Chand-Pradyota was ruler of which ancient republic?

The correct answer is D, Dantidurga. Dantidurga founded the Rashtrakuta kingdom in the Deccan in about 753 CE.

Dantidurga was a feudatory of the Chalukyas of Badami and overthrew the Chalukya ruler Kirtivarman II to set up independent rule, with Manyakheta, today's Malkhed in Karnataka, becoming the capital. The Rashtrakutas were one of the three powers in the long tripartite struggle for Kannauj, along with the Palas and the Pratiharas. Arab traveller Al-Masudi called their ruler one of the great kings of the world.

A is wrong: Ashoka was a Mauryan emperor of the third century BCE. B is wrong: Amoghavarsha was a later Rashtrakuta king, the author of Kavirajamarga in Kannada. C is wrong: Krishna I was Dantidurga's successor and is remembered for the rock-cut Kailasa temple at Ellora.

Exam tip: Rashtrakutas - founded by Dantidurga about 753 CE, capital Manyakheta, Kailasa temple built by Krishna I.

The correct answer is B, Basavanna. He was a Jaina in his early life and served as a minister in a Chalukya court in the twelfth century.

Basavanna, also called Basaveshwara, led the Virashaiva or Lingayat movement in Karnataka. His followers worship Shiva in the form of a linga, reject caste distinctions, temple ritual and Brahmanical authority, and do not believe in rebirth. He composed his teachings as vachanas, short prose-poems in Kannada, and the movement ran an assembly called the Anubhava Mantapa where men and women debated freely. Allama Prabhu and Akka Mahadevi were among the other leading figures of the movement.

A is wrong: Karaikkal Ammaiyar was a Tamil Nayanar saint of a much earlier period. C is wrong: Eknath was a Marathi Varkari saint of the sixteenth century. D is wrong: Tallapaka Annamacharya was a Telugu composer of devotional songs at Tirupati.

Exam tip: Basavanna - twelfth century, Karnataka, Lingayat or Virashaiva movement, vachanas in Kannada.

The correct answer is B, Tamil Nadu. C. Rajagopalachari led the salt march in the Madras Presidency, in the area that is now Tamil Nadu.

When the Civil Disobedience Movement began in 1930, Rajagopalachari marched from Tiruchirappalli to Vedaranyam on the Tanjore coast and broke the salt law there in April 1930. He was arrested soon after. Rajagopalachari, often called Rajaji, later became the first Indian and the last Governor-General of India in 1948, and was the first recipient of the Bharat Ratna in 1954 along with C. V. Raman and S. Radhakrishnan.

A is wrong: no salt march of his was held in Maharashtra. C is wrong: Rajasthan is landlocked, so a coastal salt satyagraha was not possible there. D is wrong: Gujarat is where Gandhi himself marched, from Sabarmati to Dandi.

Exam tip: Dandi in Gujarat - Gandhi; Vedaranyam in Tamil Nadu - C. Rajagopalachari; Dharasana salt works - Sarojini Naidu.

The correct answer is A, Berar. The Imad Shahi dynasty founded the Sultanate of Berar in 1490.

As the Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan broke up in the late fifteenth century, five successor sultanates appeared. Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk, the Bahmani governor of Berar, declared independence in 1490 and started the Imad Shahi line with Gawilgarh and Ellichpur as its centres. Berar was the smallest and weakest of the five and was annexed by Ahmednagar in 1574, and later passed to the Mughals under Akbar.

B is wrong: Bidar was ruled by the Barid Shahi dynasty. C is wrong: Ahmednagar was founded by Malik Ahmad of the Nizam Shahi dynasty. D is wrong: Golkonda was the seat of the Qutb Shahi dynasty founded by Quli Qutb Shah.

Exam tip: Five Deccan sultanates - Adil Shahi in Bijapur, Qutb Shahi in Golconda, Nizam Shahi in Ahmednagar, Imad Shahi in Berar, Barid Shahi in Bidar.

The correct answer is D, 1878. The Vernacular Press Act was passed in 1878, when Lord Lytton was Viceroy of India.

The Act was aimed at Indian-language newspapers, which had grown sharply critical of British rule after the famine of 1876-78. It allowed a magistrate to demand a bond from a printer or publisher, and to seize the press if seditious matter appeared. Because English papers were left untouched, it was nicknamed the 'Gagging Act'. Surendranath Banerjea and others protested strongly, and the Amrita Bazar Patrika switched overnight from Bengali to English to escape it. Lord Ripon repealed the Act in 1882.

A is wrong: 1876 is the year of the Royal Titles Act, which made Queen Victoria Empress of India. B is wrong: no press law was passed in 1874. C is wrong: 1872 saw the first non-synchronous all-India census, not a press law.

Exam tip: Vernacular Press Act - passed by Lytton in 1878, repealed by Ripon in 1882.