Indian History Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The signatory was Queen Kanchana prabha Devi.

Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya died in May 1947, leaving a minor heir, Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya. His widow, Maharani Kanchan Prabha Devi, became regent, and in that capacity she signed Tripura's Instrument of Accession to the Dominion of India in 1947. She later signed the merger agreement, and Tripura became part of India on 15 October 1949.

The other names are not the regent who signed the accession.

Answer: D

The first British Political Agent in Tripura was A. W. B. Power.

In 1871 the British Government of India appointed a Political Agent to the court of the Maharaja of Tripura, and A.W.B. Power was the first to hold the post. The Political Agent represented British authority and oversaw relations with the princely state.

Harry Verelst was Governor of Bengal in the 1760s, and General Jenkins is associated with British administration in Assam. Neither was the first Political Agent in Tripura.

Answer: D

Tripura was divided into three districts on 1 September 1970.

On that date the single district of Tripura was split into three: North Tripura, South Tripura and West Tripura. The state became a full state in January 1972, and the number of districts was later increased to four in 1995 and to eight in 2012.

The other dates do not mark the creation of the three districts. In 1963, 1979 and 1985 Tripura still had a single district or the three formed in 1970.

Answer: B

The title was Bharat Bhaskar.

Rabindranath Tagore had close ties with the Manikya rulers of Tripura over several generations and visited the state a number of times. In 1941, shortly before his death, Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya conferred on him the title Bharat Bhaskar ('the Sun of India').

The other forms (Bisva Kabi, Bisva Bharata, Kavi Bhaskara) are not the title the Maharaja conferred. Visva-Bharati is the name of the university Tagore founded at Santiniketan.

Answer: A

The gazette was first published during the reign of Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya.

Radha Kishore Manikya ruled Tripura from 1896 to 1909, so 1903 falls within his reign. His reign saw several administrative reforms, and the Ujjayanta Palace in Agartala was completed for him in 1901.

Maharaja Birchandra Manikya ruled before him, until 1896, and Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya after him, from 1909, so neither was on the throne in 1903.

Answer: D

Sati was abolished in Tripura by Maharaja Birchandra Manikya.

Birchandra Manikya, who ruled from 1862 to 1896, was a reforming king who abolished the sati system, along with slavery and untouchability, in his state. He also modernised the administration and was a great patron of Bengali literature and the arts.

Ishanchandra Manikya was his predecessor, and Radha Kishore and Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya ruled after him, so the reform is not theirs.

Answer: C

The chronological order is 3-2-4-1.

1. Birchandra Manikya (3): 1862-1896
2. Radha Kishore Manikya (2): 1896-1909
3. Birendra Kishore Manikya (4): 1909-1923
4. Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya (1): 1923-1947, the last ruling Maharaja before the merger with India

Each of the other orders places Bir Bikram Kishore, the last of the four, earlier than he reigned, or puts Radha Kishore before his father Birchandra.

Answer: B

The Tripura State Gazette was first published in Bengali.

Bengali had been adopted as the court and administrative language of the princely state of Tripura, so its official gazette, started in 1903 under Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya, was printed in Bengali.

Kokborok, the language of the Tripuri people, had no official status in the princely administration, and English and Sanskrit were not the state's official languages.

Answer: C

Vidyapattan was the scheme of Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya.

In 1937 Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya acquired about 234 acres at College Tilla in Agartala for 'Vidyapattan', an 'abode of learning' that was to bring together a college, technical and other schools, a hospital, hostels and a rural university. Maharaja Bir Bikram College, opened in 1947, grew out of this plan.

Radha Kishore and Krishna Kishore Manikya were earlier rulers with no part in the scheme, so 'All of them' is wrong too.

Answer: B

The site that is not archaeological is Trishna.

Trishna is a wildlife sanctuary near Belonia in South Tripura, known for its gaur (Indian bison). It is not an archaeological site.

The other three are major archaeological sites: Unakoti has huge rock-cut images of Shiva of about the eighth and ninth centuries, Pilak has Buddhist and Hindu terracottas and sculptures, and Deotamura (Chabimura) has rock carvings of deities on the cliffs along the Gomati river.