Statues, Towers and Landmarks of India for Exams

The correct answer is C, Hawa Mahal. The Hawa Mahal at Jaipur was built in 1799 by Sawai Pratap Singh of the Kachhwaha house, and was designed by Lal Chand Ustad as a five storey screen of red and pink sandstone with hundreds of small jharokha windows. Option A is wrong because Mehrangarh fort at Jodhpur was founded by Rao Jodha of the Rathore house in 1459, long before Pratap Singh. Option B is wrong because the Purana Qila in Delhi is linked with Sher Shah Suri, who raised it on the site of Humayun's Dinpanah in the sixteenth century. Option D is wrong because India Gate was designed by Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1931 under British rule as a memorial to soldiers of the First World War. Hold Hawa Mahal with Sawai Pratap Singh and the year 1799.

The correct answer is A, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Gujarat. The Statue of Unity stands 182 metres high on Sadhu Bet island in the Narmada near the Sardar Sarovar dam in the Narmada district of Gujarat, was sculpted by Ram V. Sutar, and was unveiled on 31 October 2018, the birth anniversary of Patel. Option B is wrong because there is no statue of Mahatma Gandhi of this scale, and the famous Gandhi memorials are Raj Ghat in Delhi and Sabarmati ashram in Gujarat. Option C is wrong because the tall statue linked with Ambedkar is the Statue of Social Justice at Hyderabad, not a Madhya Pradesh monument. Option D is wrong because Bose is remembered through memorials in Kolkata and the renaming of islands, not by this statue. Fix 182 metres with the Statue of Unity.

The correct answer is B, Iltutmish. Qutb-ud-din Aibak laid the foundation of the Qutub Minar and completed only its first storey, and his successor Iltutmish added the storeys above, bringing the minaret to its height of 72.5 metres, which makes it the tallest brick minaret in the world. Option A is wrong because Balban, though a strong sultan of the same dynasty, is not associated with the building of the minaret. Option C is wrong because Alauddin Khalji built the Alai Darwaza in the same complex and began the unfinished Alai Minar, but did not complete the Qutub Minar. Option D is wrong because Firoz Shah Tughlaq only repaired the upper storeys after lightning damage, as Sikandar Lodi did later. The pair to remember is Aibak begins, Iltutmish completes.

The correct answer is B, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah. He founded the city of Hyderabad and built the Charminar in 1591, a square building about 56 metres high with four arches and four minarets, one at each corner, which is why it carries that name. Option A is wrong because Ibrahim Qutb Shah ruled earlier at Golconda and is remembered for the Ibrahim Bagh and for tanks around the city, not for the Charminar. Option C is wrong because Asaf Jah I founded the Nizam dynasty of Hyderabad in the eighteenth century, more than a hundred years after the Charminar was built. Option D is wrong because Yusuf Adil Shah founded the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur, a different Deccan kingdom. Fix 1591 and the Qutb Shahi dynasty with the Charminar.

The correct answer is B, Bahubali. The 57 foot statue on Vindhyagiri hill at Shravanabelagola in the Hassan district of Karnataka portrays Bahubali, also called Gomateshwara, the son of the first Jain tirthankara Rishabhanatha, and it was raised about the year 983 by Chavundaraya, a minister of the Western Ganga kingdom. Option A is wrong because Mahavira was the twenty fourth tirthankara, and the statue is not of him. Option C is wrong because Parshvanatha was the twenty third tirthankara, usually shown with a canopy of snake hoods. Option D is wrong because the statue is Jain and not Buddhist; the famous monolithic Buddha of the Deccan stands in the Hussain Sagar lake at Hyderabad. The anointing ceremony here, the Mahamastakabhisheka, is held once in twelve years.

The correct answer is C, Kanyakumari. The statue of Thiruvalluvar stands on a small island off Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, beside the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, and its height of 133 feet was chosen to match the 133 chapters of the Tirukkural, the poet's work on ethics, wealth and love. Option A is wrong because Rameswaram is known for the Ramanathaswamy temple and for the Pamban bridge, the first sea bridge of India. Option B is wrong because Madurai is the city of the Meenakshi temple. Option D is wrong because Thanjavur is known for the Brihadeeswarar temple of the Cholas, a World Heritage Site. The sculptor of the Thiruvalluvar statue was V. Ganapati Sthapati, and it was opened to the public in the year 2000.

