Ruler of which dynasty built the famous Iron pillar in Delhi?

The correct answer is A, Linlithgow. The Joint Parliamentary Committee that examined the White Paper on Indian constitutional reform was chaired by Lord Linlithgow, and its report of 1934 became the draft of the Government of India Act of 1935. The chain a paper setter tests runs in this order: the Simon Commission of 1927, the three Round Table Conferences of 1930 to 1932, the White Paper of March 1933, the Joint Parliamentary Committee under Linlithgow, and then the Act. The same Linlithgow came to India as Viceroy in 1936 and stayed till 1943, so the man who shaped the Act also worked it. B is wrong because Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister, presided over the Round Table Conferences and announced the Communal Award. C is wrong because Winston Churchill led the Conservative revolt against the bill. D is wrong because Clement Attlee was a member of the Simon Commission and later announced the transfer of power. Exam tip: Linlithgow - Joint Parliamentary Committee 1933-34, then Viceroy 1936-43.

The correct answer is A, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is the only American President shot inside a theatre, so he is the one the question points to. He was watching a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington on the night of 14 April 1865 when John Wilkes Booth, an actor who backed the defeated Confederacy, fired at him; Lincoln died the next morning. Lincoln was the sixteenth President, led the United States through the Civil War, issued the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and was the first American President to be assassinated. B is wrong because John F. Kennedy was shot while riding in an open car in Dallas in 1963. C is wrong because James A. Garfield was shot at a railway station in Washington in 1881. D is wrong because William McKinley was shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. Exam tip: the four assassinated Presidents in order are Lincoln 1865, Garfield 1881, McKinley 1901 and Kennedy 1963.

The correct answer is B, Rigveda. The Purusha Sukta is the ninetieth hymn of the tenth mandala of the Rigveda. It describes the sacrifice of a cosmic being, Purusha, out of whose body the world is made, and it is the earliest text to name the four varnas: the Brahmana from his mouth, the Rajanya or Kshatriya from his arms, the Vaishya from his thighs and the Shudra from his feet. Paper setters use it for both facts at once, the order of the varnas and the tenth mandala, which is counted with the first among the latest parts of the Rigveda. A is wrong because the Atharvaveda holds charms, spells and cures for everyday ills. C is wrong because the Samaveda sets Rigvedic verses to melody and is treated as the root of Indian music. D is wrong because the Yajurveda gives the formulas a priest recites while carrying out a sacrifice. Exam tip: the Purusha Sukta is Rigveda 10.90 and carries the first mention of the four varnas.

The correct answer is A, Treaty of Mangalore. The Second Anglo-Mysore War ran from 1780 to 1784. Haidar Ali fought the English East India Company with the Marathas and the Nizam on his side, and after his death in December 1782 his son Tipu Sultan carried the war on and signed the Treaty of Mangalore in March 1784. By its terms the two sides gave back the territory and the prisoners each had taken, so the war ended in a draw and left Mysore undiminished; it was the last treaty the Company signed with an Indian power on equal terms. B is wrong because no Treaty of Arcot closed this war. C is wrong because Wandiwash was the battle of 1760 in which the English beat the French in the Third Carnatic War, not a treaty. D is wrong because the Treaty of Madras of 1769 ended the First Anglo-Mysore War. Exam tip: the four wars end at Madras 1769, Mangalore 1784, Seringapatam 1792 and Tipu's death in 1799.

The correct answer is C, 17. Mahmud of Ghazni, who ruled the Ghaznavid kingdom from 998 to 1030, is recorded as having led seventeen raids into India between about 1000 and 1027. His aim was plunder and not permanent rule, so he carried away treasure and left no settled administration east of the Punjab. The best known of the raids destroyed the Somnath temple in Gujarat in 1025; earlier he had defeated Jayapala of the Hindu Shahi dynasty in 1001 and sacked the rich temple towns of Mathura, Thanesar and Kanauj. The scholar Al-Beruni, who wrote the Kitab-ul-Hind, and the poet Firdausi belonged to his court. A is wrong because five is far short of the recorded total. B is wrong because fifteen is the figure most often confused with the right one. D is wrong because seven is not the accepted count either. Exam tip: Mahmud of Ghazni made 17 raids and struck Somnath in 1025, while Muhammad Ghori's win at Tarain in 1192 began Turkish rule.