Which of the following newspapers was written by Lokmanya Tilak during Indian National movement ?

The correct answer is C, Ramanuja. Ramanuja, born at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in the eleventh century, taught Vishishtadvaita, or qualified non-dualism. He held that the soul, even when it becomes one with the supreme God Vishnu, keeps its own separate existence, and that the surest way to salvation is intense devotion, bhakti, to Vishnu. Deeply influenced by the Alvar saints, he opened temple worship and devotion to people of every caste, and his ideas later inspired Ramananda and the Bhakti saints of the north. B is wrong because Shankara, of eighth century Kerala, taught Advaita, pure non-dualism, in which Brahman alone is real and the world is maya. A and D are wrong because Allama Prabhu and Basavanna belonged to the Virashaiva or Lingayat movement of Karnataka, which worshipped Shiva in the form of the linga and rejected caste and ritual rather than framing this school. Exam tip: Shankara for Advaita, Ramanuja for Vishishtadvaita and Madhvacharya for Dvaita.

The correct answer is A, mansabdari system. Mansab means a position or rank, and Akbar used it to place every officer of the empire on a graded ladder. A mansabdar's rank had two numbers: zat, which fixed his personal standing and pay, and sawar, which fixed how many horsemen he had to keep ready for service. Most mansabdars were paid not in cash but by the revenue of an assigned piece of land, and they were moved from one place to another so that no family could settle into a region. B is wrong because the iqta was the revenue assignment of the Delhi Sultanate, held by muqtis, and it did not grade officers in this way. C is wrong because zabt, or the dahsala system worked out under Todar Mal, was a way of assessing land revenue from measured land and average produce, not of ranking nobles. D is wrong because the jagir was only the land whose revenue paid a mansabdar's salary. Exam tip: mansab equals zat plus sawar; zabt or dahsala is revenue assessment.

The correct answer is D, A, B and C. All three reasons together made Magadha the strongest mahajanapada in about two hundred years. Rivers such as the Ganga and the Son gave water for the fields, made the plain fertile and served as cheap routes for moving men and goods. The forests in parts of Magadha supplied timber for houses and carts and, more important, elephants that were caught and trained for the army. And the iron ore mines of the region gave the metal for strong tools that cleared land and for weapons that no rival could match. Two ambitious rulers, Bimbisara and Ajatasattu, used these gifts well, and the capital was shifted from Rajagriha to Pataliputra, standing on the bank of the Ganga. A, B and C are wrong because each of them leaves out one of the three reasons named in NCERT's chapter on kingdoms and republics. Exam tip: Magadha's strength came from rivers, forests with elephants and iron ore; capital Rajagriha, later Pataliputra.

The correct answer is D, Dargah. A dargah is the tomb of a Sufi saint, built over his grave and visited by people of every faith who tie threads, offer flowers and pray for their wishes. The gathering held on the anniversary of the saint's death is called urs, when qawwali is sung at the shrine. The dargah of Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti at Ajmer and that of Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi are the best known in India, and Mughal emperors from Akbar onwards walked to Ajmer as pilgrims. A is wrong because an idgah is the open walled ground outside a town where the community gathers for the Id prayer. B is wrong because a khanqah was the hospice in which a living Sufi master stayed with his disciples, taught them and fed travellers. C is wrong because ibadatgah simply means a place of worship in general. Exam tip: khanqah is where the saint lived, dargah is where he lies, and urs is the yearly gathering there.

The correct answer is C, Minhaj-i-Siraj. Minhaj-i-Siraj was the chronicler of the Delhi Sultanate who wrote the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri. He recorded that Raziyya, the daughter of Iltutmish, was more able and qualified than all her brothers, yet he added that he was uneasy about a woman ruling, because it went against the order in which God had placed men above women. Raziyya became Sultan in 1236 and was removed in 1240, and the nobles of the court never accepted her. A is wrong because Al-Biruni came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni in the eleventh century and wrote the Kitab-ul-Hind, long before Raziyya. B is wrong because Badayuni was a historian of Akbar's time who wrote the Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh. D is wrong because Ziyauddin Barani, author of the Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, wrote later and was sharply critical of any departure from high birth and of Raziyya's rule. Exam tip: Minhaj-i-Siraj, Tabaqat-i-Nasiri; Barani, Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi.