Indian History Questions and Answers

Answer: A

It was Narasimhavarman I.

The Pallava king, called Mamalla, gave Mamallapuram its name and had the five rathas and the great relief of Arjuna's penance cut there in the seventh century. His father Mahendravarman I began the rock-cut mandapas.

Answer: A

It was Tulsidas.

He began the Ramcharitmanas at Ayodhya in 1574 and wrote it in Awadhi rather than Sanskrit, so that the story of Rama should be available to ordinary people. Its seven kandas are recited across north India.

Answer: A

The Battle of Plassey, 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next 190 years. The battle took place at Palashi, Bengal, on the river banks of the Bhagirathi River, about 150 km north of Calcutta, near Murshidabad, then capital of undivided Bengal. The belligerents were Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, and the British East India Company.

Answer: C

It was Mysore.

Raja Wodeyar took Srirangapatna from the Vijayanagara viceroy in 1610 and made the Wodeyars independent. The family ruled Mysore until 1947, apart from the interval of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan.

Answer: C

It was Persian.

Persian had been the language of administration since the Sultanate and remained so under Akbar, who made it compulsory for revenue records in 1582. It stayed the official language until Bentinck replaced it with English and the vernaculars in 1835.

Answer: A

The head of the military was called the Mir Bakshi, appointed from among the leading nobles of the court. The Mir Bakshi was in charge of intelligence gathering, and also made recommendations to the emperor for military appointments and promotions.

Answer: B

It is Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

He founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, campaigned successfully for the abolition of sati, argued for English and scientific education, and edited papers in Bengali, Persian and English - the range that earned him the title.

Answer: B

Between the English East India Company and Tipu Sultan.

The Treaty of Mangalore of 1784 ended the Second Anglo-Mysore War on terms of mutual restitution - the last occasion on which an Indian power dictated terms to the Company. Haidar Ali had died in 1782, during the war.

Answer: C

It meant curtain.

The yavanika was the stage curtain of the Sanskrit theatre, and the word itself means Greek or Ionian - taken as evidence that the device, or the cloth, came through contact with the Greeks.

Answer: C

It was William Bentinck.

The Charter Act of 1833 made the Governor-General of Bengal the Governor-General of India, with legislative authority over all British territory. Bentinck, already in office, became the first to hold the new title.