The correct answer is C, Jammu and Kashmir. The bridge crosses the gorge of the Chenab in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir on the Udhampur to Srinagar and Baramulla railway line, and its deck stands about 359 metres above the bed of the river, higher than the Eiffel Tower, which makes it the highest railway arch bridge in the world. Option A is wrong because Himachal Pradesh is known for the Kalka Shimla mountain railway, a World Heritage line, not for this bridge. Option B is wrong because Uttarakhand has the Rishikesh Karnaprayag project under construction but no bridge of this record. Option D is wrong because Arunachal Pradesh is linked with long road bridges over the Brahmaputra system, not with the Chenab. Fix the Chenab with Reasi.

The correct answer is A, Lohit. The Bhupen Hazarika Setu, also called the Dhola Sadiya bridge, runs 9.15 kilometres over the Lohit, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, and joins Dhola in Assam with Sadiya towards Arunachal Pradesh; it was opened in 2017 and is the longest bridge over a river in India. Option B is wrong because the Hooghly at Kolkata carries the Howrah Bridge, now called Rabindra Setu, and the Vidyasagar Setu. Option C is wrong because the Godavari is crossed by the long rail and road bridges at Rajahmundry, which are shorter than this one. Option D is wrong because the Mahanadi is crossed near Cuttack but holds no such record. The longest sea bridge in India, by contrast, is Atal Setu at Mumbai.

The correct answer is B, Hooghly. The Howrah Bridge joins Kolkata with Howrah across the Hooghly, was opened to traffic in 1943, and is a riveted steel cantilever bridge built without nuts and bolts, which is the detail papers most often test. It was renamed Rabindra Setu in 1965 after Rabindranath Tagore. Option A is wrong because the Damodar, once called the sorrow of Bengal, flows further west and is known for the Damodar Valley Corporation. Option C is wrong because the Subarnarekha flows through Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha and carries no bridge of this fame. Option D is wrong because the Teesta flows through Sikkim and north Bengal. Also remember the Vidyasagar Setu, the cable stayed bridge on the same river. Papers also ask which bridge was opened to traffic in 1943, and the answer is this one.

The correct answer is B, Edwin Lutyens. India Gate, 42 metres high, was designed by Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1931 as the All India War Memorial, carrying the names of soldiers who died in the First World War and the Third Anglo Afghan War. Option A is wrong because Herbert Baker worked with Lutyens on New Delhi and designed the secretariat blocks on Raisina Hill, but not this arch. Option C is wrong because George Wittet designed the Gateway of India at Mumbai, completed in 1924, and the Prince of Wales Museum. Option D is wrong because William Emerson designed the Victoria Memorial at Kolkata, completed in 1921. Keep the three apart by city: Lutyens in Delhi, Wittet in Mumbai, Emerson in Kolkata. The flame of the immortal soldier that once burned here was merged with the flame at the National War Memorial nearby.

The correct answer is C, the Bahai faith. The Lotus Temple at Kalkaji in Delhi was completed in 1986 to a design by the architect Fariborz Sahba, and its twenty seven marble petals are grouped in threes to form nine sides with nine doors, since the Bahai houses of worship are always nine sided and open to people of every religion. Option A is wrong because the best known Jain temples of the region are at Delhi's Lal Mandir and in Rajasthan at Ranakpur and Dilwara. Option B is wrong because Zoroastrian places of worship are fire temples, found mainly in Mumbai and Gujarat. Option D is wrong because Sikh places of worship are gurdwaras, such as Bangla Sahib in Delhi. Remember the number nine with this temple.

The correct answer is B, Rana Kumbha. The nine storey Vijay Stambha was raised in 1448 by Rana Kumbha of Mewar to mark his victory over Mahmud Khilji of Malwa, and its storeys are covered with sculptured figures of gods and scenes, which is why it is also read as a gallery of Hindu iconography. Option A is wrong because Rana Sanga fought Babur at Khanwa in 1527 and built no such tower. Option C is wrong because Rana Pratap belonged to the later sixteenth century and is remembered for the battle of Haldighati. Option D is wrong because Rana Ratan Singh is linked with the first siege of Chittor by Alauddin Khalji. In the same fort stands the older and smaller Kirti Stambha, a Jain tower of the twelfth century.