The Third Battle of Panipat, fought in 1761, was between which two powers?

The correct answer is C, Saadat Khan. Saadat Khan, who held the title Burhan-ul-Mulk, was appointed governor of Awadh in 1722 and converted the governorship into a hereditary principality, keeping the outward forms of allegiance to the Mughal emperor while ruling independently. Option A is wrong because Chin Qilich Khan founded Hyderabad, not Awadh; he took the title Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah when he withdrew to the Deccan in 1724, and he is the standard distractor in this question. Option B is wrong because Marthanda Varma was the ruler who built up Travancore in the far south, an independent kingdom of a quite different region. Option D is wrong because Haidar Ali took power in Mysore in 1761, displacing the Wodeyar rulers, and had no connection with Awadh at all.

The correct answer is B, Chin Qilich Khan. He served as Mughal governor of the Deccan and for a short time as wazir of the empire, and on withdrawing to the south in 1724 he ruled as Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, founding the line of the Nizams of Hyderabad. Option A is wrong because Murshid Quli Khan was the officer who made Bengal effectively independent and after whom Murshidabad is named. Option C is wrong because Saadatullah Khan established the authority of the Nawabs of Arcot in the Carnatic, a dependency of Hyderabad that drifted into independence of its own. Option D is wrong because Safdar Jung was the second ruler of Awadh, successor to Saadat Khan, and also served as wazir at Delhi, which is why his name is used as a distractor here.

The correct answer is D, Robert Clive. Clive commanded the forces of the East India Company at Plassey on 23 June 1757 and defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, a victory owed chiefly to the defection of the Nawab's commander Mir Jafar. Option A is wrong because Lord Dalhousie was Governor-General almost a century later, from 1848 to 1856, and is remembered for the doctrine of lapse and the annexation of Awadh. Option B is wrong because Captain Hodson belongs to the revolt of 1857, in which he captured Bahadur Shah Zafar and killed the Mughal princes. Option C is wrong because Warren Hastings became the first Governor-General of Bengal in 1773 and is linked with ending the dual government, not with Plassey. Clive had already made his name at Arcot in 1751, and after Plassey he went on to become the first Governor of Bengal, which is why his name dominates this period.

The correct answer is B, Mir Qasim, Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and Shuja-ud-Daulah of Awadh. At Buxar on 22 October 1764 Hector Munro defeated this alliance of the deposed Nawab of Bengal, the reigning Mughal emperor and the Nawab of Awadh, and the Treaty of Allahabad of 1765 followed. Option A is wrong because Mir Jafar was the Company's own candidate for the throne of Bengal and fought on its side, not against it. Option C is wrong on two counts: Mir Jafar was never in the opposing alliance, and Bahadur Shah II came to the Mughal throne only in 1837, long afterwards. Option D is wrong because Siraj-ud-Daulah had been killed in 1757 after Plassey and could not have been present seven years later.

The correct answer is A, the Diwani, or revenue collection rights, of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. After Buxar the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II granted the Company the Diwani of these provinces, which gave it a legal title to their revenues and turned a trading body into a territorial power. Option B is wrong because the Company never acquired the right to appoint the wazir at Delhi, an office that remained a matter of court politics. Option C is wrong because the Carnatic was under the Nawabs of Arcot and passed under Company control through the separate Carnatic wars and later arrangements. Option D is wrong because Bombay had come to the English crown as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza in 1661, and Salsette was obtained from the Marathas much later.