Famous Places in India Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The one that is not a World Heritage Site is India Gate.

India Gate, the war memorial in New Delhi designed by Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1931, is a national monument but is not inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Qutb Minar and its monuments were inscribed in 1993, and the Red Fort Complex in 2007, so both are World Heritage Sites.

Answer: C

The heading that does not exist is Disputed Properties.

Under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, and so in the ASI's listing of India's World Heritage properties, sites are grouped as cultural, natural or mixed (having both cultural and natural value). Khangchendzonga National Park is India's mixed site.

There is no category of disputed properties.

Most of India's World Heritage properties are cultural, such as the Taj Mahal; Kaziranga and the Western Ghats are examples of natural sites.

Answer: A

Jawahar Kala Kendra is in Jaipur, Rajasthan. It is a multi-arts and cultural centre, designed by the architect Charles Correa and built to honour Jawaharlal Nehru; its plan is based on the layout of the city of Jaipur, using the nine-square pattern. Kolkata, New Delhi and Hyderabad have other arts institutions, but the Kendra named in the question is not located in any of them. The answer follows the official key.

Answer: D

The Sanchi Stupa is in Madhya Pradesh, near Raisen, and was built by Ashoka in the third century BCE. Tripura, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are not its location. Bihar has Buddhist sites such as Bodh Gaya and Uttar Pradesh has Sarnath, which are sometimes confused with it, but the Great Stupa is at Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh.

Answer: A

The Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque (Might of Islam) stands in the Qutb complex at Mehrauli in Delhi. It was begun by Qutb ud-Din Aibak in about 1193 on the site of older temples, and it is the first mosque built in India after the Delhi Sultanate was founded. The Qutb Minar stands in the same complex. Patna, Lucknow and Jaunpur have other mosques of their own, such as the Atala Masjid of Jaunpur, but not this one. The answer is Delhi, option A.

Iltutmish and later Alauddin Khalji extended the mosque, and the ancient iron pillar stands in its courtyard.

Answer: A

The Hauz Khas tank is in Delhi. It was built by Alauddin Khalji in the early 14th century as a reservoir (originally Hauz-i-Alai) to supply water to the then new city of Siri, and Firoz Shah Tughlaq later had it desilted and built his madrasa and tomb beside it.

Chandigarh, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri are not where this tank stands.

Answer: D

The Saumyakeshava temple is a Hoysala-period temple at Nagamangala in the Mandya district of Karnataka, dedicated to Vishnu in the form of Saumyakeshava. It is not in Tamil Nadu, Kerala or Telangana, which have many famous temples of their own but not this one. The answer is Karnataka, option (D). The question is a recall item on the location of a temple, and the other three states are the distractors. The place of the temple is known from the Hoysala style of its carved stone walls, as in other temples of Karnataka such as those at Belur and Halebid.

Answer: D

The incorrect statement is that construction of Rashtrapati Bhawan was initiated in the reign of Lord Chelmsford. The building was begun in the 1910s after the capital was shifted to Delhi, in the time of Lord Hardinge, who was Viceroy from 1910 to 1916, and Lord Chelmsford came after him in 1916.

The other statements are the standard account: Lord Irwin was the first occupant of the Viceroy's House, the main building was built by Haroun-al-Rashid and the forecourt by Sujan Singh and his son Sobha Singh, and the house has an H-shaped plan. The fourth option is therefore the incorrect one.

Answer: D

The incorrect pair is South Eastern - Chennai.

The headquarters of the South Eastern Railway is Kolkata. Chennai is the headquarters of the Southern Railway. East Central (Hajipur), North Eastern (Gorakhpur) and South Central (Secunderabad) are correct.

So only the South Eastern pair is wrong.

Indian Railways has 18 zones. The South Eastern Railway has its headquarters in Garden Reach, Kolkata, and the Southern Railway has its headquarters at Chennai. So the pair that mixes them up is incorrect. The East Central zone is run from Hajipur in Bihar and the North Eastern zone from Gorakhpur.

Answer: B

Sultan Ghari, India's first Islamic mausoleum, built in 1231 for Prince Nasiruddin Mahmud, the eldest son of Iltutmish, is in Delhi (Vasant Kunj). Agra, Lucknow and Panipat are not the location of this tomb, so only Delhi is correct. It stands in south Delhi near Vasant Kunj, in the Mehrauli area, and is a protected monument.