Indian History Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Generally in Pali.

The Theravada canon is entirely in Pali, the language closest to the speech the Buddha used. Mahayana works were later written in Sanskrit and in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, but the early literature is Pali.

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: D

It was Henry Vivian Derozio.

A teacher at Hindu College from 1826, he set his students to question orthodoxy in every form. The Young Bengal group he formed attacked caste and superstition, and he was dismissed in 1831 and died of cholera at twenty-two.

Answer: B

It was Swami Dayananda.

The founder of the Arya Samaj held that the Vedas are the only authority and contain all knowledge, and his call was back to the Vedas. He rejected idol worship, pilgrimage and the later Puranic tradition.

Answer: D

He painted under Jahangir.

Ustad Mansur bore the title Nadir-ul-Asr and specialised in birds, animals and flowers - the dodo, the Siberian crane, the zebra - painted with an accuracy that matched Jahangir's interest in observation.

Answer: C

Under the Aga Khan.

The All India Muslim League was founded at Dhaka in December 1906 with the Aga Khan as first president. Sir Sayyid had died in 1898, and Jinnah joined only in 1913.

Answer: B

They are a source of Hindu philosophy.

They close the Vedic corpus - hence Vedanta - and turn from ritual to brahman and atman. The principal Upanishads number about a dozen, and every school of Vedanta argues from them.

Answer: A

It was 335 to 380 CE.

Samudragupta's campaigns are recorded in the Allahabad pillar inscription of Harisena: nine kings of the north uprooted, twelve of the south defeated and restored as tributaries. He performed the ashvamedha and issued a coin showing himself playing the veena.

Answer: C

It was Vindhyashakti.

He founded the Vakataka dynasty in the Deccan about 250 CE. Under his successors it became the chief power of central India, allied to the Guptas by the marriage of Prabhavatigupta, and the Ajanta caves were patronised by the Vakataka court.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Sri Gupta

Sri Gupta founded the line in the late third century, though the dynasty’s rise to imperial power began with Chandragupta I. Samudragupta then extended it widely, and the period is often called the classical age of Indian civilisation.