The oldest surviving mosque in India, built in the Qutb complex at Delhi, is:

The correct answer is B, Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru, under whom the Harmandir Sahib was built and who had the Adi Granth compiled and installed in it in 1604, appointing Baba Buddha as its first granthi. Option A, Guru Ram Das, the fourth Guru, founded the city of Amritsar and had the sacred tank excavated, so he is the natural trap: he made the site, his successor made the shrine and the scripture. Option C, Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru, built the Akal Takht facing the shrine in 1606 and introduced the two swords of spiritual and temporal authority. Option D, Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru, was executed at Delhi in 1675, where Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib now stands. The gold plating that gave the Golden Temple its popular name came much later, in the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the early nineteenth century.

The correct answer is A, Nanded in Maharashtra, where Guru Gobind Singh spent his last days in 1708 and where Takht Sri Hazur Sahib was raised. The five Takhts, or seats of Sikh religious authority, must be learnt as a set, because the question is usually set by swapping one place for another. Option B, Patna in Bihar, is the site of Takht Sri Patna Sahib, which marks the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh in 1666. Option C, Talwandi Sabo in Punjab, is Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, where Guru Gobind Singh had a recension of the Granth prepared. Option D, Anandpur Sahib in Punjab, is Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib, where the Khalsa was founded in 1699. The fifth is the Akal Takht at Amritsar, built by Guru Hargobind in 1606. Note that three of the five are in Punjab, with one each in Bihar and Maharashtra.

The correct answer is B, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and last human Guru of the Sikhs, who was born at Patna in 1666 while his father Guru Tegh Bahadur was travelling in the east. The gurdwara built on that site is Takht Sri Patna Sahib, one of the five Takhts, and the only one in Bihar. Option A, Guru Nanak, the first Guru, was born in 1469 at Rai Bhoi di Talwandi, now Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, and spent his last years at Kartarpur, also in present-day Pakistan, which is reached through the corridor opened in 2019. Option C, Guru Angad, the second Guru, is associated with Khadur Sahib in Punjab and with the Gurmukhi script. Option D, Guru Amar Das, the third Guru, is associated with Goindwal Sahib and its baoli. Keep the birthplaces of the first and the tenth Guru apart, since that is the pairing most often tested.

The correct answer is B, St Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary whose body was brought to Goa and placed in the Basilica of Bom Jesus, where it is displayed for public veneration at long intervals. The basilica, completed in the opening years of the seventeenth century, is part of the Churches and Convents of Goa inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Option A, St Thomas the Apostle, is associated with the San Thome Basilica at Chennai, which stands over the tomb attributed to him. Option C, Vasco da Gama, died at Kochi and was first buried in St Francis Church there, the oldest European church in India, before his remains were taken to Portugal, so he is the strongest distractor in the set. Option D, St Philomena, gives her name to the neo-Gothic cathedral at Mysuru. Learn the Goan pair together: Bom Jesus for St Francis Xavier and the Se Cathedral for its Golden Bell.

The correct answer is A, St Francis Church at Kochi, built in 1503 by the Portuguese and therefore the oldest European church in India. Vasco da Gama died at Kochi in 1524 and was buried in this church, and his remains were moved to Portugal some years later, though the gravestone is still shown to visitors. The church itself passed from Portuguese to Dutch and then to British hands, which is why its history is a favourite with paper setters. Option B, the Se Cathedral in Old Goa, is later and is remembered as the largest church in Asia and for its Golden Bell. Option C, St Paul's Cathedral at Kolkata, was consecrated in the nineteenth century and is called the first episcopal church of the East. Option D, Medak Cathedral in Telangana, is a large twentieth-century Gothic revival church of the Church of South India. The date 1503 is the key to this question.