Indian History Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The 'Liberator of Mewar' is Rana Hammir.

After Alauddin Khalji took Chittor in 1303, the fort stayed out of Guhila hands for about two decades. Hammir, of the Sisodia branch, recovered Chittor around 1326 and re-established the Mewar state, which is why he is called its liberator. His successors used the title Rana.

Rawal Ratan Singh was the ruler who lost Chittor to Khalji in 1303, and Lakshman Singh of Sisodia died defending it. Maharana Lakha ruled later and is remembered for developing the state, not for freeing it.

Answer: C

The revolt in Rajasthan began at Nasirabad.

On 28 May 1857 the Indian soldiers at the Nasirabad cantonment, near Ajmer, rose against their British officers. It was the first outbreak in Rajasthan, and the Neemuch rising followed in early June. The rebels then marched towards Delhi.

Baran, Bhilwara and Barmer were not cantonments of the Bengal army and saw no such first outbreak, which rules them out.

Answer: D

Ganeshwar was discovered at the source of the Kantali.

Ganeshwar, near Neem ka Thana in the Sikar region, lies at the source of the Kantali (Kantli) river. It is a copper-age site, dated to around the third millennium BCE, known for the large number of copper objects found there, and it is widely held to have supplied copper to Harappan settlements.

The Ahar culture is named after the Ahar river near Udaipur, Bagor lies on the Kothari, and the Banas valley holds other sites such as Balathal. None of these is Ganeshwar.

Answer: D

Greater Rajasthan was inaugurated by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

On 30 March 1949 Patel, as the minister in charge of the integration of the princely states, inaugurated the United State of Greater Rajasthan at Jaipur, joining Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Jaisalmer with the earlier union. 30 March is celebrated as Rajasthan Day for this reason.

Nehru was Prime Minister but did not inaugurate it, Mahatma Gandhi had died in January 1948, and Lal Bahadur Shastri held no such role then.

Answer: B

Bhogilal Pandya was associated with the Dungarpur Prajamandal.

Bhogilal Pandya, a social reformer and educator of the Vagad region, worked among the Bhil tribals through the Seva Sangh and founded the Dungarpur Prajamandal in 1944. He is remembered as the 'Gandhi of Vagad'.

The Banswara, Jaipur and Mewar Prajamandals were led by others, such as Bhupendranath Trivedi in Banswara and Manikya Lal Verma in Mewar, so those options are ruled out.

Answer: D

The temple was built by Bappa Rawal.

The Eklingji temple at Kailashpuri, near Udaipur, is dedicated to Shiva as Eklingji, the tutelary deity of Mewar, and its founding is traditionally credited to Bappa Rawal in the 8th century. The rulers of Mewar regarded Eklingji as the true sovereign and themselves as his Dewan. The Lakulisha temple, which the paper's bracket refers to, stands in the same complex.

Jaitra Singh, Ratan Singh and Rana Hammir ruled centuries later; later rulers rebuilt and enlarged the temple, but none founded it.

Answer: A

Ibrahim Lodi was defeated by Babar.

At the first battle of Panipat on 21 April 1526, Babur used field artillery and the tulughma flanking tactic to defeat the much larger army of Ibrahim Lodi, who was killed in the battle. The victory ended the Delhi Sultanate and founded the Mughal empire.

Humayun was Babur's son and successor. Bairam Khan commanded Akbar's army at the second battle of Panipat in 1556, against Hemu, not against Ibrahim Lodi.

Answer: B

Mirabai moved to Dwarka, Gujarat.

After leaving Mewar, Mirabai first lived among Krishna devotees at Vrindavan and then went on to Dwarka, Krishna's city on the Gujarat coast. Tradition holds that she spent her last years there in devotion and, at the end, merged into the image of Krishna as Ranchhodji.

Vrindavan is the trap: it was an earlier stage of her pilgrimage, not her final home. Kudki in Pali district is associated with her birth, and Barsana is linked with Radha, not with Mirabai's last years.

Answer: A

The keyed answer is Rao Beeka.

Rao Bika, a son of Rao Jodha of Jodhpur, left Marwar and founded the city and state of Bikaner in 1488. His descendants, the Bika Rathores, ruled Bikaner as a separate state, so he is counted as the founder of the Bikaner house rather than a ruler of Marwar.

The other three ruled Marwar itself. Rao Ranmal held Mandore, the old Rathore capital, in the fifteenth century. Rao Maldev was the powerful Jodhpur ruler who faced Sher Shah Suri, and Mota Raja Udai Singh ruled Jodhpur under Akbar.

Answer: B

The copper came from Ganeshwar in Sikar.

Ganeshwar, near Neem-ka-Thana, lies in the copper-rich Khetri belt. Excavations found a large number of copper objects there, including arrowheads, fish-hooks, spearheads and axes, and the site is regarded as a supplier of copper to the Harappan cities.

Ahar near Udaipur is the type site of the Ahar-Banas Chalcolithic culture, which used copper but is not identified as the Harappans' supplier. Bagor in Bhilwara is a Mesolithic site, and 'Banas in Rajasmand' names a river, not the supply site.