Assam GK: Rivers, Parks, Ahom History and Exam Facts

The correct answer is B, Dispur. Dispur is the seat of the Assam government and lies within the larger city of Guwahati, which is why the two are so often confused. Option A, Guwahati, is the commonest wrong answer; it is the largest city of the state and of the whole north-east, the seat of the Gauhati High Court and the site of the Kamakhya temple, but it is not the capital in name. Option C, Jorhat, is wrong; it is known for the Tocklai Tea Research Institute and as the gateway to Majuli. Option D, Silchar, is wrong because it is the chief town of the Barak valley in southern Assam. A useful way to hold this is that Dispur is a locality of Guwahati, so the capital sits inside the largest city.

The correct answer is B, 1985. Kaziranga, which holds the largest population of the Indian one-horned rhinoceros, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1985, the same year as Manas National Park on the Bhutan border. Option A, 1974, is the strongest distractor because that is the year Kaziranga was declared a national park, having earlier been a reserve forest and a game sanctuary. Option C, 2006, is wrong; that is the year it was declared a tiger reserve, which it is in addition to being a World Heritage Site. Option D, 2002, is wrong because that is the year Deepor Beel near Guwahati was designated a Ramsar site. Four dates of Assam's protected areas thus sit close together and are regularly swapped in the options.

The correct answer is B, Lachit Borphukan. Saraighat was a naval battle fought on the Brahmaputra near Guwahati in 1671, in which the Ahom commander Lachit Borphukan defeated the Mughal force led by Ram Singh, and it ended Mughal ambitions in the Brahmaputra valley. Option A, Sukaphaa, is wrong; he founded the Ahom kingdom in 1228, more than four centuries before this battle, and Assam Day on 2 December commemorates him. Option C, Chilarai, is wrong because he was the general of the Koch kingdom in the sixteenth century, a different state and an earlier period, which makes him the most plausible wrong choice. Option D is wrong as it is not the name of a historical commander of this battle. The National Defence Academy awards a gold medal named after Lachit Borphukan.

The correct answer is A, Sukaphaa. Sukaphaa was a Tai prince who crossed the Patkai range and established the Ahom kingdom in 1228; it lasted about six hundred years, the longest unbroken rule by any Indian dynasty of the medieval period, and 2 December is observed in Assam in his memory. Option B, Rudra Singha, is wrong; he was a powerful later Ahom king of the early eighteenth century under whom the kingdom reached a cultural peak. Option C, Gadadhar Singha, is wrong because he too was a later Ahom ruler, of the late seventeenth century. Option D, Naranarayana, is wrong since he was a king of the Koch dynasty, the rival power to the west, and his general was Chilarai. Only the founder's name answers a question about 1228.

The correct answer is A, the Treaty of Yandabo of 1826. It ended the First Anglo-Burmese War, and under it the Burmese gave up their claims to Assam, Manipur, Arakan and Tenasserim, so Assam came under the East India Company. Option B is wrong; the Treaty of Amritsar of 1846 transferred Kashmir to Gulab Singh after the First Anglo-Sikh War. Option C is wrong because the Treaty of Bassein of 1802 brought the Peshwa into subsidiary alliance and precipitated the Second Anglo-Maratha War. Option D is wrong since the Treaty of Allahabad of 1765 followed the Battle of Buxar and settled affairs with the Mughal emperor and the Nawab of Awadh. Yandabo is the one to remember for the north-east, because the same treaty also brought Manipur and Arakan into the British sphere.

The correct answer is B, Assam. Sattriya grew in the sattras, the Vaishnava monasteries founded by Srimanta Sankardeva in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, many of them on the river island of Majuli, and it was recognised as a classical dance of India in 2000, the most recent addition to the list. Option A, Manipur, is wrong; Manipuri is itself a classical dance and was recognised much earlier, which makes it the likeliest wrong choice among north-eastern states. Option C, Odisha, is wrong because its classical dance is Odissi. Option D, Kerala, is wrong since Kathakali and Mohiniyattam belong to Kerala. Note that Bihu, the best known dance of Assam, is a folk dance of the spring festival and not the classical one, so a question that asks for the classical dance of Assam is never answered with Bihu.

The correct answer is B, Digboi. Digboi in the Tinsukia district is where oil was first struck in India in the late nineteenth century, and the refinery built there is the oldest in the country still working. Option A, Duliajan, is wrong but is closely related, because it is the headquarters of Oil India Limited, the public sector company that produces crude in upper Assam. Option C, Numaligarh, is wrong; its refinery was commissioned much later as part of the Assam Accord commitments. Option D, Bongaigaon, is wrong since that refinery and petrochemical complex in lower Assam also belongs to a later period. For the first public sector refinery in India, the answer is Guwahati, commissioned in the early nineteen sixties, so Assam supplies the answer to three separate refinery questions and the place names must be kept apart.

The correct answer is A, Deepor Beel. Deepor Beel is a permanent freshwater lake on the south-western edge of Guwahati, a former channel of the Brahmaputra, and it was designated a Ramsar site in 2002; it is an important resting place for migratory birds and for elephants moving between forest patches. Option B, Chandubi Lake, is wrong; it is a natural lake in the Kamrup district formed after an earthquake, and it is a tourist spot rather than a Ramsar site. Option C, Son Beel, is wrong although it is one of the largest wetlands of the Barak valley. Option D, Haflong Lake, is wrong because it is a hill lake in Dima Hasao. Remember Deepor Beel with Guwahati, since the question is usually framed around the capital region.

The correct answer is B, a river island on the Brahmaputra. Majuli is the state's great river island, long described as one of the largest in the world, and it is the centre of the sattra tradition founded by Srimanta Sankardeva, with the Raas Mahotsav among its best known festivals. Option A is wrong; the hill district of Dima Hasao has Haflong as its headquarters and no such island. Option C is wrong because the sanctuary on the Bhutan border is Manas, a tiger reserve and World Heritage Site, which is a different kind of place altogether. Option D is wrong since Jorhat is indeed the nearest mainland town and a tea centre, but Majuli is an island reached by ferry, not a valley. Note that Majuli shrinks steadily through erosion by the Brahmaputra.

The correct answer is A, silk weaving. Sualkuchi, a weaving town near Guwahati on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, is called the Manchester of Assam for its handloom weaving of Muga, the golden silk produced only in Assam, along with Pat and Eri silk. Option B, brass metalwork, is wrong; the brass and bell metal craft of Assam is associated with Sarthebari rather than Sualkuchi, which makes it the sharpest distractor in this set. Option C, bamboo crafts, is wrong because bamboo and cane work is widespread across the north-east and is not the identity of this particular town. Option D, terracotta pottery, is wrong; the well-known pottery village of Assam is Asharikandi in the Dhubri district. Muga silk carries a geographical indication tag.