spread to Agra and Awadh, and later to Punjab and parts of Central India. Option A is wrong because Lord Hastings was the Governor-General of the time, known for the Anglo-Nepal and Third Anglo-Maratha Wars, not for designing this system. Option B is wrong because Lord Cornwallis brought the Permanent Settlement of 1793 in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. Option D is wrong because only Holt Mackenzie devised the Mahalwari system. Exam tip: Permanent Settlement is Cornwallis 1793, Ryotwari is Munro and Read, Mahalwari is Holt Mackenzie 1822.

The correct answer is A, Harishena. The Prayag Prashasti, also called the Allahabad Pillar Inscription, is a Sanskrit eulogy of the Gupta emperor Samudragupta (about 335 to 375 CE) composed by his court poet and minister Harishena, who held the titles sandhivigrahika (minister of peace and war) and kumaramatya. It is engraved on the Ashokan pillar now at Allahabad Fort and lists the kings Samudragupta defeated in the north (uprooted) and in the south (defeated and released), which is why historians call him the Napoleon of India. Written in the champu style, it also describes him as a poet and musician. B, Chand Bardai, wrote the Prithviraj Raso in the twelfth century. C, Vishakhadatta, wrote the play Mudrarakshasa about Chandragupta Maurya and Chanakya. D, Kalidasa, the poet of Abhijnanashakuntalam and Meghaduta, is linked to Chandragupta II, not to this inscription. Exam tip: Harishena, Prayag Prashasti, Samudragupta; Ravikirti, Aihole inscription, Pulakeshin II.

The correct answer is D, Mahad Satyagraha. On 20 March 1927 Dr B.R. Ambedkar led thousands of people to the Chavdar Tank at Mahad, in today's Raigad district of Maharashtra, and drank its water to assert the right of Dalits to use public water sources. The Bombay Legislative Council had already resolved in 1923 that such public places be open to all, but upper-caste residents still kept Dalits away. The campaign continued at a second conference in December 1927, where copies of the Manusmriti were publicly burnt. Ambedkar followed it with the Kalaram Temple entry satyagraha at Nashik in 1930. A is wrong because the Shahada Movement was a movement of Bhil tribals in Dhule district in the 1970s. B is wrong because peasant uprisings in the Bombay region, such as the Deccan Riots of 1875, were aimed at moneylenders, not caste barriers. C is wrong because the Kheda Satyagraha of 1918 was Gandhi's campaign in Gujarat for remission of land revenue. Exam tip: Mahad 1927 = water (Chavdar Tank); Kalaram 1930 = temple entry; both led by Ambedkar.

The correct answer is B, Rabindranath Tagore. On 13 April 1919, General Dyer’s troops fired on an unarmed crowd at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, killing hundreds. At the end of May 1919 Tagore wrote to the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, giving up the knighthood he had received in 1915, saying that such badges of honour had become a mark of shame. The poet had won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for Gitanjali, so his protest carried great weight across the world. Option A is wrong because M. A. Jinnah resigned from the Imperial Legislative Council in March 1919 in protest against the Rowlatt Act; he returned no knighthood. Option C is wrong because Maharaja Rameshwar Singh of Darbhanga was a loyal supporter of the government and gave up no title. Option D is wrong because Sir C. Sankaran Nair protested by resigning from the Viceroy’s Executive Council, not by returning his knighthood. Exam tip: Tagore gave up his knighthood in 1919; Gandhi returned the Kaiser-i-Hind medal in 1920.

The correct answer is C, Dr. Vishnudhar Vakankar. Dr. Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar, an archaeologist from Ujjain, spotted the rocks of Bhimbetka in 1957–58 while travelling by train near Bhopal, and then explored the shelters in detail. Bhimbetka lies in Raisen district, about 45 km south of Bhopal, at the southern edge of the Vindhya hills. Its more than 700 rock shelters carry paintings from the Stone Age to the medieval period, showing hunting, dancing and animals, which makes it one of the oldest records of human life in India. UNESCO listed the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka as a World Heritage Site in 2003. Option A is wrong because H. D. Sankalia is known for excavating sites such as Navdatoli and Nevasa, not for finding Bhimbetka. Option B is wrong because the historian Shyam Sundar Nigam did not discover the site. Option D is wrong because Rajbali Pandey was a historian of ancient India, not the discoverer. Exam tip: Bhimbetka, Raisen district, found by Wakankar in 1957–58, World Heritage Site in 2003.

The correct answer is C, Jagatpati Joshi. Surkotada, a Harappan site in the Kutch district of Gujarat, was discovered by the archaeologist Jagatpati Joshi in 1964, and he later excavated it in 1971-72. The site is best known for bones identified as those of the horse, a rare claim for a Harappan settlement, and for its fortified citadel and residential area built with stone and mud-brick. Joshi also discovered Dholavira in Kutch in 1967-68, the great Harappan city that was later excavated by R. S. Bisht. Option A is wrong because S. R. Rao is known for excavating Lothal, the Harappan dockyard town in Gujarat. Option B is wrong because B. B. Lal is linked with the excavation of Kalibangan in Rajasthan, along with B. K. Thapar. Option D is wrong because Y. D. Sharma is associated with the excavation of Ropar (Rupnagar) in Punjab. Exam tip: Kutch sites Surkotada and Dholavira were both found by Jagatpati Joshi; Lothal belongs to S. R. Rao; Kalibangan to Lal and Thapar.