Indian History Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The incorrect statement is On November 1st, 1956 it became Union Territory with Legislature.

Tripura became a Union Territory on 1 November 1956 under the States Reorganisation scheme, but without a legislature. A legislative assembly came only under the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963.

The other statements are correct. Tripura merged with the Indian Union on 15 October 1949. A popular ministry was installed on 1 July 1963, once the territory had its assembly. Tripura became a full state on 21 January 1972, under the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.

Answer: B

The site is Pilak.

Pilak, in the Jolaibari area of South Tripura, is an archaeological site of roughly the 8th to 12th centuries with both Buddhist and Hindu remains. Its finds include terracotta plaques and stone images, and plaques depicting stupas and other Buddhist motifs are the reason the question singles it out.

Kamalasagar, near Kasba, is known for the Kasba Kali temple on the bank of the Kamalasagar lake. Melaghar is the town near Neermahal and the Rudrasagar lake. None of the three is the Buddhist plaque site.

Answer: C

Neer Mahal was built in the reign of Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya.

Neermahal, the 'water palace' in the middle of Rudrasagar lake at Melaghar, was commissioned by Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya, who ruled Tripura from 1923 to 1947, as a summer residence. It was built in the 1930s, combining Hindu and Mughal styles.

Bir Chandra Manikya (who founded the Agartala Municipality) and Radha Kishore Manikya (who built the Ujjayanta Palace) were earlier kings, and Birendra Kishore Manikya was Bir Bikram's father and predecessor. The palace post-dates all three reigns.

Answer: B

The Agartala Municipality was established in 1871.

It was set up during the reign of Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya, a modernising ruler of Tripura, a few years after he moved the capital to New Haveli, the present Agartala. That makes it one of the oldest municipal bodies in north-east India. It was upgraded to the Agartala Municipal Corporation in 2014.

1869, 1875 and 1879 are neighbouring years from the same reign, set as close distractors; the founding year is 1871.

Answer: C

The first political agent was A. W. B. Power.

In 1871 the British Government of India appointed a Political Agent to the court of the Maharaja of Tripura, who remained the ruler of a princely state. A. W. B. Power was the first to hold the post; through it the British supervised the state's relations with British India while leaving internal administration to the Maharaja.

Verelst was a Governor of Bengal in the eighteenth century, a century before the post existed, and the other two names are not the first holder of the agency.

Answer: A

Tripura became a full-fledged State on 21st January, 1972.

Under the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971, Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya became states on 21 January 1972. Tripura still celebrates the day as its Statehood Day.

15 October 1949 is the date Tripura's merger with India took effect, after which it was a Part C state and then, from 1956, a Union Territory. 1971 was the year the Act was passed, and in 1947 Tripura was still a princely state.

Answer: A

The title was conferred by Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya.

Tagore had close ties with four generations of Tripura's rulers. In 1941, shortly before the poet's death, Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya honoured him with the title Bharat Bhaskar (Sun of India).

Bir Chandra Manikya was the first of the family to befriend Tagore, after reading his early poems, and Radha Kishore Manikya continued that friendship, but neither gave this title. Dhanya Manikya ruled four centuries before Tagore.

Answer: A

He founded the Mongol empire.

Temujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan in 1206 and built the largest contiguous land empire in history. He reached the Indus in 1221 pursuing Jalaluddin Mangbarni, but turned back without entering India.

Answer: A

It was held under Ajatashatru.

The first council met at the Sattapanni cave near Rajagriha within a year of the Buddha's death, presided over by Mahakassapa. Ananda recited the Sutta and Upali the Vinaya.

Answer: D

It has been found at Dholavira.

The excavators identified a structure at Dholavira, in the Rann of Kutch, as an observatory, its alignments answering to the solstices and equinoxes. The site is also known for its water reservoirs and its large signboard of Indus characters.