The Third Battle of Panipat between the Marathas and Ahmad Shah Durrani, the ruler of Afghanistan, was fought in the year

The correct answer is D, the Treaty of Mandeshwar. The Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817 to 1818 was settled by a set of separate treaties with the Maratha houses, and the one with the Holkar chief of Indore was signed at Mandsaur, or Mandeshwar, in January 1818. It placed Holkar territory under the Company and ended Holkar independence. Option A is wrong because the Treaty of Purandar of 1665 was signed by Shivaji with Mirza Raja Jai Singh, long before the Company mattered in the Deccan. Option B is wrong because the Treaty of Gwalior of 1817 was signed with Daulat Rao Scindia, not with Holkar, and students often swap the two houses. Option C is wrong because the Treaty of Surat of 1775 was made with Raghunath Rao and actually began the First Anglo-Maratha War.

The correct answer is C, Tanaji Malusare. Tanaji led the night assault that recovered the fort of Kondana from the Mughal garrison in 1670 and was killed in the fighting. Shivaji is said to have mourned that the lion was gone though the fort was won, and the fort was renamed Sinhagad, the fort of the lion. Option A is wrong because Chimaji Appa was a brother of Peshwa Baji Rao I and is remembered for taking Vasai from the Portuguese in 1739, seventy years later. Option B is wrong because Baji Prabhu Deshpande died holding the pass of Pavan Khind in 1660 so that Shivaji could reach Vishalgad safely, a different episode that papers deliberately place among the options. Option D is wrong because Baji Pasalkar was an early companion from the Pune region and is not connected with Kondana.

The correct answer is D, Amatya. The Amatya, also called the Majumdar, kept the accounts of the kingdom and checked the income and expenditure of every district, which makes him the finance member of the eight. Option A is wrong because the Peshwa was the chief minister who looked after general administration and stood in for the ruler; under the later rulers the office swallowed the state, but it was never the finance department. Option B is wrong because the Sachiv, also called Surnavis or Shuru Nawis, handled royal correspondence and checked the wording of letters and grants. Option C is wrong because the Sumant, also called Dabir, was the minister for foreign affairs and dealt with envoys of other states. A useful way to hold this is to fix three pairs: Amatya with money, Sachiv with letters and Sumant with foreign states.

The correct answer is B, charities and religious affairs. The Panditrao was the ecclesiastical head in the Ashta Pradhan, fixing the dates of religious ceremonies, supervising grants to temples and learned men, and punishing offences against religious custom. Option A is wrong because foreign affairs belonged to the Sumant, also called the Dabir, who received and sent envoys. Option C is wrong because accounts and finance belonged to the Amatya or Majumdar, who audited district income and expenditure. Option D is wrong because justice was the work of the Nyayadhish, who decided civil and criminal cases on the basis of custom and the old law books. Note also that the Panditrao and the Nyayadhish were the two ministers who were not given a military command, unlike the other six members of the council.

The correct answer is C, 1699. On Baisakhi in 1699 at Anandpur Sahib, Guru Gobind Singh initiated the first five volunteers, the Panj Pyare, with the ceremony of the double-edged sword and created the Khalsa, giving its members the five articles of faith and the names Singh and Kaur. Option A is wrong because 1604 is the year Guru Arjan Dev completed the Adi Granth and installed it at the Harmandir Sahib. Option B is wrong because 1675 is the year Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed at Delhi under Aurangzeb, the event that preceded Guru Gobind Singh's accession. Option D is wrong because 1708 is the year Guru Gobind Singh died at Nanded, after declaring the Guru Granth Sahib the eternal Guru. Holding these four years in order is the quickest way to clear a whole family of questions.