Indian History Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The keyed answer is Cordial relations of Rajputs and Mughals.

Rajput rulers had built their capitals on hilltops because they needed fortified refuges against attack. Once most of them entered into alliances with the Mughals from Akbar's time, that threat receded, and they began to build palaces and planned cities on open ground in the plains. Sawai Jai Singh's move from the hill fort of Amber to the new city of Jaipur in 1727 is the classic example.

Architectural advancement and modernisation describe what the new cities looked like, and Mughal influence shows in their style, but the key takes the political condition that made the move safe, the cordial Rajput-Mughal relationship, as the defining feature of the period.

Answer: C

The 'Talwar Bandhai' tax was introduced by Prithvi Singh.

Talwar bandhai was the succession fee a jagirdar paid to the Mewar state on succeeding to his estate. When Prithvi Singh became jagirdar of Bijolia in 1906 he passed this burden on to the peasants as a new tax, adding to the many cesses that fuelled the Bijolia peasant movement.

His predecessor, Rao Kishan (Krishna) Singh, is remembered for an earlier levy, the chanwari tax on the marriage of daughters, so he is the trap among the options.

Answer: A

The Prashasti calls Rana Hammir Vishamghati Panchanan.

The Kirti Stambha prashasti at Chittorgarh, composed in Rana Kumbha's reign, praises his ancestor Hammir as Vishamghati Panchanan, a lion in difficult battle. Hammir recovered Chittor from the Khaljis in the fourteenth century and is regarded as the founder of the Sisodia line of Mewar.

Rawal Ratan Singh lost Chittor to Alauddin Khalji in 1303, and Maharana Lakha and Maharana Mokal were Kumbha's grandfather and father, who are not given this title.

Answer: B

Greater Rajasthan was formed on 30 March, 1949.

On that date Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Jaisalmer joined the United State of Rajasthan to form Greater Rajasthan (Vrihat Rajasthan), with Jaipur as the capital. The date is celebrated as Rajasthan Day.

The other dates belong to other stages. The first stage, the Matsya Union, came in March 1948 and the Rajasthan Union followed on 25 March 1948, while on 15 May 1949 the Matsya Union was merged into Greater Rajasthan. 28 March 1948 does not mark a stage of the integration.

Answer: D

The person not associated with its formation is Chandkaran Sharda.

The Rajasthan Sewa Sangh was set up in 1919 at Wardha by Vijay Singh Pathik, with Ramnarayan Chaudhary and Haribhai Kinkar among its founding workers. It moved to Ajmer in 1920 and took up the cause of the peasants of Bijolia and other princely states.

Chandkaran Sharda was not among its founders, so he is the odd one out among the four names.

Answer: D

The Matsya Union merged in the fifth stage.

Rajasthan was integrated in seven stages between 1948 and 1956. The Matsya Union of Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli was the first stage (18 March 1948). Greater Rajasthan was formed in the fourth stage on 30 March 1949, and the Matsya Union joined it on 15 May 1949, which was the fifth stage.

The third stage was the United State of Rajasthan with Udaipur (April 1948), the sixth was the merger of Sirohi in January 1950, and the seventh added Ajmer, Abu and Sunel Tappa in November 1956.

Answer: C

The revival began in the 15th Century.

Maharana Kumbha ruled Mewar from 1433 to 1468. His reign saw a burst of building and learning: the Vijay Stambh at Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh fort, the Ranakpur temple built under his patronage, and works on music such as the Sangitaraj attributed to him.

The 8th century is the period of Bappa Rawal, the 13th of the early Guhila struggles against the Delhi Sultanate, and the 17th of Mughal-era Mewar, none of which is Kumbha's time.

Answer: C

Tod derived the Rajputs from the Scythians.

The Agnikula legend says that four Rajput clans, the Paramaras, Pratiharas, Chauhans and Chalukyas, were born from a sacrificial fire pit on Mount Abu. James Tod, in his Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, read this as a story of purification and argued that the Rajputs descended from Scythian invaders who were admitted into Hindu society.

Afghans and Turks entered India far later than the Rajput clans emerged, and the Yueh-chi (Kushans) were not Tod's identification.

Answer: D

Chittor saw its first saka in 1303.

A saka is the last charge of the Rajput warriors, who rode out to die in battle, usually alongside the women's jauhar. Chittor's first came in 1303, when Alauddin Khalji besieged and took the fort from Rana Ratan Singh, and the jauhar of Rani Padmini is associated with it.

The second saka followed in 1534-35, against Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, and the third in 1567-68, against Akbar. 1295, 1430 and 1520 are not dates of a Chittor saka.

Answer: D

Kota stayed under the rebels for about 6 Months.

In October 1857 the Kota state troops, led by Lala Jaidayal and Mehrab Khan, rose, killed the Political Agent Major Burton and took control of the state, confining the Maharao. British forces under General Roberts recaptured Kota only at the end of March 1858, about six months later.

Three months is too short for that period, and nine or fourteen months would run past the recapture of Kota in the spring of 1858.